on
10/26/2002
The wedding photographed took place on Oct. 13, 2002. The weather was cold. It rained most of the day, and the fog never went out.
The ceremony itself, which lasted not more than seven minutes, was held on the wharf at Orrs Bailey Yacht Club:
The bride and groom wear predominantly black. They enjoy dancing at goth clubs. Their friends came dressed in a very different manner than their family, and there was some doubt initially as to whether the two groups would mix at all.
Brother of the bride, and a Maid of Dishonor:
The groom had stated that he'd never get married unless a woman proposed to him. It was as he wished, on a trip to Montreal.
The bride, and the father of the bride:
The groom's sister performed the ceremony. Prior to the ceremony, the groom had been hovering around in black jeans and a tee shirt; there was no indication what he would be changing into for the ceremony.
The groom, and sister of the groom:
The couple wrote their own vows. The spoken aspect of the ceremony was playful in tone, brief and to the point.
Left -- the Best Tool:
"It was exactly what they wanted to do," said my grandmother on the car ride home, with pride. Stereotypes would hold that a conservative woman born in 1924 wouldn't hold with a nontraditional service, nor a Halloween-themed reception and the company of persons who's dress for a wedding vaguely echoed the work of Edward Gorey.
The drizzle wouldn't let up until several hours after the ceremony:
The groom's name, Smith, was one the couple didn't desire for a variety of reasons, among them being hounded by the state of Ohio for not paying back child support on a child the groom would have had to sire before the age of puberty.
Family and friends lining both sides of the wharf snapped pictures and cheered as the wedding pronouncement was made with the couple's new name:
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Black.
Touch the Toast