A divorce would complicate things.
Dorothy “Dottie” Fideli, 77, of Ohio, married herself in an unusual wedding held at her senior living home on May 13 to accomplish her lifelong dream of having a happily ever after.
“This is something I’ve always wanted,” Fideli told WLWT. “I wanted to get married and have a happy life but things didn’t work out that way and now I have a second chance in doing something that’ll make me happy.”
The mother of three says she heard about a woman marrying herself on a talk show and thought it was a good idea as it would uplift other residents of the O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Home in Goshen, Ohio.
“I do some crazy things around here just to make people laugh,” Fideli said. “When I see them all down in the dumps, I go get one of my outfits on and dress up and come down, and they smile.”
After deciding to go through with the marriage, she had to plan for her special day, which included decorations, catering, and an officiant, who turned out to be the retirement home property manager, Rob Geiger.
“I came in here and I told Rob, I said, ‘Rob, you’re going to marry me,’” Fideli told TODAY. “He said, ‘You’re what?’”
After being told the whole plan, Geiger was all for the marriage, describing Fideli as an incredible woman full of life.
Geiger wasn’t the only one in support of the wedding as Fideli’s daughter helped her mother plan the big day by buying the dress, getting flowers, and cooking for the attendees.
“She goes, ‘Oh, Mom, yeah, let’s go do it. I’ll go get your dress, I’ll get you everything,’” Fideli said of her daughter Donna Pennington.
The bride wore a white dress with sheer long sleeves decorated with floral detailing, a silver belt, and an embellished headband veil while holding white lilies, which Fideli called a metaphor for cultivating self-love.
“Everybody takes this outside lily. And they live their life and they think they’re happy and everything’s going to be hunky-dory, but they don’t consider the inside, the little petals inside is what’s important,” Fideli recalled to TODAY about her speech during the ceremony.
“That’s where God’s love flows, that’s where He gives you wisdom and He gives you hope. And nobody ever takes time to think about that. So that’s what I’ve done, and I’d appreciate it if all of you people would do it and think of it that way.”
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On the big day, the senior home’s community room was decorated with a balloon arch, a two-tiered white cake and heart shape cookies and finger sandwiches in the shape of wedding bells.
Fideli’s nerves were just like any bride on their wedding day, excited but also a little tense.
“I was nervous, but then I was really happy,” she said.
Fideli’s marriage on Saturday wasn’t her first.
She was married in a courthouse wedding in 1965, but was divorced nine years later.
Fideli said she and her ex-husband exchanged vows in front of a court magistrate before he returned to work, doomed from the beginning.
“I wore a black dress, so I was doomed before I got started,” Fideli added.
Out of the many reasons Fideli decided to tie the knot, the septuagenarian said love was a leading factor.
“Love is the most important thing in this world, and if you love God and love yourself, this world will be a field of roses,” Fideli told WLWT.
Fideli, who is expecting to be a great-grandmother soon, said she has been focusing on improving her life now that her children are grown up and her grandkids are graduating from college.
The bride taught herself to read after not knowing the skill for the first 75 years of her life.,
“This is the best thing that I’ve ever had, outside of having you kids,’” Fideli told her daughter. “‘This is what I’ve always wanted and I’m so happy that you (gave) it to me.’”
