POKIN AROUND: Three daughters. Three weddings. In three weeks.
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| Roy Sykes photo -- The Snavely family has embarked on a bridal journey few have taken. They are (from left) mom Debbie, Laura, dad Mark, Amy and Erin. |
Sister Amy, 27, will marry on the beach Sunday, May 18, in Kill Devil Hills, N.C., on the Atlantic Coast.
Sister Erin, 25, will wed Tuesday, May 20, on the same beach.Three daughters. Three weddings. In three weeks.
With one down and two to go, parents Mark and Debbie Snavely of St. Peters are on a strange ride few of us will take.
"Any time any of them starts getting stressed out they start calling me," mom says.
The three-way coordination has been extraordinary. The only time calendars couldn't synchronize was April 26, the last open date for bachelorette parties. The sisters went in two directions.
Laura and friends had dinner at the Winery of the Little Hills and hit the bars on Main Street, St. Charles, while on that same night her younger sisters jointly ventured to a Cardinals game, visited some downtown establishments and stayed at the Lumiere Place Hotel.
Three weddings in May was not the master plan. There was no master plan.
Laura originally had visions of a big wedding in October while her younger sisters wanted "destination weddings" on separate dates, but close together, at a single vacation location.
Originally, that destination was to be Destin, Fla., in June. That changed to Kill Devil Hills in May.
The three weddings are intertwined. First, each woman is a bridesmaid in her sisters' weddings.
Second, Amy will host her big sister's reception at her O'Fallon home.
Third, Laura, who also lives in O'Fallon, will host Erin's reception.
And there's Michele Mohr, 27, a friend to all three. Michele will be the maid of honor in Amy's wedding. She also has agreed to fill in as a bridesmaid in Erin's wedding.
In addition, she will cook for two of the three receptions.
"I'm also hairstylist to all," she says.
Of course, it's been hectic, says Laura, who has been married once before.
"It hasn't been smooth sailing the entire way, but even when we hit our snags, we come back together very quickly and get back on track," Laura says. "I think this whole experience has brought me even closer to my sisters and made me realize just how much I love them.
"Overall, it has been a really fun experience and we are all helping each other to plan everything and get things done," Laura says. "Luckily, we are all pretty laid back - no Bridezillas here."
Mom, 50, was 17 when she married.
"I never had any sisters," she says. "I was so glad when I had girls. They're like my sisters now. I'm just loving it."
Dad, 52, has found his niche.
"I let the women handle it," he says. "I'm staying out of the way."
What's ironic, Debbie says, is that the first question many ask is how dad is handling the stress.
"I say, 'What? Yeah, right. He's not doing anything. It's like with being a groom. All you have to do is show up.'"
Dad, a manager at White Auto Body in O'Fallon, is not paying for three weddings. The three couples are covering most of their expenses.
Mom works in the St. Charles claims office of the Horace Mann Insurance Co.
"There is certainly nothing lavish about any of the weddings," she says.
Laura's wedding, for example, was at the gazebo outside the St. Peters municipal building on Mexico Road. The rental fee is $60.
"We are just your regular working-class people and, as much as we would love to be able to afford the 'big wedding' for all our girls, it is just not possible," mom says.
When all is said and done, mom and dad will have contributed approximately $20,000 for the three weddings.
In 2007, the average cost of a wedding in the St. Louis area was $25,000, according to Kendal Whitaker, an account executive with St. Louis' Best Bridal.
On Thursday night, during rehearsal, dad was summoned by his oldest daughter.
"Hey Dad! I was kind of hoping you would give me away!"
The pre-recorded music plays - "You're Just Too Good To Be True" - as the couples slowly walk, arm-in-arm, down the wide sidewalk leading to the gazebo.
In addition to the groom, there is his best man and older brother John Eggering and two other groomsmen. The maid of honor is Anna Zelinske.
Erin takes the walk. She was the basketball player at Francis Howell North. The last one to leave the house when she went off to Missouri State University, in Springfield, where she would meet her husband-to-be, Mark Coe. They have a 1-year-old daughter, Aubrey.
Erin's father recalls the day he headed back to his car after dropping Erin off at college for the first time. He remembers how his heart played a trick on him by sinking so low.
There is Amy. So caring. So loving. The one dad coached in eighth-grade soccer. The one always ready to sit down and watch sports with him.
Amy is an auto adjuster at Horace Mann, where she met her husband-to-be, Jeremy Davis, who came to St. Louis to work on claims after Hurricane Katrina. She has confirmed this: Before he even spoke to her he told others of his intention to someday marry her.
There is Laura. Outgoing. Organized. The one who stays on top of things. The one, her mother says, that they worried about in high school. She had a hard time with rules that didn't make sense to her.
She works as a graphic designer at Thomson Printing, in St. Charles. In June 2004 she went on a float trip and it rained incessantly. She spent a lot of time talking to Joe, who loaned her his Cardinals baseball cap. After the trip, she unpacked her gear and spotted the cap. She got Joe's number and called him. To return the cap. They talked for seven hours.
In the St. Peters gazebo, the bride and groom hold hands and rehearse their vows before mutual friend, Brian Gilkes, 29.
Brian says he knew they would marry before they did. To officiate at this service, Gilkes went online to become a minister through the Universal Life Church, based in Seattle.
Please repeat: "I have given you my hand, my heart and my love from this day forward."
Off to the side, dad hugs his granddaughter, whose birth has somehow expanded the distance between St. Peters and Springfield.
Mom snaps pictures. She is asked how "Snavely" is pronounced. In a unison that must be inherited, mom, Amy and Erin pinch up their faces and cram as much nasality as can possibly fit into two syllables - Snaaaaavely.
Laura, shoeless on this warm evening, laughs as she declares to her friend and newly minted minister, "I'm not memorizing nothing! There's no way I'll remember!"
A few of the nearby dogwoods are in bloom. Pansies are ablaze in color. The warm breeze ripples the surrounding pond. The good stuff of life itself, times three, is in the air.
