Dr. Paul G Harch and Juliette Lucarini at the Taj Mahal

From: The Times of India

American doc and nurse tie the knot at Taj Mahal
19 Sep 2007, 0210 hrs IST,Pragya Kaushika ,TNN

AGRA: This wasn't exactly love at first sight. The first time they met was at a medical conference, where they merely noticed each other.

Two months later, the first words were exchanged at a Christmas party where they ended up dancing all night. And then in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina found Paul G Harch and Juliette Lucarini, doctor and nurse respectively, taking shelter at the same hospital in New Orleans, where they could see the hurricane coming, through the window.

On Tuesday, two years later, the couple — both 52 years old — exchanged marriage vows at Shahjahan's ode to love, Taj Mahal. Draped in a blue and pink saree, Lucarini exchanged rings with the sherwani-clad Harch at the Taj, following a formal ceremony at the Dayal Bagh Temple.

The duo chose to take the saat phere in accordance with Indian tradition, "as we were mesmerised by the logic behind the ritual".

The couple had taken time off a conference of medical professionals on therapeutic procedures for children with learning differences, which both were attending in Delhi, to finally schedule a marriage that "we hadn't found time for in all these years".

"When we arrived in India, we knew this was the place where we wanted to get married. We had heard a lot about the Taj, but had never imagined the magical influence it has on people in love. The instant we laid eyes on it, we wanted to get married in the temple of love," says Lucarini.

"We fell in love during the aftermath of Katrina, when we spent 10 months in a trailor sent for us by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We would stay there after completing our work at different hospitals across California," recounts Harch, a divorced father of six.

It was Harch's youngest son, four-year-old Dylan, who insisted that his father propose to Lucarini. "I was talking to Dylan as usual when suddenly he asked me whether I had a girlfriend. He said, 'Dad, if you love someone, you should tell them.' His advice did wonders," explains the doctor who is an assistant professor at the University of Louisiana.

"People often ask us why we are getting married when both of us are already over 50, but I feel that love knows no age," he adds.