A Toast to the Happy Couple

OK...I'll admit it. I love reading the wedding announcements in the New York Times on sundays.

They always read something like this:

The bride, 28, graduated magna cum laude in 3 years from Harvard, and is an associate with the the best law firm in New York City! Her father invented aspirin, and her mother is the president of a greeting card company franchised in 48 states. The groom, 30, is a novelist on the NY Times best seller list. His father performed the first successful double lung transplant, and his mother is a philanthropist who hosted Princess Diana at intimate dinner parties in their $2 million upper east side apartment. The couple will honeymoon in Fiji and will reside in New York City.

Alright, so that is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my drift. They are always people I don't know, from New York City or Los Angeles. Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to read a wonderful announcement for a couple from the Pioneer Valley. No, I don't know them, either. But aren't they fabulous?

Martha Jeanne Nelson and Laura Louise Patrick are to be married today at the Pines Theater in Look Park in Northampton, Mass. The Rev. Arthur Lavoie, a Unitarian Universalist minister, is to officiate.

Ms. Nelson (above, left), 42, will be known as Martha Nelson Patrick. She is the director of community relations at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She graduated cum laude from Smith College. She was the founder and owner of Pride and Joy, a gay and lesbian gift store in Northampton. Her first marriage ended in divorce.

She is a daughter of Sandra Bruce Campbell of Easthampton, Mass., and John R. Nelson Jr. of Amherst. Her father is an English professor at the university. Her mother retired as the counsel for the Chicopee Housing Authority in Massachusetts. She is a stepdaughter of Irene Nelson and of Johnstone Campbell.

Ms. Patrick, 43, is an immigration paralegal at Curran & Berger, a law firm in Northampton. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College.

She is the daughter of Gloria Hoye Scott of New York and the late Leonard Allen Patrick. Her father was a stage manager for the original Broadway production of "Death of a Salesman," at the Morosco Theater in 1949 and 1950. Her mother, an actress known as Gloria Hoye, appeared in "Law & Order" and in "Somerset," a 1970's soap opera. She is now a landscape designer in New York.

Congratulations Laura and Martha!

Engagement photo by Jeannie Riley
Photo at top by andyproctor