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Couple Exchanges Vows On Lane 14

Jesse Osbourne/Highlands Today

Kegel Bowling Center manager Gene Tary presents the newlyweds with a ball and chain bowling ball set immediately following their wedding ceremony on the lanes Saturday afternoon.

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: October 16, 2007

SEBRING — At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, guests at Kegel Bowling Center were asked to direct their attention to lane 14, where David Anthony Bland, 20, and Amanda Lee Fleeman, 20, both of Sebring, would repeat their matrimonial vows.

Yes, it was a wedding at a bowling alley, and no, they didn't wear two-tone shoes and advertising on their shirts. The groom was in a black tux, his waist-length hair flowing behind him; the bride wore a traditional white gown with a five-foot train, and carried white and red roses in her corsage.

But what could possibly have convinced these kids to stage the most important event of their lives at a bowling alley?

"Well," said Bland, "it started out as a joke." And then they looked into renting a hall, but the price was pretty expensive – $300 and up. So, he proposed, "Let's get married at the bowling alley."

These are their salad days, so money is tight for them right now. Besides, Fleeman said, "It's different. It intrigued me."

So Bland went to Joe Stacy, the center manager, who coached Bland in Junior League. They agreed on a $25 fee, which will be donated to the youth bowlers.

Bland, who has been bowling only six years, has carried a 210 average in the Thursday night men's league, on tough lane conditions.

The Blands met in the ninth grade. He's a Wal-Mart night stocker; she's a dog shampooer who aspires to become a groomer. They thought about naming baby Caleb, their 5-month-old, as the ring bearer, but that seemed too complicated. Somebody would have to push the baby carriage down the aisle.

Bland had another idea that didn't fly: he suggested during an interview at the rehearsal that after they said their "I do's," he should roll one ball down the lane.

"If it's strike," Bland brightened, "it will last."

But David, what if it's a split? And see, Amanda wasn't smiling at this point. David reconsidered. OK, maybe not as hilarious as it seemed.

At that point, Gene Tary, another manager, drifted by, and Bland mentioned the idea again.

"No!" Tary advised Amanda. ""I've seen him bowl lately. Maybe if it was no-tap." Nine pins or better counts as a strike. Besides, Tary had a better idea. More on that later.

Not The First

June Davis recalls two other weddings at Kegel. The league coordinator, Pauline Desrosiers, a notary, conducted one ceremony about 15 years ago. It was an unplanned moment. A couple decided to get married then and there, and they did, on the concourse, the seating area behind benches where the bowlers sit.

And about seven years ago, a Kegel employee planned to get married at the courthouse. Davis and other keglers surprised the couple with champagne and cake, and they tied the knot there, too.

No wedding ever seems to go off without a hitch (pun intended), and this one didn't either. The ceremonial music, burned on a special CD, wouldn't play. So someone had to go get another copy, said Lori Flowers, the weekday supervisor, who coordinated the event for the bowling center.

In the meantime, the groom hung out in the Party Room, where food for the reception was getting colder; the bride waited in her dressing room, the lady's restroom at the south side of the lanes.

The bride was given in marriage by Charles Lomneck.

"With all my heart," he said, in one of those stunningly solemn moments that every wedding seems to have. "She's my godchild," he gripped her with a hug, "and I'm giving away her to a young man that I feel deserves her very much."

Water welled in the eyes of one of the bridesmaids. Whoa. Tears would wreck the bride's makeup.

"Go, if you're going to cry," Fleeman ordered. Too overwhelmed to answer, the girl ran out of the restroom.

At 3:27 p.m., "The Wedding March" belatedly began to play over the loudspeaker, "dum duh da dum da dum," the bowlers on the first eight lanes – 22 kids who were there for a birthday party – respectfully put down their balls and watched in silence, the Brunswick pinsetters were turned off, and Robert Cappiello, a Sebring notary and home repair specialist, walked 45 feet down lane 14 to conduct the ceremony.

Forty-five guests rose to their feet. Dominic Cotroneo, who flew in from Idaho to serve as best man, and Beth Jones, the bridesmaid, led the processional. Both were friends of the bride and groom since middle school. Other bridesmaids, cameras in hands, spread out across lanes 9-16 to film the vows.

"I will share my life with you," David read from his own written vows.

"David, I love you," the bride said. "You're the one I want to spend my life with."

They said their "I do's," returned to the approach, and finally, that other special moment arrived. Tary asked the newly married couple to sit down, and he proceeded to wrap a chain around David's feet. And a chain around Amanda's feet. And then – oh yes he did – Tary attached both chains to a bowling ball.

Get it? The old ball and chain.

"We want to make sure this lasts," Tary insisted.

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