13 minute read

DENIM DREAMIN’

HEMLINE MONROE

Denim is one key staple everyone should have in their closet, and these boutiques have it all. From button-fly to distressed jeans, the perfect flares to skinny jeans – these looks are must-haves for your wardrobe throughout the transitional season and into autumn. Find them all at area boutiques.

Photography by Kelly Moore Clark Model: Kennedy Allen

XTND BOUTIQUE

ELEVEN 26 BOUTIQUE DUSTY & COMPANY SOUTHERN GLAM BOUTIQUE

PALETTE HOUSE + PLUME

GET THE BOOT

Shoe lovers unite, these boots are fall’s most fashionable finds. Whether you’re looking to make a statement or want a more casual look, these boots from area boutiques will put pep in your step. Photography by Kelly Moore Clark

HERITAGE & GRACE

ELEVEN 26 HEMLINE MONROE

Sometimes, life is stranger than fiction! On June 25, 1991, Molly Louise Bozeman was born in Monroe, Louisiana. On that same date, Taylor Alexander Goodwin was born in Columbia, South Carolina. Fast forward to May 29, 2021, Molly and Taylor, who will never forget the other’s birthday, became husband and wife. After completing her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Baylor and LSU, Molly in 2016 moved to Greenville, South Carolina to work as a speech pathologist. Shortly after moving to Greenville, Molly met Taylor and they quickly fell in love. Taylor, who is a proud graduate of the University of South Carolina, and who also earned an MBA from Clemson University, said about first meeting Molly “I knew my life had changed when I first met that sweet blonde from Louisiana.”

Their courtship took place while Molly’s mother, Mary Grace Bozeman, waged a courageous battle against Stage IV ovarian cancer. Taylor, along with other family, was at Mary Grace’s bedside supporting Molly when Mary Grace ascended into God’s arms on January 6, 2020.

Following that season of hardship, in the midst of the beauty of Biedenharn Gardens in Monroe on May 23, 2020, Taylor proposed to Molly and she accepted!

The weekend of May 29, 2021 was truly a celebration. Taylor and his groomsmen enjoyed the hospitality of Bayou Long Beard owned by Clay and Joy Caissie. The setting gave the guys a true Louisiana bayou experience for the weekend. Carolyn Myrick, who was a dear friend of Mary Grace, hosted at her beautiful home on Country Club Road a lovely bridal luncheon in Molly’s honor. As a surprise for her bridesmaids and flower girls following the luncheon, Molly

gave each an embroidered dress from Mi Golondrina of Dallas, Texas. Mi Golondrina dresses are hand stitched by skilled artisans in small villages of Mexico.

On the evening prior to the wedding at Parkview Baptist Church in Monroe, the groom’s parents Darryl and Stephanie Goodwinof Columbia, South Carolina, hosted the rehearsal dinner at the venerable Lotus Club in the Vantage Tower. Parkview Baptist is very special to Molly. It was her church home for many years and the church where she accepted Christ and was baptized. Her parents, Bob and Mary Grace Bozeman, were married there as were her aunt and uncle, Connie and Benny Chelette of West Monroe. Also, Molly’s sister and matron of honor, Heather Bozeman Lensing, married her husband John at Parkview.

For the rehearsal, Molly wore a crystal floral beaded overlay and Heather wore a black velvet flocked dot overlay. Both dresses came from Nardos Design of Dallas, Texas.

Early on the wedding day, a friendly game of basketball took place between Molly and her father, Bob, at the Monroe Athletic Club. Following their game, Molly gave her dad a first edition of the 1949 novel “Father of the Bride” by Edward Streeter to commemorate the special day.

Reverend Terry Hughes, formerly of Monroe, who is Senior Pastor at Central Baptist Church in Springhill, Louisiana officiated the service. Reverend Hughes, his wife Christy and their daughter Grace Hughes Hanna are close friends of the Bozeman family. Christy and Mary Grace were best friends! The ceremony music was provided by The Four Seasons String Quartet of Shreveport, Ms. Valerie Barley, and Mrs. Lori Crotwell.

Molly’s wedding dress was a custom couture bridal gown by Nardos Design. It was crafted from a luxurious silk Mikado fabric from Italy; her column gown featured a dramatic detachable train overskirt and a bateau neck cap sleeve with an Alencon lace jacket using lace from her mother’s wedding gown. Her cathedral length veil was adorned with matching lace also taken from her mother’s dress. Heather wore a Nardos’ designed couture ivory silk Mikado mermaid gown with an organza shoulder wrap and a satin faced organza sculpted bow belt.

Along with designing the beautiful dresses, Nardos Iman, the proprietor of Nardos Design, created priceless ink sketches of Molly’s wedding dress, Heather’s matron of honor dress, and Mary Grace’s wedding dress from 1981, which she made herself.

In addition to Heather, attending the bride were: Hannah Armistead of Columbia, South Carolina, Morgan Chelette Bristo (Molly and Heather’s cousin) of Lafayette, Louisiana, Kelsey Dearman Beatrous of Jackson, Mississippi, Emily Goodwin of Columbia, South Carolina, Dr. Molly Kudela of Houston, Texas, Dr. Lauren McCalmont of Shreveport, Louisiana, Kelsey Patterson of Shreveport, Louisiana, Elisabeth Robertson of Lafayette, Louisiana, Cara Sims of Greenville, South Carolina, Madison Schrimsher of Houston, Texas and Tyson Williams of Greenville, South Carolina.

The bridesmaids wore an ivory Alfred Sung off the shoulder sateen gown from Bella Bridesmaids.

Flower girls were Mary Katherine Sims, Ivy Sims, Elizabeth Sims, all of Greenville, South Carolina, and Allie Grace Bozard and Kamryn Bozard of Orangeburg, South Carolina. The ring bearer was Hill Sims of Greenville, South Carolina. The flower girls were in matching white lace heirloom dresses. As a nod to South Carolina, each wore an engraved silver bracelet from Croghan’s Jewelry of Charleston, South Carolina. The bracelets were courtesy of the bride and groom.

Darryl Goodwin, Taylor’s father, was his best man. Jared Addison of Columbia, South Carolina, Cameron Armistead of Columbia, South Carolina, Kurt Dieringer of Richmond, Virginia, Bob Diserafino of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pete Eckstrom of Columbia, South Carolina, Shane Green of Charleston, South Carolina, John Lensing of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Daniel Schwartz of Charleston, South Carolina, Taylor Sims of Charlotte, North Carolina, Steven Slocum of Loudoun, Virginia, and Collin Thurston of Ridgewood, New Jersey all served as groomsmen.

The program attendant for the evening was cousin of the bride Vivien Phillips of Plano, Texas.

F

ollowing the wedding, the bride and groom were honored at a reception at the home of the bride’s father on Bayou DeSiard. Guests were greeted at the wedding reception by a beautiful door display created by Gregory Hudgins of Monroe. Mr. Hudgins was also responsible for floral displays throughout the home. Special touches for the special day included the use of Mary Grace’s antique punch bowl and fine china inherited from her maternal grandmother, Mary Elizabeth McKoin Dillon, of Jones, Louisiana.

A surprise awaited the groom at the reception as the groom’s cake was a replica of Williams-Brice football stadium at the University of South Carolina. It was created by Michelle Munsell of Lafayette, Louisiana. The “stadium cake” was a delicious red velvet and it came with actual stadium lights and a miniature jumbotron with a picture of Molly and Taylor!

The reception was catered by Thurman’s Food Factory of Monroe. Thurman’s Food Factory provided an amazing tiered wedding cake and traditional Louisiana cuisine which included fried catfish, jambalaya, duck wraps, and Bananas Foster.

Wyatt Waters of Jackson, Mississippi was the live event artist, and he painted a watercolor of the couple’s first dance overlooking Bayou DeSiard which will be a keepsake for generations to come. The band Compozition of Jackson, Mississippi provided the music for the evening. To complete the day, each guest received as a wedding favor a copy of one of Mary Grace’s favorite cake recipes, written by her, and a mini cake to enjoy. The wedding favors were courtesy of Mary Grace’s sister, Connie Chelette, and their cousin, Melanie Dillon Long, of Baton Rouge.

Special thanks to Leslie Campbell Events of Baton Rouge for coordinating the wedding celebration, Ashford-Halley Photography of Baton Rouge, Clayton Harris of Monroe for videography expertise, and Tyler Smith, Sarah Katherine Ewing, Kathleen Rasco, Danielle Fowler, and Wanda Clemons for making the wedding an unforgettable experience. Molly and Taylor honeymooned in Rosemary Beach, Florida. Molly and Taylor reside in Greenville, SC, where Molly is employed by HCA Healthcare as a speech pathologist and Taylor is employed by ScanSource, a worldwide technology distributor, as a financial services manager.

Marsala Beverage

Bud Light Partners with Football Teams Across the State

FOOTBALL IS BACK! THE NATION’S largest beer brand is gearing up for another action-packed football season. Whether it is a fantasy football draft, Saturday College Gamedays, NFL Sundays or Monday Night Football, make sure Bud Light is a part of your gameday tradition.

BUD LIGHT

In 1982, Anheuser-Busch introduced Bud Light nationally. Bud Light, the most popular beer in the country, is a light-bodied lager with a fresh, clean and subtle hop aroma. Its delicate malt sweetness and crisp finish provide the ultimate refreshment. Bud Light is brewed using a blend of premium aroma hop varieties, both American-grown and imported, and a combination of barley malts and rice. Its superior drinkability and refreshing flavor make it the world’s favorite light beer. Bud Light contains 4.2 percent alcohol by volume (ABV).

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

This football season, Bud Light will once again be the official beer of the NFL. As a matter of fact, Bud Light has been the official beer of the NFL since 2011 and has renewed its sponsorship through the 2022 Super Bowl. As the partnership with the NFL continues, Bud Light is also committed to partnering with 28 of the 32 NFL teams. Lucky for us, Bud Light and the New Orleans Saints have had an excellent partnership. This season, be on the lookout for Saints branded Bud Light packaging on Bud Light Suitcases and Bud Light Aluminum Bottles.

Although Bud Light is a massive global brand, with partners like the NFL, a focus of Marsala Beverage is to make sure that Bud Light continues to stay entrenched in the community of Northeast Louisiana. One important reason the Bud Light brand is so successful in this market is the local sports partnerships that we have. Bud Light takes a great amount of pride in being the only malt beverage brand to have partnerships with ULM, Louisiana Tech and LSU. “These universities are the backbone of our communities and it is important to Marsala Beverage that Bud Light supports them,” says VP of Marketing Tyler Flemister.

UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA MONROE

ULM and Bud Light have had an excellent partnership for over 50 years. This partnership goes as far back as when Marsala Beverage was Budco Distributing. This partnership is something that has a tremendous value to the Bud Light brand in Northeast Louisiana. Over the past eight years Bud Light has been the exclusive beer sponsor of the ULM Warhawks. As the ULM athletic department rebrands themselves this year, Bud Light has many new assets in the market. Please be on the lookout for them this fall. So, grab some Bud Lights and come on out to the grove to help the Warhawks #DEFENDTHENEST!

LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY

Bud Light has been a strong partner of Louisiana Tech’s for over 20 years. The Louisiana Tech partnership is not only valuable for Bud Light in the Ruston market but all over Northeast Louisiana. Join us in raising a cold Bud Light and wishing the best of luck to the Bulldogs this football season.

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY

Bud Light has been the exclusive beer partner of the LSU Tigers for over 10 years. This year something very exciting is happening. The LSU logo will be placed on the Bud Light Aluminum bottle for the first time ever! In fact, LSU will be the only school in the country that will have their logo on a Bud Light aluminum bottle this football season. Geaux Tigers!

Locally, Marsala Beverage employs about 100 full-time employees. Marsala Beverage, LP is the largest malt beverage, wine/spirits and non-alcoholic distributor in Northeast Louisiana. Their success is based on the fact that they never lose sight of delivering what is really important – quality products, timely service and a genuine concern for our customers’ needs. Annually, they deliver over 2.4 million cases of beverages to over 700 retail accounts.

Please find us at www.marsalabeverage. com or follow us on social media: Facebook: Marsala Beverage Twitter: @marsalabeverage1 Instagram: @marsalabeverage

ULM Pursuit

On Tuesday, August 10th, Warhawk fans gathered as the ULM and ULM Alumni Association hosted its annual event, The Pursuit, on the campus of ULM at the Bayou Pointe Event Center. The Pursuit, sponsored by BancorpSouth, is the University’s premier kickoff event for the upcoming 2021 football season. During the VIP Reception, attendees had the opportunity to meet the first-year 2021 ULM Head Football Coach Terry Bowden and his entire coaching staff. Dinner was served and the program highlighted comments from Dr. Berry, Athletics Director Scott McDonald and Coach Bowden. The Warhawks take the field for their first home game on Saturday, September 18th against Jackson State at Malone Stadium.

On the BayouScene

1 Nick Olinger and Meghan Olinger 2 David Bush, Lesley Bush, Nita Woods and Kevin Woods 3 Ron Berry, Kevin Koh, Terry Bowden, Scott McDonald and

Chris Windham 4 Amber and Nick White 5 Janet Durden, Terry Bowden and Bob Durden 6 Jo McDonald and Charles McDonald 7 Valerie Fields and Terry Bowden 8 Jamie and Chrissie Autin 9 Usef Simmons and Valerie Fields 10 Ron Berry, Ace and Terry Bowden 11 Caycee Shaw, Cindy Shaw, Connie Andrews, Victoria

Pederson, Greg Andrews, Kim Burtram and Brad Burtram 12 VCOM staff 13 Mallory Sprehe, Sydni Littleton, Kaylee Nolan, and

Mackenzie Miller 3

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