The TOC wedding went off without a hitch (heh)

Editor's note: We're re-posting this today as many folks who read the print version of TOC (luddites!) saw a mention of it on this week's letters page.

Our weddings feature put out the call: Have your wedding at the TOC offices, and the magazine will set you up with a champagne toast, a celebratory dinner, after ceremony spa and hotel stay, plus flowers. Oh, and you won't have to worry about the venue, because it'll all go down in our conference room, decked out to look as much like a wedding chapel as possible—with more white butcher board paper than you can shake a really expensive stick-like centerpiece at. "There's no way in hell anyone would want to do this," I was heard saying aloud, often to no one in particular. And this was coming from the guy who was slated to play guitar at said ceremony.

But I wasn't counting on Colleen O'Boyle and Joe Avezzano.

The pair were all set for a blow-out affair in summer of 2009, when Colleen lost her job ("as the bridal director for a fine china company no less—ugh, talk about irony!" she shared via email). With a reduced income, and an increased desire to begin their new life together and start a family, the couple decided to head to the courthouse—or Vegas, as the case may be—to do the deed sooner rather than later. Our job would be to make their special day feel, well, special. How could we refuse? And how could I look down on something like that? So we set the date (last Friday) and got things in motion.

As expected, the soon-to-be married couple couldn't have been nicer. They arrived at our office a few minutes before 4pm and took a tour. Our editor-in-chief Frank Sennett brought them over by my desk—Colleen was wearing an elegant tan dress, while Joe looked snappy in his suit—for a quick hello. Colleen thanked me for the music I was to play, shot me a few smiles, and moved along briskly. Joe was much quieter. I don't know him very well, but I'd venture to say he was a bit nervous. He was about to embark on one of the most life-changing experiences of, well, his entire life, and he was surrounded by total strangers. Granted, the couple made the conscious choice not to include relatives and friends in this part of the process, so the experience had to be harrowing for Joe. Plus, it…was kinda awkward, to say the least. Our entire office knew they were coming, and I can only imagine the kinds of looks and hushed conversations they had run into on their little tour, or overheard while Features editor Laura Baginski pinned the corsage to Joe's lapel. They were making themselves vulnerable, and this on top of an already super vulnerable day by design.

Everything changed, though, once we got started. Cramped in the back of the conference room where I once napped on the floor, several TOC employees looked on with joy as Colleen walked down the "aisle" to the sweet, sweet tune of approximately 11 seconds of Iron & Wine's "Love and Some Verses" (a request by Colleen—the song, not the length). As soon as Frank started his spiel, the event immediately stopped becoming a gimmick. It was no longer about the side benefits or the novelty of it all. It was about Colleen and Joe, two strangers kind enough to let us glimpse an incredibly special moment in their lives—and not even the fact that web editor Scott Smith had a video camera shoved in their faces the entire time could change that. (the results of his intrepidness, are posted above*). The couple exchanged short vows, kissed, then immediately picked up a champagne glass (none were broken, as per the wedding custom I'm familiar with) to toast with the TOC onlookers, no longer the strangers and gawkers they were only two minutes prior.

* Editor's note: Filming a wedding - with a small camcorder - in a crowded conference room is exactly as difficult as you might imagine. I almost lit my ass on fire by sitting on a candle when trying to film Colleen during the vows.

Floral arrangements were by The Dorian Wildes (773-677-8035, the.dorian.wildes@gmail.com); champagne was courtesy of Bin 36 (339 N Dearborn St, 312-755-9463, bin36.com); dinner was donated by Madame Tartines (22 W Hubbard St, 312-755-0007, madametartines.com), and a one-night stay with a couple-oriented spa package was donated by the Fairmont Hotel (200 N Columbus Dr, 312-565-6668; fairmont.com/chicago) and mySpa (312-946-8945, myspachicago.com). Wedding photography was courtesy of TOC associate photo editor Martha Williams.