On the 15th of each month we feature a new and magnificent wedding! This is more than just a weekly "best site" contest with a link to the couple's wed-site. We will take you through the entire wedding process...from the planning, to the actual event, and everything in between...including details which made each big day special.

I wanna make you smile whenever you're sad...
Leandra and Eric originally met as freshmen when we were in the same biology lab course. They met once again in biopsychology their senior year since they were the only two biology majors in the room. Since Leandra bought the textbook Eric thought studying with her might be a good idea. They stayed up late quite regularly, mostly joking around (biopsychology wasn't very difficult), which began a trend of studying together for the semester. After a few weeks of hanging out together, Eric was looking for someone to go with him to a concert in Tampa and asked Leandra if she was interested.

After arriving at the club, they discovered that the concert was cancelled. So instead of driving all the way back Eric gave Leandra a tour of Ybor City. (Ybor is small section of Tampa stocked with bars, restaurants, clubs, etc.) They ended up dancing at a collegial favorite, Masquerade.

Halloween was two days later and the Eckerd campus had a party. Unfortunately, Leandra was dropped on her head by a drunken friend shortly after meeting up with Eric at the party and was forced home to rest. At this point she knew that she liked Eric, but he was clueless about this fact.

They ran into each other the following weekend at a different campus party. Eric was on the way back to his room to watch a movie, and mentioned if Leandra was bored later she could hang out there. Around 2 a.m. or so, she decided to give him a call to check and see if he was awake. Leandra found out later that Eric had already gone to bed by the time she called, and his first reaction was to ignore the phone, but then he thought - "what if it's Leandra?" His next immediate thought was, "Why did I just think that!" They stayed up all night talking in his room then met up in the afternoon to view an art exhibit. The rest is history.


Leandra majored in Biology as an undergrad but managed to pull off an art minor after completing most of her major by her senior year. At that time, she discovered that painting and graphic design was something she could see herself doing for good. She now works for the Georgia Center at UGA as a web designer and participates in as many creative things as she has time for (painting, scrapbooking, cooking, etc.)

Eric also graduated from Eckerd with a degree in Biology and is now a PhD student in genetics at UGA. He is an enthusiastic and successful gardener and talented photographer. They both love movies, wine tasting, eating at new restaurants and all types of art.

All I wanna do is grow old with you...
Here is the proposal story as told by the groom: "Before Leandra and I graduated Eckerd in 1998 we knew we'd be apart for at least a year. At that point we decided that we needed to have a timeframe, an endpoint at which we would be in the same city again and could actually date again. Otherwise, a long distance relationship would be unfeasible.

Fast-forward a year. I applied to the University of Georgia Genetics program, and was accepted summer 1999. I moved down in August and convinced Leandra to move down in October. Moving down was a test of our relationship, and after that I knew I wanted to marry her. Of course, I kept that to myself, and I had Leandra thinking "eventually, in a few years, before I’m 30." After Christmas vacation I went ring shopping in Athens. I told no one but the jeweler. Surprise was paramount.

The second half of the engagement was the harder part - where? Since October I had been plotting a Florida vacation for early spring during which I could surprise Leandra. Several times we had to change plans and almost didn't go. I managed to convince her to take a long weekend in March, and then talked her into watching a nearly nonexistent sunset on the sea wall at Eckerd. All the plotting and planning was worth the look of absolute surprise on her face!"


And now, as told by the bride: "The night Eric proposed to me was beautiful. We had missed the sunset by minutes, but as we were standing out on the seawall, the wind was blowing gently and being at Eckerd always brings back good memories for me. He asked me if I wanted to grow old with him and I said of course - because we always talk about things like that...but when I turned around he was holding an open black box with a ring inside. I think I stood there shocked for a few seconds because it was such a complete surprise. But after a hug, (of course) I said yes. That was March 4, 2000."

I'll miss you, kiss you, give you my coat when you are cold ...
Leandra and Eric held their ceremony and reception at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, IL (30 miles west of Chicago). They wanted to keep everyone in the same place because all of Eric’s family were arriving from out of town and they didn’t want to lose anyone! Both of Leandra's bridesmaids cried while walking down the aisle, but she didn’t cry - much to the groom's surprise. Of course, she had to concentrate extremely hard to make sure that she didn’t start crying or she knew that she would never stop! The ceremony was short and sweet and the couple used “Grow Old With You” from the movie “The Wedding Singer” as their recessional piece. It is one of Leandra's favorite movies and that’s how Eric prefaced his proposal. It was a sweet unique touch and set the fun tone for the reception.

Oh I could be the man that grows old with you...
The couple's wedding song was “Honeymoon” by Everclear. They decided not to be traditional and pick a song that everyone uses, and they are both huge fans of the band. They spent the night dancing and talking to all of their friends and family. Leandra also surprised Eric with a groom’s cookie (chocolate chip - his favorite!) inscribed with their names in frosting.

The bride wore a strapless A-line gown with lace on the bodice and decoration on the bottom of the plain organza skirt. Leandra was dreading the thought of dress shopping and took a trip into Atlanta to hunt for a gown by herself. She tried on several spaghetti strapped dresses but none of them looked “right”. Finally, she took the suggestion of the sales woman and tried on strapless gowns. The gown Leandra picked was more fancy than she had originally wanted, but she loved the way it looked. She knew it was going to have to be altered because she is short, but she loved the look of the lace decoration on the bottom of the gown. She also bought an elbow-length veil with satin piping and had the comb covered in fragrant flowers for the ceremony.

Leandra wanted her two attendants to wear silver, but didn’t have a specific style of dress in mind. They went to all the typical wedding shops but didn’t see anything that they liked. Half discouraged, the girls ended the trip at the local mall where they found the perfect dresses. They decided on silver strapless raw silk A-line gowns with rhinestones on the bodice from Jessica McClintock.

The men all wore black tuxedos. The groomsmen wore silver vests and Eric selected a slate blue vest.

I wanna grow old with you...
When asked if they would have done anything different, the bride replied: "I would have made sure the florist didn’t put pink roses in the floral archway. I specifically said 'no pink'! In fact, I probably would have gone with a different florist altogether. I also would have skipped having a train on my dress, the bustle caused more problems than it was worth, although everything turned out just fine in the end."

When asked what they would do exactly the same, Leandra replied: "The cake. It was absolutely beautiful and delicious. We choose two tiers of white cake with lemon filling and one tier of chocolate cake with strawberry preserves. The buttercream frosting was in a simple swirl pattern up the three tiers. One side was smooth while the other was decorated with a white filigree pattern."

The bride also described a special unique touch that made the day special: "My orange shoes! I wore bright orange, heeled sandals and people kept coming up to me all evening asking to see my shoes. Anyone that knows me well wasn’t surprised in the least! And after 11 hours my feet didn’t hurt at all."

For more information about Leandra and Eric's wedding -- visit their their site.
And check out the July 2002 "Fifteen Minutes of Fame" with Michelle and John.

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