It was a pet-lover’s social event of the year … and, something you just don’t see every day.
A lovely wedding was held Wednesday afternoon at the Merrill Gardens senior living complex in Poinciana.
About 60 guests gathered in the Promenade Room to witness the “nuptials” of Bear the shitzu and Baby the yorkie.
Yes, it was a dog wedding. And it was delightful.
The wedding party consisted of Bear, who strutted in a tux, and Baby, sporting a lovely wedding dress, and friends Rhodie, the best man; Chloe, the maid of honor; and Sky, the flower girl.
While the dogs did what small pets do—their own thing for much of the 30 minutes or so—it was all in good fun and taste as, frankly, it was likely the first dog wedding for all those attending.
The idea came from Merrill Gardens friends Sue Mann (mother of the groom Bear) and Donna Snyder (mother of the bride Baby). In April, someone gave Snyder a dress for Baby. Her friends, like Mann, said it looked like a wedding dress.
“So, I thought, ‘We should have a wedding!” Snyder said.
Her and Mann joked about it for a while; their dogs get along as well as they do, and a funny idea turned into planning, reality, and a canine cotillion attended by a number of friends of the bride and groom—fellow Merrill Gardens residents.
Merrill Gardens GM Javier Espinosa presided over the posh pooch proceedings.
“I hope I do this well, I’ve never been to a doggy wedding,” said Espinosa—likely feeling the same as others in attendance.
“It’s a fun-loving community here,” he said. “When I heard about it I was like, ‘Yes, let’s do it!’” After taking each other as “Good Boy!” and “Good Girl!” The bride and groom left the ceremony in a wedding carriage—a wagon trailed by dog biscuits instead of tin cans. Then it was time for the reception—which was already planned. Merrill Gardens holds “Happy Hour” on Wednesdays at 3 p.m., and there was wine and human cake to toast the new couple.
“Even what the dogs were doing was funny. But the residents loved it,” Mann said. “They’ve never had something like this at Happy Hour. We did it like this so there’d be a reception already planned.”
As for the honeymoon … there were no details, but it would have gotten off to a delayed start anyway.
“I have to take him home, he’s had a lot of excitement today,” Mann said of Bear.
In lieu of gifts, attendees were encouraged to donate to Osceola County Animal Service’s rescue pet program.
Evelyn Grosso was one of the attendees, and said many of her friends were looking forward to this since they heard about it.
“We don’t get out to too many excursions, so we love hearing about things like this,” she said as she took a number of pictures and videos of the event.
Afterwards, Snyder, in a lovely pink number for the occasion, was all smiles.
“This started as a joke, but I think it went great, then again I’ve never seen a dog wedding before,” Snyder joked following the ceremony. It was quick, but that’s okay, you’re dealing with animals. But we had our friends here and everybody had a great time. I only have grandsons so I probably won’t be involved in those weddings, but this was really fun.”
