"He's 38, he's short, and his name is ‘Bubba’?" said 23-year-old interior design student Blair Sill when her aunt advised ditching stilettos before dinner at Santa Monica's Buffalo Club. "Extremely nervous" about being set up, Bubba Moffett was relieved that his mother and University of Texas chum, Palmer—Blair's uncle—would also be there "if things went poorly, which they did"—initially. Still, Bubba was smitten and he asked Blair to meet him at The Peninsula bar after he escorted his mother home. "It melted me," says Blair of Bubba's concern for his mom and "his little southern accent."

They chatted until 3 a.m. and Bubba, president of Louisiana and Arizona-based Crescent Crown Distributing, immediately added regular Los Angeles visits to his hectic travel schedule. Courting Blair "was a priority," he says.

"We saw each other every week," Blair remembers, yet after a year-and-a-half, as she dried her hair before dinner with their mothers in Aspen, she was so stunned when her ring-bearing beau knelt and declared, "I've been waiting to do this all my life." She hyperventilated and broke out in hives. "Who knows?" she asked. "Everyone," replied Bubba, who had easily secured her parents' blessings.

Blair's grandfather's wishes became paramount, however. The couple abandoned intentions of a fall wedding in Aspen and hired Special Occasions to create their Beverly Hills black-tie affair in less than six months because former “L.A. Times” executive and billionaire philanthropist, Franklin Otis Booth, Jr., who suffered from ALS, wanted to witness his first grandchild's wedding. "We really connected," says Blair of curling up beside Otis, sharing planning details, and knowing he "loved Bubba completely."

At their evening ceremony, emotions ran high as the bridal party entered the orchid-bedecked All Saints' Episcopal Church to the strains of “Ave Maria”—a tune played 10 days prior at 84-year-old Otis's funeral. But by the time the horn ensemble broke into “When the Saints Go Marching In,” Blair remembers, "my cheeks were hurting because I was smiling so much," explaining, "My wedding was uplifting for the whole family. It was a celebration of his life and our new life together."

The newlyweds rode off in Otis's vintage Packard and rejoined their 380 guests in the Crystal Ballroom as Sinatra's "You Make Me Feel So Young" signaled their first dance. Draping, lighting and cherry blossom trees transformed the vast space into a chic setting for dinner and dancing to Jungle Boogie's '70s repertoire. "We were the last ones to leave; we didn't want it to end," Bubba says. A twinkling, petal-filled room awaited at Hotel Bel-Air, where they laughed until 3 a.m. at goofy poses secretly captured in the photo booth.

Although they'd planned to spend time alone, they couldn't resist rejoining friends and family at the Beverly Hills Hotel. After a stopover in Houston, they embarked on a honeymoon odyssey to Dubai, the Maldives and Singapore.

Bubba "can't wait to get home" now whenever he travels and Blair has been decorating their just-completed house in Scottsdale, but she avows, "We could be homeless, and I think we would be happy."

> Written by Kim Knox Beckius