This post was originally published on this site
Although they are based in New York, Elizabeth Frumin and Blair Douglas, both 37, say they love New Orleans and its traditions. Which is why, when they planned their Sept. 4 wedding in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the couple insisted on having their 300 guests travel on foot, in a second-line procession — something more typically associated with New Orleans funerals — complete with a brass band, from the ceremony at the new William Vale Hotel to their reception at the Brooklyn Bowl.
But as any New Orleanian will tell you, the threat of a hurricane that time of the year is ever-present. And so it was for this couple, as Tropical Storm Hermine moved up the East Coast, throwing their plans (which had included a rooftop ceremony) into disarray.
“We were so stressed” over the ever more threatening forecast, Ms. Frumin said. “We had been watching the news, checking every weather app.” Because of the predicted high winds, “We went to Plan B, moving the wedding to the fourth floor,” said Mr. Douglas, a New York real estate executive. “But it was also too windy on the fourth floor.”
So Plan C, a ceremony in the hotel’s ballroom, was initiated. But what of the procession, during which their guests were to shimmy and stroll along Brooklyn’s streets to the music of Moses Patrou, performing that day along with the Sugartone Brass Band. With rain said to be moving in, the bride, who is the director of operations for Blue Ribbon Restaurants in New York City, said that $2,000 worth of white umbrellas were ordered.
Then, she said, “the sun came out,” the umbrella order was canceled and their procession went on as originally planned, “with our people dancing in the streets, waving their monogrammed handkerchiefs with their little parasols and whooping it up.”
Now, with all the worry and excitement behind them, Ms. Frumin, who is not above making her own predictions, said, “We’re going to name our first born Hermine Douglas.”