Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The Officiant and the Venue . . .

I decided last night that before sharing the wedding rehearsal, it was necessary to explain a couple of things about the logistics – every little thing is a part of the story.

When Ryan and Emily decided to get married, they were sitting in my living room one evening talking about who might perform the ceremony.  I was walking through the room during the conversation, and I threw over my shoulder “You could always get the mayor . . .” 

Ryan’s immediate reaction was “That is so cool!” 

Emily’s immediate reaction was “What do you mean, the mayor?”

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Dave Stubbs and I have been friends since before we were born (these pics are from our 1976 high school yearbook) – he was in my wedding, I was in his, and our parents used to double date back in the ‘50s.  And 2½ years ago, he showed up at my door to ask me to sign his petition to run for Mayor of Waynesville.  As I signed it, I had only one question – “Are you insane – why do you want to run for mayor?”

But I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as coincidence – and that one unknown reason that Dave Stubbs ran for mayor was so he could be the officiant at my son’s wedding.  And as soon as we explained the family connection, Emily loved the idea.  So we asked and he accepted – and even delayed his departure for a family vacation that included his parents, his wife, his children and grandchildren by two days to be a part of Ryan and Emily’s wedding.  I got up the morning after the wedding and drove Dave to an airport in Columbus so he could join his family – we relived the wedding and had a wide-ranging conversation along the way.

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These pics are from the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner – and that’s your sneak peek for tomorrow, when I really will share that event . . .

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The Waynesville United Methodist Church is where I grew up.  I explored every nook and cranny when I was a kid, and rang the bell in that tower many times.  My grandparents went there their entire lives, my parents were married there in 1957, my wedding reception was there in 1982, and I sang there a couple of times on Fathers’ Day when Ryan was little.  The addition where the reception hall is located (you can barely see it in the lower left part of this picture) was built by my dad’s brother in the late ‘50s or early ‘60s, and the wood and doors from the old parsonage that used to stand on that site became my tree house.

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The stained glass windows were what I always noticed and what gave the church character.  It’s hard to believe now, but those priceless windows weren’t protected by Plexiglass on the outside until the early ‘80s.

When Ryan and Emily were trying to decide on a place to hold the wedding (the church I attend now is enormous and not really small wedding friendly), they first wanted to have an outdoor wedding but soon realized that the weather would be a factor.  One evening we were driving through town and I was showing Emily the sights, and I told her our history with this church as we passed.  As Emily was also raised Methodist, she wanted to see it – and to my surprise in this era, it was unlocked.  So we wandered through and she fell in love with the place, and I called the church secretary the next day – not only was it available, but they were thrilled that someone wanted to hold a wedding there as there aren’t a lot of young people in the church anymore.

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One more historical note – I need to check their pictures to make sure, but we think that these candelabras that were used in Ryan and Emily’s wedding were also used in my parents’ wedding 57 years ago.

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