Posted on 09/28/2003 5:56:38 AM PDT by martin_fierro
KALISPELL, Mont. - An American soldier stationed in Iraq married his Italian fiancee in a Montana double proxy ceremony that neither attended.
Instead, Pfc. David Gaynor's parents exchanged vows and rings Friday for the absent couple — and sealed their son's marriage with a kiss.
Gaynor's uncle and teenage sister stood in as best man and maid of honor for Gaynor, 21, and bride Ilaria Caon, 19. A justice of the peace presided.
"As I was looking into my wife's eyes, I saw her as a young bride and I felt very touched and excited," Philip Gaynor said after the ceremony.
Rebecca Gaynor's voice was charged with emotion as she said: "As a proxy for Ilaria, I do take David ... "
A military portrait of the groom rested on a table.
After enlisting in 2001, David Gaynor went with the 173rd Airborne Division to a base north of Venice in Vicenza, Italy, where he met Ilaria, the daughter of an Italian policeman.
They made plans to marry and eventually live in Montana. The couple expects a child in November.
Both families were looking forward to the couple's wedding when the war began and David's unit got overnight orders to parachute into Kirkuk, Iraq, in March.
Attempts to arrange a single-proxy marriage in Italy failed, but Philip Gaynor learned that Montana was the one state in the country that allowed stand-ins for both bride and groom.
When the paperwork was finally completed Wednesday, the ceremony was scheduled for Friday morning.
The proxy newlyweds left in a stretch limousine to share a wedding cake with friends and co-workers at a small reception.
At the reception, a phone call conveyed the news to Ilaria, who cut into a cake to celebrate with her family in Italy.
In Iraq, David said he expected to get thrown in a mud puddle and to fight his way out as part of an Army tradition.
This could be the first shotgun wedding by proxy!
LOL, her dad's an Italian policeman, and the father-to-be is in Iraq, possibly being shot at by terrorists. Maybe he thinks this is not the time to go making new enemies.:)
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