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Brides check the college football schedule before choosing a wedding date
COLUMBIA, S.C. ? When Kendall Burch informed her father she was planning to get married this fall, he consulted the University of South Carolina football schedule he keeps in his wallet and told her the wedding would be on Oct. 2. The father of the bride usually steers clear of those sorts of details. But fall is football season.
"I had to have our wedding (that particular) Saturday to ensure that my father and brother would be there for our big day and not at a USC game," Burch said. As Burch and lots of brides understand, college football can put a crimp in fall wedding plans. It's best to schedule nuptials when the home team has a week off, as USC did on Oct. 2. Lori Smith at Aubreigh Len Event Planning and Consulting in Lexington, S.C., said football is a huge factor for brides. "They know if people have to choose between the game and the wedding, it's the game," Smith said. She has worked at many fall weddings where "the bridesmaids and groomsmen are listening to the game while they're getting dressed, and they run back right after the ceremony and listen to it during the reception." Jen Barclay and Jeremi Madden of Columbia, S.C., discovered the pull of USC football. They originally had planned to get married at Holden Beach, N.C., on Oct. 9. "But our bridal party, families, co-workers and friends threw a fit and told us they wouldn't be at the wedding if it was the day of the Alabama game," Barclay said. "Jeremi and I don't miss a Carolina game ? we are both USC grads ? but somehow we thought our big day would be more important than a football game. Boy, were we wrong!" They moved the date to Oct. 2, and Madden was scheming to find a way to watch the Alabama game online during their honeymoon in Mexico. Liz White and Chas McCarthy wanted a fall wedding. Carolina grads now living in Washington, D.C., they opted for Saturday because any other week would have meant planning a wedding around a game time that could be switched in the last week because of television coverage. "We are both happy we chose the bye week for our wedding, although my fiance is a little disappointed about missing the 'Bama-Florida game," White said. "But that's what smart phones are for, right?" They will put off their honeymoon for several months "so next Saturday we (could) be watching the 'Bama game with Carolina alumni back in D.C. for the first time as newlyweds." Shawn Kirk let the football schedule help set her big day, for the sake of her family and friends. "No game (that) weekend was definitely one of two reasons I chose Saturday for my wedding date," Kirk said. "Just trying to get home to Irmo (S.C.) on a game day is a challenge for me, yet alone anticipating 150-200 guests to arrive on time in the same area. The other reason is Saturday is my mother's birthday. She passed away in '99, so this year we will celebrate tears of joy instead of pain." Wallace Black is a big USC fan, and her family tailgates at all of the games. "I would have never scheduled (her wedding) on a game day," Black said. "Even if I did, the family would have vetoed it." Her fiance, Steven Waugh, is a University of Tennessee grad. Black admitted she "neglected to look at Tennessee's schedule" when picking Saturday for their wedding date. The Vols play Louisiana State Saturday. Burch has one advantage over many of the other Oct. 2 brides. She is getting married in the small town of Pageland, so there wasn't any rush to book a location for the wedding and reception. But in Columbia, popular sites such as Riverbanks Zoo and Garden and Saluda Shoals Park's River Center booked for this weekend more than a year in advance. The Lace House, a popular wedding site in the Governor's Mansion complex in Columbia, got about 60 calls or e-mails asking about the availability of this Saturday for weddings. That's about twice as many requests as typical weekends, said Margaret Farish, events planner at the mansion. Mollie Watson locked up the River Center for this weekend before the 2010 football schedule was confirmed. She called the USC athletics office and determined that there was a chance the Gamecocks would be playing Furman on Oct. 2. She figured that would be OK because it wouldn't be a big game. She couldn't believe her good luck when the schedule was announced and she had a Gamecock football-free day. She joked that if the schedule had been changed so that a Southeastern Conference game was this Saturday, "the bride wouldn't show up." Alexandra Martin and Ryan Sacko already are planning their fall 2011 wedding. They did their research. USC has three home games and a road game at Georgia set for next September. No games are scheduled yet for Oct. 1 or Oct. 8, so they took a shot at Oct. 1. "At the least, it'll be an away game," Sacko said. "There's no way they'll have that many home games in a row." Adrienne Huffman of Columbia is a USC fan and her fiance, Ken Bellinger, is a Clemson fan. She wanted a fall wedding and chose this weekend because USC was off and Clemson is on the road at Miami. "Our venue was already booked for Oct. 2, so we're having a beautiful outdoor ceremony ... on Sunday afternoon," Huffman said. "Who cares about pro football?"
