After final attempt to bring in newcomers, Chattanooga church hosts one last wedding
by Clint Cooper
Chattanooga Times Free Press
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Laura Kei Moore had been married to her husband, Kevin, nearly a year and a half before she had the wedding she always wanted.
Married in Hawaii in late 2002, the couple repeated their vows with flowers, wedding cake and the works at stained-glass-bejeweled St. Andrews United Methodist Church on May 15.
"It's been fantastic, everything I dreamed of," Moore said as she rushed to Wal-Mart the day before the wedding. "We're treating it like the real thing."
The Moores' service was the last scheduled wedding at the church, which is closing after 114 years on June 27. Church members had hopes their January offer of up to four free weddings might draw some new blood into the church. St. Andrews has a sizable physical plant but has dwindled in membership in recent years.
However, St. Andrews' "Festival of Weddings" offer of premarital counseling, ministerial services, wedding coordinator, decorations, programs, music, video, cake, punch, peanuts and mints drew only three responses.
"We didn't get the response we expected," said the Rev. Mike Ogle, the church's pastor. As it turned out, church officials judged one couple too young to be married. A second couple called off their wedding as the day drew near. The Moores had always planned to have a second ceremony in front of friends and family but had put it off until they saw a newspaper story on the wedding offer, Moore said.
Moore, 24, graduated from McCallie School and majored in Japanese and international business at a college in Hawaii. He didn't meet his future wife, a native of Ringgold, Ga., until he returned to the United States.
However, the two went to Hawaii and decided to marry in Honolulu, Moore, 20, said.
"There were a lot of factors," she said, "but, morally, we didn't want to live together out of wedlock. We were so close, it (Hawaii) was so intimate, so we went for it."
In the letter Moore wrote to the church, she said the couple was homeless at the time.
"We slept in the car, and didn't even have wedding bands to exchange for the ceremony," she said. "However, a few weeks later we saved just enough money to purchase two gold and rhodium bands from a street market that tooled jewelry. The same evening we went to a dock in Waikiki, and by the light of lit torches and the symphony of the ocean, exchanged rings and prayed to God for thanksgiving and blessings on our marriage."
They were married by a justice of the peace, Moore said.
"He had bright, red hair," she said.
When the Moores saw details about the church's offer in January, "it sounded like a blessing," Moore said. "We had put it on the back burner. But when we saw it there, we thought God was creating an opportunity."
In exchange for the wedding, the couple agreed to abide by church wedding policies (no alcohol or smoking) and attend four Sunday worship services at the church before the ceremony.
"They are the sweetest people I've ever met," Moore said of the parishioners. "They have tried to be involved in our wedding. They're all so friendly and welcoming."
Ogle, who is projected to be appointed to a Maryville District church after St. Andrews is officially closed at Annual Conference, said his members enjoyed working with the couple.
"They enjoyed getting to meet them," he said. "It's been positive in that respect."
The church's wedding offer included a reception for up to 50 people. If it was to go beyond that, the couple – or their families – would be responsible for the extra cost.
That happened with the Moores, who are both students in the nursing program at Chattanooga State Technical Community College, she to be a midwife and he to be a nurse anesthetist.
Although their wedding party was small, Moore said, the guest list for the reception "grew and grew and grew" to more than 200 people.
She and her husband's parents were supportive, she said, but she and her husband financed the extra cost.
Moore said it gave her a nostalgic feeling for theirs to be the last wedding at St. Andrews.
"It's one of the most beautiful buildings," she said. "We're pleased, very pleased, with all that's gone on."
Clint Cooper is faith editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press and a member at First-Centenary UMC in Chattanooga District. Reprinted with permission, Chattanooga Times Free Press.
top |
Bishop's Perspective
Cover Stories:
Chattanooga Church Weddings
and
Tazewell Flood-Relief Needs
Inside:
Appointments
District Roundup
More:
C-Mail
Back to The Call Home Page
|
|
