Valentine's Day Weddings & Dinner

Couple takes vows in historic fashion

Fayetteville Observer, Local & State Section

February 15, 2009

By Drew Brooks

Patricia Giles and Arthur Berry knew they wanted to get married, but they couldn't commit to a date.

Then the bride-to-be saw an article in The Fayetteville Observer about weddings being conducted at the historic Oval Ballroom on Valentine's Day. The self-proclaimed “history freak” settled the discussion, then and there.

Berry and his wife, now Patricia Giles-Berry, were married Saturday afternoon in a small ceremony in the free-standing room, which is almost 200 years old.

The two had been neighbors and friends for more than 50 years before tying the knot. They have three children each — all grown — from previous marriages, and those children grew up as best friends, Giles-Berry said.

Their long friendship became a romance last May and culminated in the wedding, which was attended by about a dozen family members.

“We thought about running away and doing it that way,” said Giles-Berry. “But then I saw the story in the paper. I never dreamed I would be able to marry in a place like this.”

Normally, a wedding at the venue can cost from $450 for four hours up to $1,150 for 12 hours.

But Saturday, the Woman's Club of Fayetteville opened the room at 225 Dick St. to the public for $100 a wedding, with $20 going to the state and $80 to support the club.

Berry said the couple plans to honeymoon in Florida. He said his birthday was Friday and that the wedding was the best gift he could ask for.

Both husband and wife appeared eager for the formalities to be over. Neither waited until the magistrate was finished before pronouncing the all-important, “I do.”

“There is one rule — no crying,” Magistrate Renee Rothrock, who officiated, told the couple beforehand. “The two of you are just going to relax and gaze lovingly into each other's eyes.”

The Oval Ballroom was built in 1815 to accommodate the wedding of its first owner.

The building to which the room was once attached is long gone. But the room itself has been renovated and can now be seen in all its early 19th century charm.

The interior walls have ionic columns and six oversized windows.

The elaborate molding atop the walls was painstakingly restored and the room is painted in its original colors, pristine white and radiant light blue.

The ballroom, the nearby Sanford House and the Baker-Haigh-Nimocks House are part of Heritage Square, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Throughout Cumberland County, Rothrock said, Valentine's Day is typically the busiest day of the year for nuptials.

Magistrates usually perform more than 100 weddings alone at the county jail, where their office is located. “It's a madhouse,” Rothrock said.

She attributed the high number of ceremonies to the many soldiers who don't belong to a local church and are more likely to come to the magistrate's office.

Those civil services cost $20. The cost of a license is $50 and will be required of any couple, no matter where they are married.

On Valentine's Day, Rothrock said, the weddings start early in the morning and go on and on, until almost midnight.

  Back    Home    Forward