New Orleans, it seems, follows you everywhere. Two people from New Orleans, in whatever city they’re in, eventually find each other and bond over their New Orleans roots. That is exactly what happened to Katherine Isabel Fausset and Matthew Everett Guma. While the two were each living in New York City, Andrea Morris, a childhood friend of Katherine’s who attended Newman with her, worked at the New York Ralph Lauren store and sold Matthew a sweater. The two began talking and discovered they were both from New Orleans. Matthew mentioned that he was a literary agent and Andrea told him he had to meet her friend Katherine, who was also a literary agent.
So, Katherine and Matthew met professionally and formed a friendship that lasted several years. They didn’t begin dating until early 2008, and after a few months of being together, Matthew and Katherine decided they wanted to get married. On a trip to New Orleans right before Hurricane Gustav, Matthew took Katherine’s father out to lunch at The Rib Room and asked for his blessing to marry Katherine. Matthew had an engagement ring made for Katherine from diamonds that belonged to her grandmother.
The wedding took place on April 4, 2009 at Arnaud’s Restaurant in the French Quarter. The couple chose Arnaud’s for it’s distinct New Orleans ambiance. “It’s a classic space,” the bride says. “Arnaud’s captures everything beautiful, interesting and unique about New Orleans.” The Faussets have also been longtime family friends of the Casbarians, the family that runs and operates Arnaud’s, so it was the perfect match.
The ceremony was held in the Arnaud’s Dining Room, with antique black and white tile floors and grand floor-to-ceiling windows. “When I saw those windows, I knew I wanted to get married in front of them,” Katherine says.
The bride walked down the aisle with her dad to an instrumental version of “Annie’s song” by John Denver, played by harpist Rachel Van Voorhees. Katherine wore a gorgeous strapless silk organza off-white gown she found at Kleinfeld in New York, where they film the TLC show Say Yes to the Dress.
“The gown felt like the French Quarter to me,” the bride says. She carried a bouquet of specially selected lavender roses by floral designer Louise Heebe and wore a lavender orchid in her hair.
Rather than having the traditional wedding party of bridesmaids and groomsmen, the couple kept it in the family with Katherine’s brother standing up for her as her “man of honor” and Matthew’s sister standing up for him. Katherine’s little niece was the flower girl.
Following the ceremony, Arnaud’s treated just under 200 guests to an elaborate buffet spread at the reception, which included fried shrimp with brie, fried oysters, tuna tartar, a beef filet, turtle soup and bananas foster. The wedding cake was a brilliant, traditional creation from Swiss Confectionary, with fresh lavender flowers.
In lieu of a traditional groom’s cake, Katherine opted for University of North Carolina basketball cookies – Matthew’s alma mater. In fact, one of
the UNC semi-final games for the Final Four was being played the night of the wedding. Needless to say, there was a lot of going back and forth from the wedding upstairs to the bar with a television downstairs.
The bride and groom led their guests in a second-line near the end of the evening and bid everyone farewell, leaving in a horse and carriage for a spin around the French Quarter before heading to accommodations at a family friend’s home in the Pontalba Apartments overlooking Jackson Square.
The couple had planned to honeymoon in May to Tulum, Mexico, but was forced to cancel their plans due to the swine flu outbreak. However, they hope to reschedule the trip very soon. The newlyweds currently reside in Brooklyn, New York, where Matthew is a literary agent and entrepreneur and Katherine is a literary agent with Curtis Brown, Ltd.
