Whoopee! Couple tie knot on parade float

BRIGHTON (GTNS) ? As the residents of Brighton were enjoying the 102nd annual Whoopee Days parade, many didn?t notice two of their peers were on one of the floats taking their vows of holy matrimony.

As the float from TC Tiling made its way through the streets, Erin Long and Matt Dohlman exchanged their vows to become man and wife. While the couple had a proper church wedding after the parade, they had decided they wanted all their friends in Brighton to see the ceremony. The float, which was pulled behind a tractor and decorated with a wedding theme, also carried the wedding party and a minister as it traveled the parade route.

?It kind of started as a joke at first,? Long said. ?We had picked our wedding date for this weekend. When we found out it was Whoopee Days weekend, we started joking that we should just get married on a float. It turned into being a sincere thing.?

Long wanted her mother Carol Long, a lay pastor, to perform the wedding. Since she wasn?t licensed to perform a wedding, the couple decided to have the official wedding on the float and then have Carol perform the ceremony in the church.

The float was Dohlman?s department. An employee of TC Tiling, he decorated the wagon and created the wedding theme with tiling parts.

The couple met when they attended First Church of God in Brighton. Long had left the church for about a year when Dohlman called and asked her on a date.

?I knew we had the same sort of beliefs because we went to church together,? he said. ?It seemed right.?

The couple went out to eat in Washington. As they dined at a local restaurant, they knew this was the beginning of something good.

Two years later, they exchanged vows during the parade.

Both have fond memories of Whoopee Days. As an employee at Federation bank in Brighton, Long has ridden on several floats in the parade in past years. Dohlman had ridden on the First Church of God float and was asked to do color guard one year. Both remember riding the rides and watching the parade when they were growing up.

?It?s a big event in this area,? Long said. ?I think it?s starting to die out. I know Richland has theirs once every four years now. Except for Washington, there is not any other event close to us.?

Long did not wear her gown on the float for fear it may get torn. Dohlman wore a nice shirt and khakis on the float and his Class A Army uniform during the ceremony.

After the ceremony, the two left for a honeymoon in Colorado.

Long said she enjoyed being able to have some fun with the wedding.

?You can?t be too serious when you are on a float in a parade,? she said. ?It is kind of one of those nice fun things you can sit back and enjoy a little bit better than being all nervous at the church watching all the people coming in.?