By MONICA JOSEPH
THE GOSHEN NEWS
GOSHEN —
Ashley Troyer had an idea. It involved 120 chairs, one alley and two "I dos."
Judging from their response, Goshen’s downtown merchants thought Troyer’s idea was a great one.
That great idea turned into a very big day for Heather Gaut and Brent Zebell. Surrounded by family and friends — and a few hundred strangers — the Nappanee couple tied the knot Friday in a ceremony in a brick-lined alley off the 100 block of Goshen’s Main Street.
"I had this idea because I’m an event planner and designer," Troyer said. "I work with the bride to make sure the event is cohesive. If they want an elegant wedding, I find an elegant area — I really focus on location in my business."
Troyer of Ashley Troyer Events wanted to showcase her talents by doing something less traditional — planning a wedding on a rooftop or in an alley.
She started tossing around the logistics of combining the roof or alley plan with a First Fridays event.
"Really the idea started out as doing a mock wedding on a way smaller scale to let people see my ideas," Troyer said.
She mentioned the idea to First Fridays coordinator Grace Hunsberger, who immediately got on board. Photographer Cyd DuBois was also excited to join the plan.
The real thing
Troyer and Hunsberger eventually got so enthused by the way things were coming together, they decided to try to pull off the real thing.
Troyer ran into her former high school classmate Heather Gaut and her then-boyfriend Brent Zebell in Nappanee about three months ago.
According to Brent, Troyer asked the couple if they knew anyone who wanted to get married.
Heather and Brent, who did indeed want to get married, but hadn’t yet made it official, asked, "Why?"
When Troyer explained, Heather’s next question was "What’s the catch?"
There was no catch, Heather later found out. The couple received donations of wedding services and goods from downtown merchants totaling around $13,100, including about $2,500 in photography from Cyd Gallery, Troyer’s service as wedding planner and a free honeymoon from Menno Travel/American Express. Hunsberger continued to seek sponsors and the response was tremendous, Troyer said.
"I don’t think anyone we approached said no," she said.
The organizers managed to cover all the wedding bases from downtown merchants, including the dress, which was donated by Joselena Fashion and Alterations.
Downtown eateries donated food, Gateway Cellar donated glasses and wine, The Goshen News donated the invitations and programs, Bosco’s Place donated the reception site and bartender, Jule’s Boutique donated bridesmaids dresses and Snyder’s Men’s Shop the tuxedos. In all, 27 businesses joined together to make the wedding happen.
Happening fast
It all came together in a few months.
"We went from not even engaged yet," Heather said with a big smile, "to married in about 2½ months."
The couple had been dating for two years before the encounter with Troyer that set their wedding date. Brent played in a band called Kingston Falls with Heather’s cousin.
"My aunt set us up," she said.
They had planned to wed, but Brent hadn’t popped the question yet. He did the "down on one knee" official proposal about a month after they decided to accept Ashley’s wedding day offer.
For Heather, the downtown event was the perfect wedding — small (not counting the thousands of people at First Fridays) — and unconventional.
"I never really had the traditional wedding dream," she said.
Troyer’s vision included outdoor lighting, 120 white wedding chairs with black chiffon ties and a canopy on the west end of the alley draped with billowing chiffon.
"We kept it really simple," Troyer said. "We wanted to keep it more bistro and simple and let it be an alley dressed up a little bit."
The bridal party’s staging area was at the adjacent Wellness Studio on Main Street. The reception was held at Bosco’s Place in the beer garden. A vintage mo-ped provided by Vintage Left Mo-peds was the couple’s mode of transportation to the reception, accompanied by Goshen firefighters.
The band Gretchen’s Revenge had been booked for the Washington Street stage for First Fridays long before the wedding plan came to fruition, but by happy coincidence, Heather and Brent’s first date was to hear that band, Troyer said.
The band was moved inside Bosco’s Place in case of inclement weather, but the music was still piped outside to the reception.
A little nervous
Heather and Brent admit it was a little nerve-wracking knowing so many strangers would be watching. The wedding had been advertised as part of First Fridays in local media and on Web sites and was on the marquee of the former Goshen Theater.
"We are a little nervous about the attention," Brent said the day of the wedding rehearsal. But excitement trumped the trepidation, the couple agreed.
One of the things the couple was most excited about was finding out Friday night around 9:30 p.m. where they would be going for their honeymoon.
Representatives of Menno Travel announced on stage that the couple would be heading to Las Vegas on an all-inclusive honeymoon that included airfare and several shows.
