We knew Terry T as she was known on Video University back in our early days of our business. While at WEVA in 2001, we got wind that Terry T had married this shady character named Julian St Pierre while in Vegas and he was just riding on her coattails. We didn't know Julian, and hoped the best for Terry.

But time passed and we discovered that Julian was far from shady. He was the best thing that could have happened to our dear Terry T from VU. He took their business to several new levels, from the Wedding Planning Experience TV show to the web marketing, Julian took over the business to free Terry and Joe to be the creative artists.

I will never forget the day that Julian us called after Katrina hit; we were in Dallas on business. He called and said, "Can you get us a hotel in Texas?" Because they didn't have power, they were having to limit the use of their cell phones to conserve their batteries.

I did make a few calls, but couldn't come up with a room, as hotel rooms were very scarce due to Katrina. So I said to him, "Come to Tulsa, you can stay with us." I did so without consulting Mark, but I knew it would be okay, and it was. So in came Terry, Julian, and Storm their cat. Joe joined us a few days later.

During the time they spent with us, Julian paced like a caged lion when he talked on the phone. Even with his Bluetooth, I swore he wore a path in my carpet when they stayed in Tulsa. And talk on the phone was something he did a lot.

Julian was so happy to get his computer up and going at our home. Without his computer, he felt like he was cut off from his world of communication. Once it was up and running, he was almost giddy.

They stopped by an office supply store to pick something up a day or so after arriving in Tulsa. When checking out, the cashier asked them their zip code, which caught them a little off guard, having just arrived. Julian was a little slow to respond, saying, "Well, we don't have one right now. We're homeless because of Katrina." The cashier quickly apologized and then asked for their address, and again they responded, "Our address isn't getting mail right now," to which the cashier quickly apologized again. They got a good laugh out of it. And at that time they need to laugh. It was a very stressful time.

Just after the initial onset of Hurricane Katrina had passed and Julian thought all was well, he had walked from their home to their studio to see how it had weathered the storm. On the walk back, people were running by him. He stopped someone and asked what was going on. The person said, "The levies were breaking and water is coming into the city. You need to get out of the city now before it's too late and there is no way out."

Julian realized he was going to have to go and get his car, which was parked about 18 blocks away in a parking garage during the storm. Well, you have to know a little bit about Julian to understand what this meant to him-he wasn't a fan of long walks. So the thought of making the trek was something he very much dreaded, however necessary. But he made it a brisk walk that morning, which was agony for Julian. I can hear him huffing and puffing now. But once he got to the garage the gate was locked. There was a woman attendant with a small child, and he pleaded and begged her to let him get in to retrieve his car. She refused to let him get his car, saying she was told not to let anyone in or out. He told her the city was about to be flooded and she and her child needed to get out before there was no way out of the city. She still refused, so Julian picked up a metal bar off the ground and threatened the woman, saying that he was going to break the window separating him and her. Now you have to know that this was not Julian's way of doing things at all. He had no intention of hurting the woman, but he knew that if he didn't get out of town quick, the only way out was by helicopter, and this, of course, was just as true for this woman staying put with her child and protecting her employer's parking garage as it was for him. Needless to say, she decided to let him get his car. He again encouraged her to leave. Later on, reminiscing with Mark and me, he said she hoped she took his advice.

We were so impressed with Terry and Julian's resilience and resolve throughout their stretch of homelessness. In all that time, they never looked for handouts, and they always wanted to work. From the minute Julian set his computer up in our home, he went to work, drumming up jobs for himself, Terry, and Joe.

After a short time when they considered relocating to Dallas where good opportunities awaited them, Julian and Terry and Joe decided to go home and rebuild their business and the wedding industry in their hometown. After they found a new apartment/studio in the French Quarter and took up residence in New Orleans following Katrina, gifts would show up on our doorstep with notes thanking us for taking them in during their time of need. We will never forget the New Orleans Kings Cake that showed up one day. Julian was a gift-giver; it was his love language.

Julian had a gift for communicating. He could talk, but he also was a good listener. I always admired his writing skills. He could write so well and so efficiently, he would nail it so many times. I used to tease him that I would just have him write all my marketing info. In the early days of mass emailing, we used to spell-check each other's mass emails to brides. He always found my mistakes. He rarely made any mistakes for me to catch, but I gleaned a lot from his writing.

Since Julian and I both handled more of the business and marketing sides of our respective businesses, Terry and Mark would compare notes on straying off their editing to check in on what was happening on the web forums, only to have Julian or me catch them reading or posting and insist they get back to editing. This became especially obvious when those messages started hitting the inbox saying someone had replied to their post.

Julian and Terry loved what most would consider hole-in-the-wall restaurants. They would be the first to admit it too. Julian loved to eat breakfast and said that going out for breakfast was his and Terry's quality time together each day. We always looked forward to Please U (Julian and Terry's Monday-Saturday breakfast spot) and "the pancake place" (their Sunday Breakfast spot) when visiting them in New Orleans.

From hanging out with them at conventions, to having Terry and Julian in our home and visiting them on several occasions in the city they love, New Orleans, this friendship has been a journey we wouldn't think of trading. We will miss all those long phone conversations, and Julian's driving ambition, but what we'll miss most of all seeing the way he loved Terry.

Trisha Von Lanken, a four-time EventDV 25 honoree, runs Von Wedding Films with her husband, Mark.