Chasing brides again in the Falls
Posted: Thursday, December 18, 2014 3:00 am
Niagara Gazette
I spent some time the other day with a bride and groom who came to Niagara Falls to be married.
It was for a story I wrote on the dozen or so couples tying the knot on a day they will forever remember as 12-13-14.
The handsome groom I interviewed was from Pittsburgh and his beautiful bride was from Germany.
The day before their wedding they enjoyed a visit to the icy waterfalls and were walking the windy, cold streets of downtown Niagara Falls. When I met up with them to get a photo for my story, they told me they had several family members coming in that evening and asked me about driving over the bridge to Canada for dinner.
“Ack,” I said, sounding like a character from the comic pages.
I invited them into my car and drove them to the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute. We walked inside and I pointed out the French bakery, the sandwich shop, the upscale Savor Restaurant, the Barnes and Nobles book store and the wine shop. I made sure they took notice of the windows of the cooking classrooms.
The lobby was all decked for the holidays, including the giant, student-made gingerbread houses, and the couple was duly impressed. They said they would be coming back for dinner. By my count that was two down, thousands more to go.
Back in my car with them, we chatted a bit about their experience in the falls. They were very happy with their stay at the Rainbow Bed Breakfast and the little chapel there, where they were to be married the next day. They were looking forward to an intimate wedding dinner they had planned with their families at the Red Coach Inn afterwards.
But their uncertainty about what else there was to do here made me feel frustrated. Because, once again, I was meeting people who chose our city as the site of their wedding —as thousands of couples have done through the years — and no one seemed to care.
I have written about this before. I’m not asking anything that’s costly or challenging. I’m just wishing more of us would realize we have an untapped market of nuptials visitors coming here to spend their celebratory dollars and all we have to do is notice them, welcome them, and encourage more to come here.
I don’t want to spend another year waving at newlyweds when I walk through the state park and wishing our city — the one-time Honeymoon Capitol of the World — would offer some visible appreciation that it was selected over so many other possibilities, as the location for one of the most important days of so many couples’ lives.
So during this magical time of year when heartfelt wishes most often do come true, here is what I really want for my Niagara Falls Christmas:
• A wedding walkway where those who have been married here could purchase bricks noting the date of their nuptials so they and their children might have a special spot to visit and revisit in the years to come.
• A wedding chapel and photo locations in the city that befit a couple’s big day — so that the newlyweds know that they are celebrated by the city of Niagara Falls.
• Retail and restaurant salutes to the newlyweds, through a logo that lets couples know that business wants to give a little gift to the newlyweds, maybe a small discount or, in the case of restaurants, a special wedding table or a white rose.
• A package of gifts and perks given out by marriage officers. While I love talking to the city clerk’s office, employees seem to really enjoy issuing wedding licenses, and go out of their way to accommodate those who want to marry here. I wish we could do more. Wouldn’t it be great if there were some sort of cool wedding package we could give to newlyweds that would welcome them to the city, and tell them what there is to do here? Maybe it’s filled with little gifts that might encourage them to check out the businesses and services this community offers?
I’m just wishing those of us who live and work here might enjoy, a little bit more, the legions of couples who travel to this city to get hitched. Maybe, we could all make an effort to be on the look out for wedding couples and when we see them, give them a beep of a car horn or a wave of our hand.
Brides and grooms are like babies. It’s hard not to smile when you see them. We should celebrate with them when they come here. That way, we all get to share in a little bit of their wedding day joy.
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Posted in
Opinion,
Columns
on
Thursday, December 18, 2014 3:00 am.
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