Love comes knocking on John’s door

JOHN HENRY BRIGGS IV fell in love with Ianna Danielle Reid the very first time that he saw her in Atlanta, Georgia.  Around 1997, says John:  “One evening while playing a rather droll game of Nintendo and waiting for someone to call me back and express desire to do something to fill the bored void that was the evening, a knock comes. No dog yet to alert me to the knock. It comes again.  The door is opened and she (Ianna) walks into my life, literally. How often can one use the word ‘literally’ correctly?”
       
Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, John had moved to Atlanta to teach elementary school. A substitute teacher at his school had promised to stop by that night and brought Ianna with her. Says John: “She walked into the front door and I told her that I knew who she was. She said ‘How can you know me?’ “And I said trust me, I know you. It was as if this long lost friend had been reunited with me and somehow amnesia had set in. I needed to let her know that she found me too. How was this to be done? Well there’s always one good way to get a young girl’s attention.” “Wanna go for a ride on my bike?”  he asked.  “You have a motorcycle?” she replied.  “Sure” said John.  “Okay” said Ianna  “Just don’t tell my parents. They would be so mad if they knew I went on a motorcycle with a strange guy with tattoos.”
 
For John, the ride seemed over before it started, and the reintroduction too short.  But the foundation was laid for his long lost friend to reunite with him a year later when Ianna came home from Skidmore College in New York where she was studying for a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Government. Ianna, who was born in Trinidad and attended Bishop Anstey Junior School up to Form Three before emigrating, continues with  the story: “We dated long distance for another year.  I came back to Atlanta and he was not letting go. He was still there and we were still going out.  It was back to school for my Masters but this time at Georgia State University and we continued to date until I finished my MBA in August 2003.”

The couple got engaged in September 2003.  John came on a visit to Trinidad last Christmas and they decided to get married here. And this they did last Saturday afternoon at a beautiful ceremony conducted by Father Tom Lawson at St Finbar’s Roman Catholic Church followed by a dinner reception at Pier 1, and a honeymoon in St Lucia. The couple will start their lives together in Atlanta where Ianna works as a marketing analyst with InfoMart and John, a graduate of Mercyhurst College and the American Intercontinental University in Atlanta, works as a software architect. The bride, the daughter of Ian and Greer Reid, walked up the aisle on her father’s arm wearing an Isabella Margianu original made of pale ivory silk satin organza, with a fitted strapless bodice and a randomly ruched A-line skirt, ending in an “Isabella” bustle. Tucked under each ruche were three tiny roses made from twisted fabric of the dress.  A chapel veil was held in place by a crystal and pearl bandeau.  Matching ivory shoes and a bouquet of local flowers completed the ensemble. 

Bridesmaid Tiffany Richter with whom Ianna has been friends since eighth grade came from Atlanta for the wedding, and bestman Jim Davis from Fort Lauderdale. The groom’s parents, John III and Rosie, came from Pennsylvania with his only sister, Heather. Jack and Ianna’s very novel gift for their guests was a CD in which they explain why each of the 19 tracks are songs that are special to them for various reasons.   There was just one regret for the very happy couple: “Our cute four-year-old boxer, Kaiser, could not be here to act as ring-bearer because of quarantine restrictions and we really missed having him.”