Tying the knot in front of family and friends, Brian McLain and Denise Walker-Stokes put family first.
Eschewing a church or upscale location for their wedding, they exchanged vows in the courtyard of Tendercare so that McLain's dad, a resident of the facility, could attend. When the betrothed couple were planning their wedding, they discovered that Roger Widrig was too ill to travel.
A solution quickly became obvious: bring the wedding to him.
"This is my family, our first family," said Walker-Stokes, who along with her mother, Karon Stokes, works at
Tendercare in the housekeeping department.
With some hesitation, Walker-Stokes approached Dale Chilcote, Tendercare administrator, about the idea. His unhesitating response: "Sure!"
"When they asked me about it, I was very excited to be a part of it," Chilcote recalled. "It's quite an event, we've been preparing for quite a few weeks getting ready."
Co-workers and staff quickly stepped in to help with all facets of the wedding planning in the weeks leading up to the event. Everyone from department heads to fellow housekeeping employees volunteered their time to spiff up the courtyard by weeding, pruning, constructing decorative flower boxes and planting flowers.
"I can't believe all they did to the courtyards, these are the people you say, 'Yes, ma'am,' and 'Yes, sir' to," said Karon Stokes, who has worked at Tendercare for two years.
By Saturday afternoon, a decorated canopy rested in the corner of the yard and residents, family and friends were arrayed in chairs as witnesses. A ring bearer, two flower girls and two bridesmaids preceded the bride, who emerged from Tendercare's dining room dressed in full wedding regalia. Walker-Stokes' father, David, escorted her through the courtyard's garden to the altar as a friend sang.
All members of the facility received a personal invited to attend and residents eagerly watched and talked about the wedding preparations for weeks. The staff were just as excited.
"We also had a lot of staff who came in who weren't working today," noted Melanie Martell, admissions coordinator at the facility, about the wedding.
Department heads held bake sale fundraisers to help pay for some of the reception's expenses. McLain and Walker-Stokes also planned a larger reception at another location that evening.
Members of the dietary department donated their time to make a small sheet wedding cake and snacks for a reception after the nuptials. Other employees came in on their day off to do the bridal party's hair and another person donated their photographic services.
"We had a ball, it brought us all together," said Chilcote. "It was a great little event."
Walker-Stokes and McLain were both traveling down the aisle for the second time and their marriage unites two families into a blended one. They actually knew each other 15 years ago when they had a daughter together but each had gone their separate way. They lost touch until their daughter, now a teenager, asked to meet her father.
From that, the sparks again began that led to Saturday's wedding.
"Here we are, 15 years later, we got back together," said Walker-Stokes.