Bryson writes · Louisiana, USA · 28 March 2026
Open the camera roll (20 photographs)
After Hong Kong, I flew back to Louisiana for our Louisiana wedding.
Emily and I had married in Denmark the previous May. That ceremony was just the two of us, which suited us, but our families had mostly experienced it through photographs and stories. Louisiana was where we got to celebrate with them.
We called it a Wedding Celebration Retreat because fishing and zip lining in formal clothes were both possible.
The night before was technically the rehearsal dinner. In practice, it was a crawfish boil with a rehearsal somewhere between cornhole and zydeco. Dad and Jay Macmillan sourced and cooked an alarming amount of crawfish. The zydeco band was led by the doctor who delivered my siblings. Everyone threw cornhole bags and caught up after months apart.
For Emily’s family, the food required instruction. Oliver, Emma, Tom, Rosemary, and Geoff had never eaten crawfish this way. A crawfish is a puzzle box with a very small lobster tail inside. There was twisting, peeling, digging, and a mountain of shells. My British family enthusiastically dismantling mudbugs while a swamp band played was hard to improve on.
The next afternoon, the Outdoor Wilderness Learning Center in Dubach became both an adventure park and a wedding venue. Before anyone put on proper clothes, guests went into the pines for the high ropes course and giant swing. The rest of us watched people get launched above the ground. We also went fishing. It was not a conventional schedule, which was why we had chosen the place.
Eventually the helmets came off and the wedding clothes went on.
Taylor Mayfield came from Austin as our Efficient Officiant. Taylor teaches Bible and English, which made him as qualified as we needed. I have been told he also has a Louisiana licence for this, but I still have not seen it. When Emily walked toward the pond, I was happier than I know how to write without making it sound dramatic. We held the ceremony with the people we had wanted beside us in Denmark, then went around the water for photographs.
The reception moved into the wooden lodge. We sat at our sweetheart table, cut the cake, ate cupcakes, and went from table to table trying to catch up with people far too quickly. It felt more like a family reunion with a ceremony in the middle. That was what we wanted.
A few days later, I drove my British family to New Orleans. We listened to Oliver’s American country playlist until Luke Bryan ran out of songs. At Café du Monde, everyone ate beignets and got powdered sugar well beyond the plates. We walked around Jackson Square and then headed toward Frenchmen Street. The plan after that was simply to find jazz.
Before leaving Louisiana, I showed Emily and her family around LSU, including the campus where I plan to return for engineering after Emily gets her green card. We ate at my favourite places in town. They could not believe there was a literal tiger beside the stadium.
After we dropped Emma, Tom, and Oliver at the airport, we stayed a few more weeks. We had Sunday lunch with Grandmommy, swam in Mamaw’s pool beside the grill, and drove the four wheeler at Mom and Dad’s house. Emily wants to come back. I do too.
A few weeks later, we packed again and flew to Bogotá.
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