Mariella Bonilla and Bobby Connors of Watertown wanted their wedding to be small and intimate. “But once you invite one person, then you have to invite another,” says Bobby. “And then another and another...” The thirty-three-year-olds thus declared their nuptials a no-guest zone. Yet they didn’t merely visit a justice of the peace or fly off to an Elvis chapel in Vegas. The couple carefully planned a formal ceremony to be held at the Edgartown Light.
Inevitably, some people were less than pleased with the guest policy. “I’m the only daughter in a Spanish family,” says Mariella, a pediatric dentist, “and I’m the only member of the family who lives away from the island.” The island of Puerto Rico, that is. “They were a little upset.” She puts this mildly. Fortunately, a sympathetic grandmother cooled out the rest of the clan. Bobby’s family eventually relaxed too.
Prior to meeting each other at a gym, the couple had visited the Vineyard independently of each other. They chose to wed here for the same reason many others do: “It’s a magical place,” says Bobby, an Iraq War veteran and assistant hockey coach at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Their timing was astute. Sort of. For an outdoor affair, July would assure warm weather. And since it seemed like the world wanted to get married on 7-7-07, they picked Friday, July 6. The “uh-oh” moment came when they realized they were marrying on one of the busiest weekends of the season.
Decked out in formal attire, Mariella and Bobby walked down the aisle – er, path – to the lighthouse, where they were wed by justice of the peace Laura Johnston. Despite the size of the wedding, not to mention the sand, “I wanted my wife to have the nice wedding gown,” says Bobby, “and we wanted nice photographs, especially for our families.” Barefoot violinists Willoughby and Justin Smith provided the classical sound track, and a small flock of onlookers in shorts and flip-flops admired the scene from a respectable distance.
At the suggestion of their photographer Wayne Smith of West Tisbury (also the musicians’ father), the newlyweds took a celebratory stroll up to Edgartown’s Main Street. People emerged from storefronts and applauded. Pedestrians posed with the VIPs for pictures. Diners seated near the windows at Chesca’s rose for a standing ovation and clinked spoons on glasses.
The couple capped the day with a champagne dinner at the Harbor View Hotel’s Coach House, with its perfect view of “their” lighthouse. But first, they took care of important business: They called their happy families.
