Okay, so it wasn’t Nelson’s first streetcar wedding.
Last Friday, we reported on this month’s nuptials of Dawna Penner and Garnet Runcie, who exchanged rings on Streetcar 23, and said it had never been done before.
Although still pretty cool, an eagle eyed reader soon alerted us it was not unprecedented.
The first couple to tie the knot on board the tram was Rob Mauriello and Eva Lolle of Nelson on September 4, 1992. They actually planned to elope, but a month before the big day decided instead to use the streetcar, which was then only recently back on track.
“The car was filled with family and friends at Lakeside Park,” according to a story at the time in the Nelson Daily News.
“The bride and groom got on board at the car barn, and the deed was done ... as the wedding party moved down the tracks.”
Bob Clark was the motorman and Bob Allen the conductor.
“It struck us as a reasonable thing to do,” the groom said. “We wanted our wedding to be fun, and it was ... I highly recommend it. It was truly a moving experience.” Pun intended, we think.
Ron Monty brought in the newspaper clipping for us. He remembered it well, since he was the justice of the peace who performed the ceremony.
He repeated the feat in 1999 when Troy and Denise Nelson of Port Coquitlam exchanged vows as the streetcar clattered along.
The bride’s late father worked on trains in Vancouver.
“I know he would have loved [the ceremony],” she later wrote Monty, in thanking him for the “truly great suggestion” of using the streetcar.
Monty recalls the wedding went off with “no hitches” except the couple missed the 4 p.m. tram and had to wait for the 4:30.