Special Reports
Rehearsal dinner deluge gives way to pristine Rose Garden wedding
 |  Drew Perine/The News Tribune Not one drop sullied Becky Fueston's dress during her 1993 wedding to Scott Fueston at the Point's Rose Garden, though buckets of rain dumped the day before. |
Becky and Scott Fueston had everything but a backup plan for their Rose Garden wedding.
Until the rehearsal, it simply didn’t occur to them that they’d need one.
The couple had met on the job at West Coast Grocery, dated for two years and done the Tour de Wedding Shows in search of the perfect cake, dress, tux, flowers, photographer and invitations for their July 17, 1993, wedding. They already had their location, Point Defiance Park’s lush and lovely Rose Garden.
“We walked around and realized this was where we wanted to be,” Becky said. “I knew the Rose Garden would be just beautiful and smell so good. We planned almost a full year in advance so we could get our date. It was like, cheap, only about $75.”
The possibility of rain simply did not occur to the couple. July is a good, dry month. Sure.
“The day before our wedding, we were rehearsing at the park and the clouds came in fast and dark,” she said.
The winds kicked up, and the rains came. Torrents, waves, waterfalls of rain.
So much rain that when the sopping wedding party arrived at BBQ Pete’s on 72nd Street for the rehearsal dinner, water was coming through the roof.
“We had no backup plan aside from, OK, buy a bunch of umbrellas,” Becky said.
Did we mention her dress had a significant train?
“That day was very stressful,” said the Mistress of Understatement.
The appointed day dawned.
Bliss. Perfection. The sun shone. The roses sparkled. Becky’s brothers set out the rented chairs in pencil-straight lines. The processional started, and the nieces walked ahead, scattering rose petals in the bride’s path.
“We had about 300 guests and no rain drops at all during our ceremony,” Becky said.
The colors in the wedding photographs are so vivid, Becky can almost smell the flowers to this day.
It’s a shame they weren’t there for the next bride.
“The week after,” Becky said, “the deer ate all the roses.”
If you have personal stories or memories about the park you'd like to share, contact columnist Kathleen Merryman at kathleen.merryman@thenewstribune.com.
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