Piper and Andrew
For Agnes Piper Lylé Lanier the perfect wedding dress showed up courtesy of her mother, Nell Lanier, and sister, Hallie White. Piper, as she is known to family and friends, had already chosen a wedding dress, but her sister Hallie thought there was a better dress out there and took her mother to Town & Country to try on dresses. When Hallie donned a Judd Waddell silk organza overlay, strapless dress and modeled it for her mother, it was decreed the best. A photo was taken and sent to Piper, who agreed that it was the perfect dress. Piper didn’t see the dress in person until the Monday before her wedding—and luckily all that had to be done was shorten it.
The dress made its debut at the St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church on June 17, 2006, when she married Dr. Andrew James Moritz. In addition to the dress, Piper wore a watch from her father’s family that all the daughters wear when they get married and a bracelet from a friend. She carried a bouquet of peonies, roses and lilies. Her bridesmaids wore periwinkle blue, knee-length dresses from Pearl’s Place and carried blue hydrangeas and Stargazer lilies. Ginja Moseley made the bouquets, as well as dressed up the church, which still had some post-storm damage. One of Piper’s favorite elements of the ceremony was that her mother and Andrew’s mother, Mary Moritz, were the readers. “It was very emotional to have them read for us,” says Piper. Her sister Hallie, who was the matron of honor, also sang at the church.
The reception was at the Orléans Club, where guests enjoyed the food, music and company. Andrew hails from Jacksonville, Fla., and Piper and Andrew met at Furman University, so there were a number of out-of-town guests who joined locals in the celebration. Giving them the flavor of New Orleans was Deacon John and the Orléans Club, which served up classic New Orleans delicacies such as grillades and grits, crawfish étouffée and lump crabmeat. The cakes were made by Kathleen Short from Lafayette, La. The four-tier wedding cake had praline and raspberry-amaretto fillings, and was decorated with sugar flowers that Nell Lanier had collected from friend’s children’s weddings.
The top of the cake had a bride and groom on it that was used in Andrew’s great grandmother’s wedding. The groom’s cake was chocolate doberge with chocolate-covered strawberries. “Everyone said the cakes were out of this world, but we never got to taste them and they were gone by the end of the night!” says Piper.
The duo did not go on a honeymoon right away, because the Tuesday after the
wedding was when Andrew had to start his residency in orthopaedic surgery at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., where Piper also works as a program coordinator. This month they are heading to Anse Chastenet in St. Lucia, where they will no doubt enjoy the sun, surf—and rest.
Piper with her mother, Nell Lanier
Piper with her father, Sorrell Lanier
Mary Moritz, Andrew, and John Moritz
Piper and Andrew (center) with ring bearers and flower girls: Ben Vore, Abby Moritz, Claire Moritz and Jack Vore; bridesmaids Emily Hiatt, Lacey Lanier, Hallie White, Rachel Landis, Dorothy Ball and Marty Wicks; groomsmen Price Lanier, Rocky White, David Moritz, Brian Wilson, Gabe Walhila, John Moritz Jr.
