We had probably the best wedding I could ever imagine, and I’ve watched a lot of Hallmark movies.
Truthfully, it was the best. It was my immediate family; a bunch of Laura’s family; probably some work friends of her parents; and some of our Air Force friends. whom we hijacked into being in the wedding. It was great!
The absolute best time to visit Zelienople is 4th of July weekend. They hold a big parade down Main Street, which ends up at the Community Park, which kicked off Community Day. That lasted most of the afternoon and was followed up at 9 or 10 with a pretty good fireworks display shot from the park right behind Pat & Stew’s house. Since the 5th of July fell on a Saturday in 1986, we decided to get married on the 5th, and use Zelie’s celebrations to our advantage, and make it a fun and patriotic event for all.
I drove down from Rome, New York on Wednesday or Thursday, arriving right in the middle of Laura’s wedding shower. That was fun. I think I got to watch her open some presents and get wrapped in a toilet paper dress. It was a lot of fun.
Friday was the 4th, so we did all the things. Most of the wedding party and my Family were in town. We all went down to Main street and watched the parade of bands and fire trucks, tractors, and cement trucks from all around the county. The Resurrection Band played patriotic marches and Miss Big Knob drove by doing her best pageant wave. Pretty sure we followed everyone up to the Park and watched the festivities for awhile and then walked over to Pat’s house to get out of the sun.
That evening was the Rehersal at St. Gregory’s Catholic Church, just on the other side of Main St., followed by a dinner for everyone at Hartman’s Golf Course, complete with cute gag gifts for the bride and groom, then back to Pat & Stew’s for fireworks. My bachelor party consisted of us going to the Hampton Inn where we were all staying, cracking a beer or three, and sitting around Dave Schapiro’s room talking. It was a long day!
The absolute best time to visit Zelienople is 4th of July weekend. They hold a big parade down Main Street, which ends up at the Community Park, which kicked off Community Day. That lasted most of the afternoon and was followed up at 9 or 10 with a pretty good fireworks display shot from the park right behind Pat & Stew’s house. Since the 5th of July fell on a Saturday in 1986, we decided to get married on the 5th, and use Zelie’s celebrations to our advantage, and make it a fun and patriotic event for all.
I drove down from Rome, New York on Wednesday or Thursday, arriving right in the middle of Laura’s wedding shower. That was fun. I think I got to watch her open some presents and get wrapped in a toilet paper dress. It was a lot of fun.
Friday was the 4th, so we did all the things. Most of the wedding party and my Family were in town. We all went down to Main street and watched the parade of bands and fire trucks, tractors, and cement trucks from all around the county. The Resurrection Band played patriotic marches and Miss Big Knob drove by doing her best pageant wave. Pretty sure we followed everyone up to the Park and watched the festivities for awhile and then walked over to Pat’s house to get out of the sun.
That evening was the Rehersal at St. Gregory’s Catholic Church, just on the other side of Main St., followed by a dinner for everyone at Hartman’s Golf Course, complete with cute gag gifts for the bride and groom, then back to Pat & Stew’s for fireworks. My bachelor party consisted of us going to the Hampton Inn where we were all staying, cracking a beer or three, and sitting around Dave Schapiro’s room talking. It was a long day!
Saturday dawned sunny and hot. I remember getting up and thinking this was the important day, and I had nothing to do until 2 pm or so. It felt very weird. Conveniently, the Hampton has a pool and whirlpool, so all the guys spent the morning just chillin’ at the breakfast bar and at the pool.
Dave was my Best Man, and did a great job. He was able to get sabers sent out from the Academy so we had a saber arch for our exit procession. Made for some great pictures! Our saber bearers were: Dave Bucknall (my EW from Ellsworth), Pete Wanger (buddy from Nav School), Jim Veazey (my Radar at Ellsworth), Barry Coble (ROTC friend of Laura’s), Chris Kenny (our friend from Ellsworth) and Gordon Platt (Laura’s Uncle). My Groomsmen were Dave Schapiro (a roommate at the Academy), my brother Dave, and Bob Devaney (another roommate). Laura’s party consisted of Patti (her sister) as the Maid of Honor, and Chris Graeber and Barb Kenny as Bridesmaids. I don’t remember why the numbers didn’t match.
Right before the wedding the guys gathered in the parking lot of the church, and had shots of something. Probably tequila. It was a tradition we had started with Bob and Cathy Devaney’s wedding a day or so after Graduation. (I remember doing it at Dave Schapiro’s wedding and thinking we needed to do a lot more than one: he got married to a girl [first wife] with a lot of money in Chicago and while the wedding was awesome, she scared me! lol!)
Then it was on! The church was beautiful (still is), we had a nice sized crowd, and everyone looked happy to be there. Stew, in a nice white tux, walked Laura down the aisle and she looked beautiful. From that point everything was on autopilot. I have vague memories of lots of kneeling and standing, and remember being surprised that the cushions on the kneelers were gone. (Darn Fr. Bergman!!! Making sure we weren’t too comfortable for this sacred occasion!)
Passages were read, songs were probably sung, candles lit and vows exchanged. And suddenly, just like that, I was married and kissing my wife!
The reception was at a social hall just outside Zelienople, on the way to Evan City (in later life, it became a dog day care facility!). But it was the perfect size for our needs, and didn’t have that Legion or Mason’s Hall feel to it. The wedding party all stopped to take pictures in Laura’s parent’s back yard, and then we arrived to another sabre arch. Lots of good fun, good food, fairly good music (the DJ did not have our wedding song that we had requested weeks previously) and good dancing. Of course there was dancing!
The culmination of the reception was a serenade by Pat’s Aunt June (accompanied by my brother Dave) of a very opratic “God Bless America!” and a chariot ride away in Stew’s shiny new Caddy.
We spent that night at the Sheraton in Cranberry so we could say good bye to everyone the next morning. A bunch of the wedding party came over and we danced and partied a whole lot more in the hotel lounge. It was an amazing day! The first of many!
Dave was my Best Man, and did a great job. He was able to get sabers sent out from the Academy so we had a saber arch for our exit procession. Made for some great pictures! Our saber bearers were: Dave Bucknall (my EW from Ellsworth), Pete Wanger (buddy from Nav School), Jim Veazey (my Radar at Ellsworth), Barry Coble (ROTC friend of Laura’s), Chris Kenny (our friend from Ellsworth) and Gordon Platt (Laura’s Uncle). My Groomsmen were Dave Schapiro (a roommate at the Academy), my brother Dave, and Bob Devaney (another roommate). Laura’s party consisted of Patti (her sister) as the Maid of Honor, and Chris Graeber and Barb Kenny as Bridesmaids. I don’t remember why the numbers didn’t match.
Right before the wedding the guys gathered in the parking lot of the church, and had shots of something. Probably tequila. It was a tradition we had started with Bob and Cathy Devaney’s wedding a day or so after Graduation. (I remember doing it at Dave Schapiro’s wedding and thinking we needed to do a lot more than one: he got married to a girl [first wife] with a lot of money in Chicago and while the wedding was awesome, she scared me! lol!)
Then it was on! The church was beautiful (still is), we had a nice sized crowd, and everyone looked happy to be there. Stew, in a nice white tux, walked Laura down the aisle and she looked beautiful. From that point everything was on autopilot. I have vague memories of lots of kneeling and standing, and remember being surprised that the cushions on the kneelers were gone. (Darn Fr. Bergman!!! Making sure we weren’t too comfortable for this sacred occasion!)
Passages were read, songs were probably sung, candles lit and vows exchanged. And suddenly, just like that, I was married and kissing my wife!
The reception was at a social hall just outside Zelienople, on the way to Evan City (in later life, it became a dog day care facility!). But it was the perfect size for our needs, and didn’t have that Legion or Mason’s Hall feel to it. The wedding party all stopped to take pictures in Laura’s parent’s back yard, and then we arrived to another sabre arch. Lots of good fun, good food, fairly good music (the DJ did not have our wedding song that we had requested weeks previously) and good dancing. Of course there was dancing!
The culmination of the reception was a serenade by Pat’s Aunt June (accompanied by my brother Dave) of a very opratic “God Bless America!” and a chariot ride away in Stew’s shiny new Caddy.
We spent that night at the Sheraton in Cranberry so we could say good bye to everyone the next morning. A bunch of the wedding party came over and we danced and partied a whole lot more in the hotel lounge. It was an amazing day! The first of many!
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