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Couples plan to marry on
Sept. 11 More than anything, Tara Johns and Matthew LaFurge want a September wedding. So in October 2002, when their top choice of banquet halls, the Valley Regency in Clifton, had only one Saturday in September available, Johns and LaFurge, 27, of Jersey City, accepted without hesitation. "We said to ourselves: 'It would be foolish not to take this day,'" Johns says. No matter that the day is Sept. 11, 2004. No matter that three years before, Johns, 26, of Old Bridge, was one among thousands who fled Lower Manhattan as the World Trade Center collapsed. Memory still haunts her. "It doesn't ever change. It doesn't ever get foggy," Johns says. "You're never going to forget that day ever. I know I can't." A student at New York Law School at the time, Johns was studying 10 blocks north of the twin towers when the planes hit. Security evacuated her building. Ash, soot and fear filled the air while she stomped north. "I turned around and I saw this big gaping hole in the building. I saw all this stuff falling and I thought it was debris," she says. Only after she was safe at home did she realize it wasn't debris after all, but the bodies of people in despair. She says her wedding won't replace or deny those memories. But it will allow a good memory to grow alongside the bad. This year's anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks is the first to fall on a Saturday, and Saturdays in September are some of the most sought-after days in the bridal industry. Yet, history has not stopped some couples, including some in Passaic County, from choosing to share their anniversary with a day of infamy. Even couples who lost friends and friends of family, like LaFurge and Johns, feel comfortable with date. It is impossible to know in advance the number of Sept. 11 weddings to be held this year. But some registries say that a Sept. 11 wedding is not unusual in New Jersey. By early August, 11 such weddings in New Jersey were registered with NJwedding.com, an online wedding planner for the state, according to site publisher Erik Kent. On Sept. 4, the Saturday before, 19 weddings are scheduled, while the following Saturday, Sept 18, has 43 weddings, he says. While these numbers do not reflect every wedding in the state, they show that the terror attacks did not wipe out the market. Local wedding planners breathed a sigh of relief. "We kind of had this on our radar screen," says Robert Frungillo, owner of Frungillo Catering Designs, which manages seven banquet halls in North Jersey. Eighty percent of the company's business is related to weddings, he says. Yet this Sept. 11, his company has 12 wedding parties booked, including two at its Skylands Manor in Ringwood. That's an average amount for a Saturday in September and he did not have to cut prices to attract couples, he says. However, managers of individual sites did offer discounts to sell the Sept. 11 date, which at Skylands remained open until February. Other local venues are fully booked, too. The Wayne Manor has three weddings planned for the evening of Sept. 11. The Regency House Hotel of Pompton Plains has two, including an Oak Ridge couple. The Valley Regency of Clifton only has the Johns and LaFurge wedding. Across the bridal industry, many businesses stand to be affected by the Sept. 11 anniversary. From March 2002 to March 2003, the industry sold between $45 and $50 billion for wedding-day services alone - the costs of everything from rehearsal dinner to reception - for about 2.5 million weddings nationwide, according to Gerard Monaghan, president of American Bridal Consultants. The average American wedding receives 168 guests and costs $24,000. September, along with May, June and October, are the industry's busiest months. "To lose a prime weekend, the weekend after Labor Day, because of a historical event, is unfortunate," says Ron Chim, sales manager of the Regency House Hotel. Chim expects that the pain of Sept. 11 will eventually fade. The date, after all, has a historical twin in the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. "Unless you fought in World War II, Dec. 7 is just another date on the calendar," he says. For others, Sept. 11 is the perfect date to celebrate America. Lynne Padula and Keith Brennan of Oak Ridge got engaged last December, That made their first choice of wedding dates, July 4, too soon to schedule. But their second choice, Sept. 11, was not. "We were both totally into it," says Padula, 28. At their separate homes, flags, posters and books hang on their walls in tribute to Sept. 11, she says. "We are both patriotic. We were before it happened." Padula and Brennan, 31, planned their ceremony to reflect that spirit. The groomsmen will wear blue vests and blue ascots while the bridesmaids will wear red and pass out American flags while they walk up the aisle. During the ceremony, they will have a moment of silence for the Sept. 11 victims and the armed forces. Padula and Brennan will exit to the tune of "God Bless America" or Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be American." The only item missing, Padula says, is a phrase from the Bible that incorporates the themes or words "liberty" and "freedom." Most friends and family supported them in their decision to wed that day, Padula says. However, a few did not. "Eww ... is that only date you could get?" Padula says a coworker asked when she announced the date. That person was not invited to the wedding. Nor did that coworker shake Padula and Brennan's resolve. If it had, that would allow "them" or "the terrorists" to win, Padula says. "No, we're living brave," she says. "We want people to know that life goes on." Reach Ed Beeson at (973) 569-7042 or beeson@northjersey.com. Copyright © 2004 North Jersey Media Group Inc. |
