MIKE TOBIAS
PORT NECHES — To say Hurricane Ike was a major inconvenience for Southeast Texans is an understatement.
It was a massive storm, affecting residents from South to Southwest Louisiana all the way down to Corpus Christi, and literally pulled the rug out of thousands of lives and years of memories in Bridge City alone.
Ike’s trek towards this part of Texas created a plan of it’s own for two Southeast Texans eager to begin their lives as newlyweds, and in the process of doing so carved out memories by the bucket loads by way of one very quick and unforgettable wedding.
It all started with the evacuation order.
“We were evacuated to Tyler,” began Heidi Howard (formerly Heidi Todd). “That’s where my fiancé’s (Brian) Coast Guard Unit was mobilizing.”
Her now husband is a member of Port Arthur’s Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit. After remaining in Tyler for several days, Howard was given word that the wedding originally scheduled for September 20 would have to be rescheduled to due the workload the Coast Guard was about to receive.
“They said, ‘you have two days to get married, and if you don’t want to get married in these two days then you’ll probably have to wait a few months,” Howard went on.
Since the two already secured their wedding license and planned to move into their home immediately after the wedding, the two made the impromptu decision to get married, while evacuated, in Tyler.
“The first thing I did was call his parents, who live in Panama City, Florida and said, ‘okay, can you make it into Tyler for the wedding?’ They said they’d leave the next morning.”
“I then had to call my own parents, who had evacuated all the way to Southeast Louisiana and they immediately drove back this way. They stopped in Port Neches to pick up a few wedding items, most notably the pew bows my mother made, the unity candle. My mother (Ruth Ellen Todd, owner of Leo Week’s Photographers) also had my wedding dress and his wedding band with her, because she was afraid we’d go and get married without them there,” Howard laughed.
After getting a hold of essential wedding personnel, Howard took to the phone book and called the first Methodist church she found listed in Tyler; Cedar Street United Methodist Church.
“The pastor there, Karen Jones, was very helpful and she said they would accommodate us in any way possible.”
With her parents on the road and ready to decorate the church in the morning, Howard then began the task of finding someplace to hold a reception for the wedding party and guests that would show up.
“There was a place next to the Ramada Inn, where we were staying, The Potpourri House, so I called them and they put me in through the owner, who invited me over that night,” Howard recalled. “He showed me around, brought me out a menu so I could choose some entrees; He asked me what our flowers were going to be and what our colors were going to be and that was it.”
Meanwhile, Howard’s fiancé was completely oblivious about the quest at hand.
“He was busy doing office work the entire time,” Howard smiled. “When his parents got in the next morning, we realized that we had to find someplace to get him a tuxedo.”
Taking to the streets of Tyler once again, Howard, her fiancé and his parents came upon The Tux Shop.
“And we were able to get him in there and out with a tuxedo in fifteen minutes and it fit...perfectly,” she went on. “After that, we parted ways and said, see you at the altar at six.”
With three hours until the wedding, Howard managed to pick up her freshly steamed dress from Lucky’s Discount Cleaners, picked up a two cakes from a Brookshire’s (ordered by Aunt Nancy in Colorado), and found a place to get her and her mother’s hair done.
“Wt’s Family Hair Cutters, where a woman left by herself cleared the entire afternoon schedule to get ours done,” smiled Howard.
The pew bows were put up, the attendees quickly showered and dressed, all except groomsmen for Howard’s fiancé.
“Brian realized none of his groomsmen would make it in, but he had invited his First Superior Officer, Brent Mellen.”
So when Mellen walked in, clad in his best flannel shirt and jeans., Howard’s mother took a boutonniere and pinned it on and told him he was now the Best Man.
“He was a little apprehensive about his attire, so he went and squeezed into an extra tuxedo that we happened to have and grinned and beared it.”
In the midst of getting ready, KLTV-Channel 7 from Tyler showed up at the ceremony with camera in hand ready to record the 24-hour wedding for the evening news and also settling the issue of videographer.
“Though it was chaos in planning, the wedding turned out beautifully,” Howard recalled. “My mother, who happens to be a professional photographer, was able to get all the pictures we had wanted while also being the Mother-of-the-Bride. The Potpourri House did a fantastic job getting a variety of the flowers we wanted. They even replaced the giant, icing carrot that was on top of Brian’s grooms cake with chocolate truffles.”
Following the wedding, absent Aunt Nancy had also planned an evening for the newlyweds at the Rose Vine Inn Bed & Breakfast nearby, which was such a treat for the two they decided to stay an extra night.
“But then that was it,” Howard went on. “Brian was called back to duty the next day.”
In one day, Howard and family and friends managed to accomplish what usually takes about a year to put together. Hurricane Ike did cause a great deal of frustration for Southeast Texas, but this was a wedding that was going to happen, come wind or high water.
“Our wedding on September 16, 2008 will be a cherished memory for the entirety of our lives.”
