Gilroyan plans wedding for an English couple
Gilroy – Lynn and Andy Viale use their backyard for happy occasions. They’ve held baptisms, barbecues and a renewal of vows. But, Sept. 3 marked the first time they provided the planning, the venue and the guests for a one-of-a-kind wedding.
Lynn and Andy opened their home to an English couple they’d known for less than a year and planned the perfect nuptials for the pair. Lynn pulled together a wedding for Jacqui and Neil Bott of Sheffield, England in less than four months.
The Friday afternoon before the ceremony the couples gathered in the Viales family room with Jacqui’s maid-of-honor and long-time pal Liz Grayshon, the only guest to make the transatlantic journey. The couples joked and teased each other about their meeting, the wedding and Neil’s impromptu proposal to Jacqui, acting like people who had known each other for a lifetime.
The Gilroy couple met Jacqui and Neil Bott last fall on a Mediterranean cruise. While traveling from Venice, Italy to Greece and Turkey, the Viale’s requested a dinner table for two. But a mix-up in the seating arrangement landed the Viales at a social table with two English couples, including Jacqui and Neil.
“However they put us together was fantastic,” Jacqui said. “It was fate.”
At the first dinner, the six of them hit it off while selecting a wine. Soon the group started meeting for cocktails and sitting together at shows aboard the cruise ship.
“We were very quick to gel,” Jacqui said. “Even after we got back to England, Neil said what a great time he’d had.”
The couples kept in touch by e-mail after going when the cruise ended.
“I invited both couples to visit in April,” Lynn said. “(Jacqui and Neil]) took us up on it.”
When the pair arrived, Jacqui immediately fell in love with the area. She recalled the lush, green hills surrounding Gilroy and the friendly people everywhere she went.
“People are so pleasant and nice,” Jacqui said. When she and Neil were visiting, the Viales insisted they stay at their Gilroy home rather than in hotels.
“We felt we got to know the real America,” Neil said.
During their two-week stay with the Viales, Lynn mentioned that they had held a wedding vow renewal for friends and joked that Neil and Jacqui could always use their backyard as a chapel. After they returned to Sheffield, Jacqui mentioned to Neil that if they were to get married she would like to have the ceremony in Gilroy. Neil took the hint and popped the question after eight years of dating.
“I take credit, not blame,” Lynn said, of the couple’s engagement.
“After we decided to do it, we had to find out if Lynn was serious or not,” Jacqui said with a laugh.
But Lynn had no intentions of going back on her word. She even offered to do all of the arrangements, some that proved a challenge for the novice wedding planner whose friend lived thousands of miles away.
“It was more than they ever thought it could be,” Lynn said. “They had good people here, celebrating with them.”
