Around Town with Maggie: Inside the Randy Brown-Barzanna White wedding reception.
In April, newspaper publisher Randy Brown, 61, and educator Barzanna White, 58, married quietly and privately in a chapel located in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, TN.
On July 8, the newlyweds held a humdinger - can we call it a bash - of a seated dinner via a buffet for 300 "best friends" at The Stable, Bossier City, owned by former state Sen. Ryan Gatti, who was dishing up food in the kitchen and manning the buffet.
"It is an unbelievable love story several years in the making," said Brown, about their "long" courtship.
The bride is the daughter of beloved, well-known garden columnist Joe White and his wife Barbara.
Although the wedding is recent, their love story started many years ago when they met as bandsters at Captain Shreve High School, said the groom, in an email.
Dating continued while attending LSU-Shreveport.
They went together exclusively from 1987 through 2009 when they went their separate ways. Brown didn't call it a breakup, but explained in his email: "Careers and life, unfortunately, got in the way."
Although the two rarely saw each other during the 13 years they were apart, they kept in touch through telephone chats, text messages, and emails. When Brown's father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Murell Brown, died four months apart, Barzanna attended visitations in Marshall, Texas.
About then, their dating status picked up speed.
In April 2022, they attended concerts here and in Houston.
"Things rekindled extremely quickly after that and about a month later, we were engaged," emailed Randy.
On July 19 of that year, Brown surprised White when they went to dinner at L'Italiana, Bossier City. It was noisy, hectic, and crowded that night, so he delayed the question until it had calmed down. Then, he got down on one knee, asked White to marry him and gave her a specially designed engagement ring.
Brown recorded the whole thing with his cell - even the part where he bumped the table and his phone fell into the middle of the Tiramisu. "I cleaned up my phone and left the video running," Brown said.
"Things went smoothly after that and (Barzanna) was very surprised ... the wait staff caught on as to what was going on and took several (Photos) for us. It was great," Brown said.
Saying God "miraculously" brought them back together in April 2022, Brown added: "Love that was always present from the very start ... it bloomed in a magical way."
And to the newlyweds, love is the same the second time around as it was in the very beginning.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Around Town with Maggie: Inside the Brown-White wedding reception.
