ABOUT KRISTEN

Following her undergraduate mentor from Albion College in Michigan, and intrigued by the architecture and culture of New Orleans, Kristen traveled to the “Big Easy” to begin her graduate studies in the Sociology Department at Tulane University. Her studies began with reading text books in coffee shops and grew to include hours of observation in an Uptown hair salon. She spent her free time partaking in the hurrah of parades, festivals, and sushi with friends. She completed her Masters in the tumultuous aftermath of that harrowing event we know as Katrina. Her later recollections of the storm, along with those of some of her colleagues, can be perused in her first major book publication, Narrating the Storm: Sociological Stories of Hurricane Katrina. Kristen is currently continuing her doctoral studies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she has published in academic journals and anthologies. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, listening to KJAZZ and sipping tea on Sunday mornings with Damien.

ABOUT DAMIEN

After graduating from the University of Dallas, filled with lingering wanderlust from his semester abroad in Rome, Damien reluctantly declined a position at UT Houston Medical School. Instead, he moved to New Orleans in search of finer cuisine and the perfect café au lait. During this first year in NOLA, he worked at Brooks Brothers and lived in the garden apartment of his uncle’s Marigny home. Damien became enthralled with the city and began his medical studies the following year at Tulane University School of Medicine. Amidst the rigor of medical school, Damien would enjoy finding time with friends to catch an evening of jazz or wine; he also enjoyed working with colleagues on compiling what became (for a time) an annual art journal of the school of medicine, Arbor Vitae. After a difficult final year spent partly in Houston at Baylor, Damien moved with Kristen to Los Angeles where his is currently in his third year of residency in Internal Medicine at LAC+USC General Hospital. He recently accepted a position as an attending physician at USC, to begin July 1, 2009. He enjoys surprising Kristen with attempts at replicating cuisine from Italy and the Crescent City, or walking through Old Town Pasadena and window shopping while he and Kristen share a frozen yogurt from “21 Choices.”

HOW THEY MET

Well, the story began with a graduate student Speed Dating event organized by the Department of Sociology at Tulane. Kristen was recruited by her friend Jeannie, who needed a good showing of participants and was promised a good time. On the day of the event, Damien received a call from his roommate Andy, who had signed-up but was “stuck in surgery:” He told a tale of free drinks (untrue) at a hip bar Uptown, and Damien agreed. Kristen and Damien met that evening and, after 6 minutes of rapid-fire questions, thought they might hit it off. Their first official date was on April 6, 2005 at the Columns Hotel… and the rest is history!

WHEN THEY GOT ENGAGED

September 27, 2008

HOW IT HAPPENED

Damien proposed to Kristen on September 27th, 2008 while on one of their weekend walks down the beautiful neighborhood streets of Pasadena, California. He bent down on one knee and (after what seemed to him like an eternity) Kristen accepted!

WHEN & WHERE

October 9, 2009
St. Louis French Quarter Hotel
New Orleans, LA


The French Quarter at dusk.

                                    ABOUT THE BIG DAY

Both the wedding and reception will take place on Friday, October 9th, 2009 in New Orleans' historic French Quarter.

The ceremony is at 6:00 p.m. in the beautiful courtyard of Saint Louis French Quarter Hotel, and the reception is to follow.

Since Monday, October 12th is Columbus Day, come on down and enjoy the wedding, and plan to spend a couple of extra days touring the Quarter. There are antique shops, jazz bars, restaurants and cafes galore!