77-year-old woman takes a happy marriage into her own hands
<p>When it came time to walk down the aisle on her big day, Dorothy ‘Dottie’ Fideli had every box checked - except one. </p>
<p>No partner stood waiting at the end to exchange vows with her, and that was just the way she wanted things. </p>
<p>The 77 year old was, after all, marrying herself in an emotional ceremony at her O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Community, surrounded by her loved ones for her big day. </p>
<p>Her reasoning was very simple, as she told <em>Today,</em> “I said, ‘you know what, I’ve done everything else. Why not? I’m going to marry myself’.”</p>
<p>She wasn’t entirely alone at the altar, of course, needing someone there to oversee her all-important vows. And she had just the person in mind, turning to her home’s property manager, Rob Geiger, to do the honours. </p>
<p>“I came in here and I told Rob,” she explained. “I said, ‘Rob, you’re going to marry me’.”</p>
<p>He was surprised at first, but after Dottie explained what it was she was setting out to do, he was all too happy to step in and lend a hand.</p>
<p>“She is a very incredible woman and she is full of life,” he said. “She has always thought of others.”</p>
<p>Dottie’s daughter, Donna Pennington, was possibly her mum’s biggest fan, and eager to make her mum’s big solo dream come true.</p>
<p>As Dottie explained, Donna had been right onboard from the very beginning, offering to get whatever was required, including Dottie’s dress. </p>
<p>Donna even made sure that the wedding was properly catered and decorated, seeing to both aspects by herself, from doing all of the cooking to putting up a balloon arch in the home’s community room. </p>
<p>As all good weddings should, Dottie had a cake - two-tired and covered with red roses - and heart-shaped cookies, as well as finger sandwiches shaped like wedding bells.</p>
<p>When it came to the day itself, Dottie admitted to feeling nervous, but ultimately “really happy”.</p>
<p>Initially, she’d intended for it to be something her nearest and dearest had come to expect from her in her quest to make sure everyone else was smiling - though things had taken an emotional turn as the significance of her message of self-love sunk in. </p>
<p>As she explained it, “I do some crazy things around here just to make people laugh. 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.”</p>
<p>It wasn’t Dottie’s first wedding, with her first occurring back in 1965, though the former hadn’t exactly been what she’d consider “formal”. </p>
<p>She and her then-husband had exchanged their vows, before dashing off to home and work respectively. Dottie even noted that they’d been “doomed” from the start, as she’d opted to wear a black dress that day. </p>
<p>She’d gone on believing that it was too late for her to experience her big dream wedding, until her daughter proved her wrong, to Dottie’s eternal gratitude.</p>
<p>And now, Dottie plans on continuing on her journey of self-love, telling <em>Today</em>, “I’m at the point in my life where it’s about me now.</p>
<p>“My kids are all good, and my grandkids, one of them’s going to have a baby … and I have a set of triplets that have all graduated from college. </p>
<p>“So, it’s my turn to do what I want to do.”</p>
<p><em>Images: Today</em></p>
