This story kind of hit home, as I had a couple of ancestors back in the middle of the nineteenth century who married on Halloween. I don't know what big a deal if any that would have been in those days, or whether the planned date was intentional or coincidental for that matter, but I am reasonably sure in any event their nuptials were nothing like the story that follows.
If you can't have a Halloween wedding in Sleepy Hollow's Old Dutch Church, where can you? Evidently, the old three hundred plus year old Old Dutch Church wasn't having any of it, and when they found out just what the couple's (pictured above) plans were, they pulled the rug out from under them. Or so it would seem.
Elmsford couple Jim Nieves and Lisa Panensky, who planned a Halloween wedding at the Old Dutch Church on Saturday, are looking for a new venue after plans for their union unraveled over the weekend.
Nieves e-mailed a music request for the ceremony, which included traditional classics and, in the spirit of Halloween, theme music from "The Addams Family" and "The Munsters."
But the Rev. Jeff Gargano, the church's pastor, said the "fun gothic" tunes were not allowed in the historic 17th-century church.
Evidently, it didn't help the couple's cause that the bride planned to wear a black cocktail dress with a black veil and flowers decorated with miniature skulls-fake ones, we assume.
Look, this is an old, conservative, traditional church in a rural part of New York State. The fact that Washington Irving wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and actually mentions this church somewhere in the story, should not be construed as an indication that this is an anything goes type of environment. A good rule of thumb is, when you are planning something off the wall, check around first.
Not that I don't feel for the couple. They are obviously upset that their hopes are dashed, and now they are stuck with preparing for a wedding to which dozens of invitations have been sent out. But they, not the Old Dutch Church, bear the onus of responsibility here.
What's more, Reverend Gargano even offered to marry the couple in the Church's historic old cemetery. He's probably bending over backwards doing that, and he has offered to refund the couple's money. They have refused on both counts. It's hard to feel too sorry for them.
