Trina Edwards and John Alario dish details about upcoming June 1 New Orleans wedding

Trina Edwards and John Alario are counting down the days to their June 1 New Orleans wedding. On Monday, they went together to the post office and bought “pretty” stamps for the invitations to the celebratory lunch on their wedding day. The actual ceremony will be a short, private affair, officiated by Supreme Court Chief Justice John L. Weimer in a courtyard in the Louisiana Supreme Court building in New Orleans.

“John is the first man I’ve known who understood why details like which stamps we use are important,” Edwards said Monday. “We got stamps today and the rings will be in tomorrow.”

(They bought the tulip stamps, if you’re curious.)

Alario, a longtime Louisiana legislator, looked on with a smile as his bride-to-be discussed their wedding details.

“I’ve gone from the front page to the social page. And, let me tell you, the social page is more fun,” he said. “We’re getting ready to file for the marriage license — did you know you could do that online now?”

The couple plans to continue splitting their time between his home in Westwego and hers in Baton Rouge. Both have children with special needs who are in schools where they are happy — so neither want to cause disruption for their children.

Edwards, 44, and Alario, 79, met while she was married to the late Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, but they didn’t know each other until after the governor’s death.

“I didn’t know much about her back then,” Alario said, but once they did get to know each other better he said he was impressed. “Her sense of humor, her intelligence and her good looks to match mine. Plus, we had something in common with both of us taking care of special needs children.”

Edwards says it was Alario’s kindness that drew her in. 

“It’s very hard to find people who are genuinely kind — especially people who have been in positions of power,” she said.

On the couple’s second date, Alario asked, “Is it too early to say, ‘I love you?'”

Edwards replied, “Well, most men say it on our first date.”

They both say that exchange sealed the deal. 

Alario served 36 years in the state House of Representatives and 12 years in the state Senate. He retired from politics in 2020, but he still works at and runs the tax preparation business in Westwego that he started 58 years ago. He actually started out as an eighth and ninth grade math teacher. He was elected to the state House of Representatives when he was 28. 

“I miss serving my community, but term limits are probably a good idea. They bring in new ideas,” he said. “Politics has changed so much. It’s so partisan now. Politics goes through cycles.”

He has hope that the political system will improve because he said, “People get angrier when the government isn’t working than when taxes are raised.”

Alario said after his wife passed away 16 years ago, he did not anticipate marrying again. The couple agree that planning the wedding has been easy in some ways. 

“One justice of peace offered to pay us to marry us,” Alario said.

The couple plans to go on a cruise, with Edwards’ 9-year-old son, Eli, after their wedding. They’ve hired P.J. Hahn and Arleen Jones to do photographs on their wedding day. Edwards has two dresses but hasn’t selected which one she will wear yet. They’ve also got a three-piece jazz band lined up for the lunch and expect 60 people for the lunch. 

But both say they don’t plan to dance that day.

“He is so good at so many things, but he is not a dancer,” Edwards said with a smile. 

Alario replied, “But I had to do some fast footing when I was in politics.”