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[Back] [Email to a Friend] [Printer Friendly Version]Special Friends Make Wedding Especially Perfect
The Capital Times :: FRONT :: 1A
Saturday, September 6, 2003
By Pat Schneider The Capital Times
Vicki Showers and Duane Drinkwater each had walked down the aisle before.
But for many of their guests Friday, the wedding was a first.Showers, an instructor at Madison Area Rehabilitation Centers, and Drinkwater, an employee of Sub-Zero, took their vows before family members and friends, dozens of whom are developmentally disabled clients of MARC-East on Lien Road in Madison.
"I love the people here, and not many of them get to come to a wedding," Showers said as she put the finishing touches on her wedding attire.
MARC provides employment, day services and personal care to some 280 developmentally disabled people through five centers in Dane County.
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Clients at MARC-East jumped at the chance to be part of Showers' wedding.
Were they excited? "Oh, my gosh," said social worker Robin Skala.
They spent days helping to create a fantasy garden in what was once an industrial assembly area, Skala said.
They twisted tissue paper into flowers that twined around the walls, newly painted and covered to resemble bricks.
They helped staff members with other decorations -- swags of netting, bunches of flowers, a painted cobblestone path.
They also tore and bagged batches of super-sized confetti. "You have to take it out of the bag before you throw it at Vicki," one confided Friday.
What did Peggy Ray like about getting ready for a wedding? "Everything!" she said.
As they waited for the ceremony to begin, Tim Manchester, dapper in coat and tie and a rose boutonniere, admitted he was "kind of" nervous about his role as usher.
"Vicki is a beautiful bride," said Chris Jones, before Showers had yet arrived.
MARC staffers rolled in some clients with physical disabilities; others wheeled in themselves.
Manchester and Scott Gurriel walked guests to their seats.
Staff members worked the crowd. "You look so pretty," one said to a client. "Looking handsome there, Bobby," said another.
When the big moment arrived, Showers, accompanied by son Chad Peat, entered to calls of "Vicki!" "Vicki!" rippling through the audience.
A premature handful (or two) of confetti floated toward Showers as she walked to the arbor where Drinkwater awaited.
As she predicted, the sight of all those MARC faces brought the bride to tears of joy.
Judge Diane Nicks officiated at the ceremony, in which she spoke of the transformational power of imagination and love.
As the happy couple walked, just wed, down the aisle, gleeful guests tossed confetti.
Showers' unconventional wedding setting actually followed family tradition.
Her mother, Therese Morgan, married her husband, Marv, in 1977 at a ceremony at Goodwill Industries, where Morgan then was working.
Like her daughter, Morgan chose a wedding venue that embraced the people who were so much a part of her life and were often not included even in the weddings of family members.
"Everybody should go to a wedding," Morgan said.
MARC staffers cut the wedding cake, delivered it, and fed it to those clients unable to feed themselves.
They delivered hugs and pats of encouragement.
Center Director Debi Webb said the unadulterated affection her staff gets from the clients is payment for the demands of the job.
"They do more for us than we do for them," Webb said. "It's very gratifying."
Drinkwater thought the setting for his wedding, among the people who rely daily on his wife, was just right.
"It meant a lot to her," he said. "It meant a lot to me."
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