MAKING MILLENNIAL MEMORIES PAIR TO EXCHANGE VOWS AT MIDNIGHT ON NEW YEAR'S EVE.Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Staff Writer SIMI VALLEY Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. - When Brooke LeBlanc and Noel Flynn got engaged last Christmas - having reconnected nearly 20 years after their first romance ended - they thought they wanted to get married in the next millennium. But the couple began wrestling with the questions of the right time of year, where the ceremony would be held and how they could make their wedding truly memorable. Their opportunity came when LeBlanc's sisters, Mary Justin and Carole Blalock, began planning an elaborate pajama party to ring in the new millennium at Justin's Simi Valley home. Hearing that most of the family would be present for the festivities fes·tiv·i·ty n. pl. fes·tiv·i·ties 1. A joyous feast, holiday, or celebration; a festival. 2. The pleasure, joy, and gaiety of a festival or celebration. 3. , the couple asked if they could take their vows as the clock struck midnight. ``He'll never forget that date for one,'' said LeBlanc, 49. ``It means a new beginning for us. A chance to start our lives at a point in time in history that everyone is looking at. How many others get that opportunity?'' When the party turned into a wedding, the organizers decided to ditch the PJs and go with a theme evoking a Hollywood premiere. Guests have been asked to come dressed as their favorite movie actor. Justin, who will dress as Audrey Hepburn, and Blalock, who will be Elizabeth Taylor Noun 1. Elizabeth Taylor - United States film actress (born in England) who was a childhood star; as an adult she often co-starred with Richard Burton (born in 1932) Taylor for the evening, have been working for several months on the decorations. They've strung gold stars on the ceiling and around the buffet tables. The rooms and doorways are adorned a·dorn tr.v. a·dorned, a·dorn·ing, a·dorns 1. To lend beauty to: "the pale mimosas that adorned the favorite promenade" Ronald Firbank. 2. with white twinkle lights and old movie reels and replicas of Oscar statuettes stand on the mantle mantle, portion of the earth's interior lying beneath the crust and above the core. No direct observation of the mantle, or its upper boundary, has been made; its boundaries have been determined solely by abrupt changes in the velocities and character of seismic and bookcases. In keeping with the Hollywood theme, LeBlanc will dress as Scarlett O'Hara and Flynn will be Rhett Butler Rhett Butler is the handsome, dashing hero of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. The novel introduces him as the problem-solving pragmatist who is sure that the South cannot win a protracted war with the North. from her favorite movie, ``Gone with the Wind.'' But for the wedding ceremony in the patio, the bride will change into a white dress and the 62-year-old groom will don a white tuxedo. The couple plans to start the nuptials just before midnight, say their ``I dos'' as the clock strikes and be pronounced husband-and-wife in the new year. Brother-in-law Tom Justin said he will time the ceremony using a sophisticated clock that is reset every six minutes by a system in Colorado to note the year change down to the second. Since the groom is a retired military man, Tom Justin said, he figured Flynn would expect nothing less. ``We'll have to show accuracy or we'll hear about it,'' Justin joked. Flynn and LeBlanc first met in 1979 when both worked at a naval base A naval base primarily for support of the forces afloat, contiguous to a port or anchorage, consisting of activities or facilities for which the Navy has operating responsibilities, together with interior lines of communications and the minimum surrounding area necessary for local in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. , he as an enlisted man and she as a civilian. Both were divorced and had children. The couple lived together for several years before he received a transfer to a base back East and she decided to stay on the West Coast. LeBlanc eventually married a second time, but was divorced 14 years later. The two had kept in touch in the intervening years but hadn't seen each other for nearly two decades. In 1996, LeBlanc was sent on a business trip to Port Hueneme Port Hueneme (wī'nē`mē), city (1990 pop. 20,319), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; founded 1870, inc. 1948. It has an artificial deep-sea harbor and is the site of a huge naval construction-battalion (Seabee) center. and called Flynn - then a retired Navy captain living alone in Camarillo - to meet her for lunch. Although she left the lunch date with the feeling of having reconnected with an old friend but expecting nothing more, her eventual beau had something lasting in mind. He pursued her and eventually proposed to her on Christmas 1998. ``He claims he loved me all this time,'' LeBlanc said, laughing. ``Right.'' Blalock said that if they really had their way, this is probably not the way the couple, who now live in Carlsbad, would have chosen to get married. But the New Year's Eve party seemed the perfect time. ``Most everyone in the family has had small weddings, immediate friends and very little family,'' Blalock said of her five siblings siblings npl (formal) → frères et sœurs mpl (de mêmes parents) . ``It's nice that we're coming together as a family. And it's nice that they want to share it with everyone.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Mary Justin prepares her Simi Valley home for the New Year's Eve wedding of her sister Brooke LeBlanc to Noel Flynn. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News (2) Justin used stars and twinkling twinkling, in astronomy: see seeing. lights for the Hollywood-themed event. |
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