Wedding Bells
By Val Porter

Planning a wedding is a daunting task. I am in the process of planning our wedding to be held this summer. Although it is the most exciting time of your life, anyone who has gone through this knows how stressful it can be. You have the expectations of your significant other, the expectations of family, friends, and yourself to contend with. The first thing you must do, other than decide whether or not to run away and get married, is set the date. That's the first thing everyone asks, before you've even had time to think about it. So let me just relate to you the process we went through when picking a date for our wedding.

I knew I didn't want to get married in the winter. People would be traveling and I didn't want to have to deal with the possibility of a snowstorm among other things. Okay, so that eliminates about five months. How about October? It's a lovely month…great weather around these parts in October. My soon-to-be husband said "no way. It's hockey season. What if we set the date and there's a Penguins game that day? Can't do it in October." Hmmm. Making sure we don't miss one Penguins game is more important than the day you will stand in front of God and everyone and pledge your life to each other? I had to agree. That would complicate things. Okay, October is out. Oh, and might as well cross off April, May, and June. It's the NHL playoffs and what if the Penguins go all the way? There is absolutely no way I'd miss the Penguins in the playoffs, even if it were for my wedding. Although, we did briefly discuss the possibility of getting married in late September and going to see the Penguins in Stockholm, Sweden when they play the Ottawa Senators there on October 4th and 5th. We still haven't officially ruled that trip out as a Honeymoon. Are we sick Pens fans or what?

Let's move on. When does Steelers training camp start? July? Okay, so there goes some of July, August and September? Wow. This is getting ridiculous. So we find a place to hold the ceremony and reception that both of us love. It's available two dates this year. Unfortunately, there is a possibility that the date we chose may mean we'll be competing with the Steelers who could be playing a pre-season game that day. Darn it! No. Steelers…work around my wedding day please. There are people we're inviting who we really want to be at the wedding and won't be able to make it if there's a game. Don't I know someone who can do something about this? It's bad enough that one of my best friends won't be able to make it to one of the most important days in my life. Mike Miller, wide receivers coach for the Arizona Cardinals, is one of my oldest and dearest friends. We go way back to the days at Clarion University when I harassed him in the sports department of our college radio station. It's training camp and he just won't be able to get away.

So what do sports fans do when they get married? I guess just do what we did…pick a date and go with it and hope that all your cherished friends and family will make it to your special day. Or, just get a big screen TV and make the game the entertainment at the reception. That might actually be our best bet.