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I be wed--"Quickie Wedding" for La.

Author: Melissa Fertitta

They call him the marrying man, but the Reverend Tony Talavera is a one-woman man.

What the proverbial “they” are referring to is purely occupational. Talavera is the director of the French Quarter Wedding Chapel and Bourbon Street’s Weddings-A-Go-Go.

An officiate of the California-based Universal Life Church, Talavera has performed thousands of weddings and recently breached the separation of church and state by championing a bit of legislation known as the “Quickie Weddings”.

Bill SB565, which was written by representative Paulette Irons, allows non-Louisiana residents to waive the three-day waiting period. In essence, a couple could get their marriage license at lunch and be married by dinner.

But Talavera doesn’t want it to work that quickly.

“The wedding industry represents $60 billion in revenue in the U.S.,” Talavera said. “Vegas, Clark County, sold 120,000 licenses in 2002, that’s six million in direct revenue. You start adding up dinners and hotels and the state and (local) businesses benefit.”

Talavera says that though Vegas has been long associated with on-the-fly nuptials, New Orleans has more to offer, even though the city has yet to recognize it. “We have true romance, we’re real. We don’t tear down and rebuild every 10 or 15 years (like Vegas).

“There should be one to two billion dollars a year coming here. This industry will help everybody from the state to cab drivers. Everyone benefits.”

And in theory, everyone would benefit. Talavera performs ceremonies on riverboats, in local courtyards; he organizes catering from local restaurants. Colette Guste at Antoine’s, who has worked closely with Talavera on several weddings, is now helping him establish the New Orleans Wedding Association. “We’ll be a force to be reckoned with,” Talavera said.

Though Talavera is excited about the economic impact the wedding industry could have for the city, he is not driven by greed. “I’m sincere in what I do,” he said. “I always give some advice (to the couples). I tell them communication will make or break a relationship. I tell them to never let your head hit the pillow mad – even if it takes till sunrise.

Talavera also gives his business card to couples, to be used day or night, because he truly believes that if a phone call will save a relationship, he’s willing to answer to remind couples that “honeymoons are never over, people just forget … that you’re not one and one; together you’re one. It’s you against the world.”

But making New Orleans a destination wedding hot-spot might pit Talavera against the world. But it’s a task he’s taken to heart. “We’re the true romantic spot for weddings. ‘Girls Gone Wild’ is fine for three blocks on Bourbon Street, but we have the rest of the quarter to be romantic,” he stresses.

“We’re closer to more people than Vegas (and) people look for a reason to come to New Orleans.”

That’s exactly what Talavera hopes to stress at an assembly of the New Orleans Wedding Association’s first meeting next month. “Be prepared because you’re going to be busy 52 weeks a year,” he warns. “I never realized it until I researched it; we’ve been out of a loop on what we could have been doing. (Let’s) bring people together and everyone makes money.”

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