Tarah

Q. How does it feel to see yourself in full wedding regalia for the first time?

Tarah got married today. A month ago we were watching her try on her gown for the last time before the big day. Such joy. Such a smile. It was almost too bright to look at without sunglasses. 

Today only Tarah’s brand-new husband, Ryan, was the one to warm in that smile’s glow. The pair chose to share their nuptials on a beach in Jamaica with just one another, the sand, the sea and the sky as witnesses.

Four weeks ago it was her friends gathered on a cushy couch and her mom in Florida, via FaceTime watching the 25-year-old hair stylist twirl in front of a wall of mirrors at a bridal shop in Bedford, New Hampshire. That's when she answered the question without hesitation.

A. “Amazing. I was worried about the butt, before it was altered, but it’s not too tight and the boobs look good.” Everyone present in the flesh and on line laughed, but wholeheartedly agreed. Tarah would be a stunning bride on the beach. Tarah would be a stunning bride on a football field. Tarah would be a stunning bride just about anywhere. Her beauty secret was no secret. Pure, unadulterated love.

Bedford, N.H.

Debbie and Dean

“Jerry Springer has nothing on us,” said Dean, who first met, Debbie, when she was 15. She was his best friend’s girlfriend. A few years later Debbie introduced Dean to her older sister.

“We all got married in a double wedding when we were in our 20s,” said Debbie who along with Dean on this chilly day, were selling prom dresses and bridesmaid gowns at the Londonderry Flea Market. So to get this straight. Dean married Debbie's sister and Debbie married Dean's best friend.

And in an act that could be considered a portent of the future, the preacher got the couples mixed up. 

“Her first child is my godson,” said Dean.

“And my ex is the godfather to Dean’s oldest son.”

After a while both couples divorced. Both Debbie and Dean started dating other people.

“I swore I’d never marry again,” said Dean. 

Truth be told, said Dean, “My ex (Debbie’s sister) pushed us together. So  years later Dean asked Debbie out.  The first date – sharing cheese fries at a restaurant in a lighthouse in Maine. The couple still has an ashtray from that date as a memento.

“From then on I schmoozed her,” said Dean, who has worked as a sheet metalist or “tin knocker” most of his life.

“We were just looking at our love letters last night,” said Debbie.

And that resolve never to marry again? Out the window.

Debbie and Dean wed in June, 2001.

Dean laughs. “I didn’t want to get to know a whole new family. This was perfect.”


Londonderry N.H.