John Scott McSpadden and Susan Marie Bolduc met in June 2007. They attended C-5 Pilot Initial Qualification together as partners and became great friends. It wasn't until many months later, however, when things started heating up.
Within months of their return to New England to begin their lives as Westover ARB C-5 pilots, their friendship grew to something a little more. A few months later, their friendship grew a little more than that. And so on and so on until...their friendship was more than a friendship. They soon realized that it hurt more to "not be together as a couple" than it did to "not be together at all" because of perception issues in the squadron due to rank.
The Proposal
Have you ever seen the movie 'Serendipity?' It's our favorite movie. We even bought two copies so we could each have one when we went on the road. There's a scene in the movie where Sara is proposed to. She walks through the door into her home and there's a trail of flowers leading to a table, which sits a very large box with a single note reading "Open Me." She opens the box to find a smaller box. She opens that box to find another smaller box. And so on and so forth until she gets to the tiny velvet box. Well, that's how our proposal went except without the flowers; John used beautiful New England fall leaves. And you already know the answer.
The Engagement Period
Our engagement lasted about a year. We decided (or rather, Susan decided and John agreed :-)) that a fun costume party right before Halloween would be more fun and memorable than a traditional wedding. Click here to view our engagement pictures.
The Wedding Weekend
We have always thought our wedding would be very non-traditional in most ways and traditional in others. We didn't have a formal rehearsal dinner, the groom helped the bride dress before the ceremony, very few flowers (only one bouquet to be exact and not held by the bride), and Dr. Seuss rhyming vows at the friends and family celebration.
FRIDAY, 23 OCT 09: The begin our wild weekend, on Friday night we had a pre-wedding party for our family and close friends at our hotel. Because we were dead-set against traditional events, we didn't have a rehearsal dinner. Instead our friends, Julie and Greg (and Greg's Food Network Mom, Rita) prepared a wonderful feast of quesadillas, chicken wings, lasagna, and brownies. Susan's Mom Marilyn made her "famous" Scotch-A-Roos" as well. There was also plenty of beverages (adult and non-adult) for everyone. We were so happy so many of our "Southern" family attended.
SATURDAY, 24 OCT 09: After the wonderful Friday party, Saturday morning was finally here and it was raining "cats and dogs". The entire week leading up to the weekend was beautiful New England fall weather. However, when Saturday came, that all changed. They say rain on your wedding day is good luck. We certainly hope so because we'll have a lot of luck ahead of us!
The groom helped the bride get ready for the "official" church ceremony.
As for the traditional part, our church ceremony was held at All Saints Episcopal Church in South Hadley, MA on Saturday morning at 8:30 am. This was a very small service intended for the bride and groom and their immediate family.
After the formal ceremony, all of our family and friends who attended the church ceremony went to brunch at one of our favorite places, Adelphia's in South Hadley. It was very nice and the rain continued to pour! Adelphia's specially made coconut pancakes for us. It was a great meal and everyone had a very good time. Afterwards, we all went back to the hotel and changed into our costumes for the big celebration.!
To read more about our celebration at Wickham Park, please click on here. To see our wedding pictures, please click here.
SUNDAY, 25 OCT 09: Sunday came and all our out-of-town friends had to leave. We all said our goodbye's and sent them on their way. How ironic, Sunday was another beautiful, New England Fall day. At least everyone had good weather to fly or drive home.
Our Future We are uncertain as to where we will be in the future, but we hope it will include a home, a Dalmatian, an Alaskan Malamute, and a couple of children.
