Top weddings of the year 2005

It was love, international style, with brides and grooms exchanging vows in exotic locales, including panoramic views from the beaches of Maui to the top of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Africa, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

WNBA star Lisa Leslie wed Michael Lockwood on the beautiful island of Maui, while a South Carolina couple, Fred & Rachelle Holmes, exchanged vows at their dream destination wedding at Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls. Actor Boris Kodjoe wed his longtime love, actress Nicole Parker, in his birthplace, the Black Forest area of Germany, in the same 900-year-old church where his own parents wed. In another much-talked -about ceremony, philanthropist and entrepreneur Sheila Johnson wed Arlington County Circuit Court Chief Judge William T. Newman Jr. on her 200-acre estate, Salamander Farm, in The Plains, Va.

Displaying the glow of youthful love, 22-year-old "Baby Bull" Tyson Chandler of the Chicago Bulls married his 21-year-old high school sweetheart Kimberly Brown in a Los Angeles church with more than 500 guests.

Is there a doctor in the house?

At the New York wedding of Dr. Triste Lieteau and Dr. Ian Smith, there were two--the bride and the groom. The couple met while students at Harvard. He is an author (The Blackbird Papers), medical correspondent to NBC's Nightly News and The Today Show and ABC's The View. She is a physician and an attorney who serves as deputy general counsel and governmental affairs consultant for Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. The candlelight wedding and reception featured several celebrities among the nearly 300 guests. The groom pronounced the wedding "picture-perfect."

Other top weddings of the year included actress Sheryl Lee Ralph and Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent James Hughes in Los Angeles; A.J. Calloway, former host of BET's 106th & Park and Dr. Lao Sealey in Manhattan; airport planning executive Judith Byrd and brokerage firm CEO Ronald Blaylock in New York City; Emil Jones Jr., Illinois State Senate President, and Dr. Lorrie Stone in Las Vegas; and communications executive Eugene Morris and retired insurance executive Demetra Thomas in Chicago.

Tyson Chandler of the Chicago Bulls married Kimberly Brown at Westwood Methodist Church in Los Angeles before more than 500 guests. India. Arie performed several songs for the couple, who met on a blind date in high school. The wedding reception was held at Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu and featured exotic floral centerpieces and sumptuous table settings. Love Collins of New York designed the bride's gown and the groom's chocolate-colored tuxedo. The couple honeymooned in Barbados at the exclusive Sandy Lane resort for seven days, then they joined both their families for a fun-filled seven-day vacation at the Atlantis in the Bahamas. They plan to make their home in Chicago.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The picturesque Victoria Fails in Zimbabwe, Africa, was the dream wedding destination for Fred L. Holmes and the former Rachelle F. Jamerson of Charleston, S.C. The couple owns a travel agency, boutique and reception hall. The bride is also a fashion designer who designed and created her wedding attire. Broadway's belle, actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, married Pennsylvania State Sen. Vincent James Hughes at First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. The bride wore a Tadashi-designed, champagne-colored silk charmeuse gown with a gold silk poie-de-soie brocaded coat with a $16,000 diamond-and-pearl tiara. The newlyweds plan to maintain homes in both Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Entrepreneur Sheila Crump Johnson and Arlington County Circuit Court Judge William T. Newman Jr. married on her 200-acre Salamander Farm in The Plains, Va. Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones Jr. married Dr. Lorri Stone in a private Las Vegas ceremony. F. Morris Communications Chairman and CEO Eugene Morris married Demetra Thomas at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago, officiated by Bishop Arthur M. Brazier, pastor of the Apostolic Church of God in Christ. The bride is a retired insurance executive. Judith Irene Byrd and Ronald E. Blaylock exchanged vows at St. Thomas Church in New York. The bride is the senior vice president and a founding partner of Unison-Maximus, an airport consulting firm in Chicago. The bridegroom is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Blaylock & Company, an institutional brokerage and asset management firm in New York.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

WNBA star Lisa Leslie, 33, wed former Air Force basketball player Michael Lock wood, 40, at the Four Seasons Hotel on the island of Maui Several family members, including Leslie's mother ad sister, were present at the wedding. Lockwood salutes his bride and then the newly married pair walks hand-in-hand along the ocean. The couple, who met through a mutual friend, was engaged in April 2005.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

A. J. Calloway, popular former co-host of 106 & Park, married Dr. Lao Sealey at St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University in Manhattan. The bride is an emergency medicine physician. Actors Boris Kodjoe and his new bride, Nicole Parker, enjoyed an intimate wedding in a small village in the Black Forest area of Germany with only 100 guests. They married in the 900-year-old church where Kodjoe's parents wed. The actors, who met and began dating while working on the cable series Soul Food, have a daughter, Sophie Tei-naaki Lee, whose middle name is Ghanaian for first-born daughter.