BY: PHOTOS: JEFF POUNDS

It’s a love story that all started with a dog. When Langley Barton Garoutte lived in San Antonio after graduating college, she kept on seeing a man very patiently walking his elderly beagle dog. Getting the A-OK from the older women on the block who had also noticed him, Langley invited him to a Mardi Gras party at her house. Justin Ronald Anderson arrived with a bottle of Southern Comfort—which was at that time donating proceeds to the Katrina Victims Fund—and a batch of his own homemade beer. Justin asked her out that night and about a year later, he asked Langley to marry him.

Langley and Justin


They wed on Nov. 10, 2007, at the St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church. Langley chose a Carolina Herrera dress from Pearl’s Place to wear for the wedding. The diamond-white silk A-line dress with stitched tucks opened into inverted pleats. Langley’s something old and blue was a linen handkerchief embroidered in blue that was her paternal grandmother’s; something new was a strand of pearls that was a gift from her parents, John and Emilie Garoutte; and something borrowed was a six pence for her shoe from Ellen Levy, a family friend, who also helped Langley and her mom plan the wedding. The bridesmaids—who flew in from Moscow, London, New York City and San Antonio—wore cinnamon satin dresses from David’s Bridal, which made it easy for them to order their dresses. For a bridesmaids’ gift, Langley gave them necklaces of champagne, brown and cream pearls with matching earrings.

John Garoutte, Emilie Garoutte, Langley and Justin, Gretchen Grimm,
Ted Korolewski and Dennis Anderson


Because it was fall, Langley wanted warm, rich fall colors for her flowers and she turned to Charlene Vernotzy of Perfect Touch. She gave Charlene a fabric swatch of her bridesmaids’ dresses and Charlene found beautiful flowers—deep red, brownish roses; orchids and purple lisianthus—to create the bouquets, and used the same flowers in addition to huge hydrangea blossoms, fuchsia coxcomb, lilies and other flowers and greenery for the arrangements in the Orléans Club, where the reception was held. Wedding guests sampled cuisine—courtesy of the club’s new chef, Bobby Saadan—that satisfied all palates: beef tenderloin with a potato bar, crawfish cakes, oysters en brochette and other local delicacies. Haydel’s Bakery created both the wedding and groom’s cake. The wedding cake was four-tiers that had an icing bow on top with streamers cascading down. It was further accented by sugared grapes “painted” in sage and rusty brown and was surrounded at the base by real grapes in similar shades. The groomsmen cake was an attempt to recreate a mosquito, as Justin’s professional specialty is research into mosquito-borne illnesses. While it didn’t come out just right, it was still a big hit with Justin and the wedding guests. Chris Burke and his trio played at the reception, and at the end of the night led Langley, Justin and reception guests—waving napkins personalized with the duo’s names on them—on a second-line out of the club.

Wendel Verbeek, Elizabeth Bashara, Langley, Doré Levy, Kingsley Carson and Conway Irwin



Langley with her parents, Emilie and John Garoutte



Wendel Verbeek, Kingsley Carson and Conway Irwin second-line from the reception.



Matthew Johnson, Erik Anderson, Justin, Nels Anderson, Rodney Smith, Daniel Collins and Trevor Nasiedlak


Even though they spent a few days after the wedding at the Omni Royal Orleans hotel, Langley and Justin postponed their honeymoon until later 2008. They currently live in Radford, Va., where Langley teaches art to kindergarten to eighth-grade students and Justin is an assistant professor in microbiology and immunology at Radford University.