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Scott Stevens
Lisa Suber and Grey Garland improvised their wedding plans. "We put very little effort into the planning. That was the most enjoyable thing of all about it. It just happened," Lisa said.
Scott Stevens
Lisa's wedding dress hung in the back of her closet for four years – not intended to be worn on her wedding day. Grey wore a traditional Scotland Highland kilt with a sporran and tuxedo jacket.
Scott Stevens
Through misty eyes Grey described his memory of seeing Lisa for the first time. "My eyes locked on her as soon as I walked in the door. The first thing I saw was this cute little blond behind the counter."
Lisa would wear a wedding dress – one she purchased years ago. She was a little concerned how to explain that to Grey. “I mean what girl has a wedding dress hanging in her closet four years,” Lisa said. “I didn’t know if Grey would think I was just waiting for a guy to come along and get married. Grey’s reaction was asking Lisa “Why in the heck do you have a wedding dress in your closet?”
Actually Lisa had a good, albeit somewhat entertaining story.
“My friend Wendy and I took a day trip to West Jefferson (N.C.) to take a tour of a cheese factory. We went shopping in town and it had all these quaint shops. One of the shops had wedding dresses hanging on the back wall and Wendy asked ‘What is going on with the dresses’. The cashier said they were all 50 percent off. We saw one dress for $40 and it was beautiful but not the right size.
“We looked at the dresses and Wendy said, ‘Let’s be the bride of Frankenstein for Halloween. We spent about two hours cutting up, laughing and trying on wedding dresses. We came upon this one dress and Wendy told me I absolutely had to buy it. The dress was gorgeous. I bought it and that was the end of that until I Grey and I began talking about getting married.”
That dress, as it turns out, added another more meaningful chapter to her life’s story. A few alterations by friend Kim McAbee and Lisa’s dress was fit for her fairytale wedding.
The wedding was mostly improvised. “We put very little effort into the planning. That was the most enjoyable thing of all about it. It just happened,” Lisa said.
“We got our marriage certificate in January and we discussed three dates,” Lisa said. “We knew we didn’t want to wait until November (11-3) so our options were January (1-13) or March (3-1-13).” Lisa repeats her numerical sequence once she ends her string, thus the March date, 3-1-13, on a Friday was selected.
Rev. Scottie Burkhalter, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Greer, was the officiate. “He knew how strapped we were for time. We did the premarital counseling over latte and made our wedding plans,” Lisa said.
The bride and groom acted as if Friday was like any other day. “We came in and opened the store and it was business as usual,” Grey said. “Employees came in and (Lisa) went her way and I went mine. It was surreal I was as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. I couldn’t believe this little girl would marry me.”
Lisa was careful to keep the wedding a secret. Virtually no one knew, with the only invited guests being Harpst, to walk Lisa down the aisle, Sheila and Tommy Springfield, Grey’s long-time friend, Chris Bryant, serving as best man and Scott Stevens photographed the event. Harpst’s planned birthday party that evening at the coffee shop doubled as the reception.
Lisa said she assigned Grey two tasks. Give the ring to his best man and turn off his cell phone. Both turned out to be entertaining asides.
Grey wore a traditional Scotland Highland kilt with a sporran, functioning as a pocket on the front of the pocket less kilt. “I had the ring in a box in my sporran and was fumbling with it behind my back during the ceremony to give it to Chris. I’m pretty sure Lisa noticed that.” She did.
Lisa also couldn’t help notice when Grey’s alarm on his phone sounded. The alarm overrides the ringtone, which was turned off. Grey said he set the alarm for a prescribed time to mark the occasion. It did. Grey’s sentimental explanation: “I figured the ceremony would have been over and it was to mark a special moment in our lives.” The alarm was set on 1:13.
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