Marrying Man of September 2006: A Stormy Romance
Groomsmen gifts of umbrellas, anyone? To say the proposal of Mr.
September's Reed Smith got off to a stormy start is an understatement.
After a romantic night of cocktails and dancing, Smith dropped to his
knees, pulled out his great-grandmother's ring, and proposed to his
ten-month girlfriend Christine at midnight that night. The bride
gleefully accepted.
Little did the New Orleans
couple know that night would be the eve of Hurricane Katrina, the
cataclysmic natural disaster that would set off a chain of events the
couple would later refer to laughingly as their "evacuation
engagement." Giving fresh meaning to the phrase "for better or for
worse," the newly-engaged couple fled their hometown the very next day
and took up temporary residence as hurricane refugees in Dallas, Texas.
Breaking the news of their engagement to their fellow evacuees (26
relatives and friends, a bulldog and one loyal Yorkie) from the cramped
confines of Dallas's Homesuites was hardly the engagement party the
couple had pictured, but they were just happy to be together. Despite
the horrific footage of their hometown's devastation in the background,
the Smiths' engagement helped to bring a little calm to the storm.
Reed's
mother Elizabeth weighed in, saying "I knew he was going to ask, but I
didn't dream it would be the night before a hurricane," she said. "But
everything happened perfectly." Christine's mother echoed the sentiment
saying the engagement was "a ray of hope" in the midst of stormy
circumstances.
As for the happy couple, they are
putting the devastation behind them as they recently tied the knot and,
after a romantic European honeymoon, returned to their hometown where
Mr. Smith works as a law professor at Tulane University.
When
asked about what they brought with them during their fast-flee from
Katrina's destruction, the Smiths answered, "jewelry and guitars." Why
not add to their collection with these snazzy knot and bead bracelets?!
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