BH&G congratulates Desiree and Jim on their engagement; and on their plans for a wedding ceremony and reception at our venue.

Here are comments from the bride:
I am 28 (turning 29 next month) & was born in New Orleans. After living briefly in MS and FL, I moved to Tennessee in 1998 to attend college. I earned a B.A. in Anthropology and in Geography in 2003 and am beginning graduate school next month to earn my M.S. in Geography. My thesis project will involve determining the fire history in the lower Florida Keys based off of sediment core analysis that I will be extracting from lake and ponds down there sometime this year. Hobbies include collecting antiques, old books, reading, writing & vegetable gardening.

Jim Kocis, the groom, is 33 (turning 34 next month) & was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He earned a B.A. in Anthropology and B.S in Geology at Mercyhurst College in PA sometime around 1999-2000 (not exactly sure). He is currently working on his PhD in Earth & Planetary Sciences at the University of Tennessee and expects to be done in 2011. Jim is a geoarchaeologist by trade, but also doubles as a carpenter at home. He loves to build things and is currently finishing up a lovely deck and a fence around our property.

We chose the Benachi House after looking at many reception locations in New Orleans and feeling dismayed. It is important for us that our wedding and reception be something special, not just for us, but for all of our friends and family. Being that many of the guests are out of towners, we want them to experience the side of New Orleans that they don't often read about in the news or see on tv. Hence our decision to not use a reception hall. We feel those generally lack character. Loving old places and homes, we chose the Benachi House for its history and beauty. We drove past it on our last day in the city this past May expecting to be disappointed as we had been with the other places. The moment we saw the house, we knew it was the one. We got out, and harassed the gardener into letting us poke around a little bit; and salivated.

Our ceremony will occur at St. Alphonsus Parish/St Marys Assumption Church, at 1:00 PM. The Reception will follow at the Benachi House at 3:00 PM.