Couple Weds in Hy-Vee
QUINCY, Ill. -- Local residents Diane Roderick and Tom Lane decided to tie the knot at the place they first met 14 months ago -- a large and bustling Hy-Vee supermarket at 36th and Broadway. The couple wed Saturday afternoon before about 75 guests at the store where Lane has worked as assistant produce manager for the past 15 years. Quincy boasts two Hy-Vee locations.
"It turned out better than we could have ever envisioned," he told Quincy newspaper Herald-Whig after the ceremony. "The floral department and the bakery department, everybody at the store did a great job."
It was store manager Lynn Gallagher's idea that Roderick and Lane exchange vows at the supermarket, partly to attract publicity, but chiefly because he wished the couple to have a wedding that attendees would long remember. Assistant manager Ryan Benz told Progressive Grocer that the store "helped pay for portions of the wedding," including the wedding cake, flowers, and "everything [else] we could do at the supermarket."
The 20-minute ceremony was held in the supermarket's restaurant dining area, where a corner was sectioned off by dividers to afford some privacy, although restaurant patrons and shoppers served as curious onlookers. Family members gave the bride and groom away and performed the accompanying music. It was the second marriage for both Roderick and Lane.
George Youtzy, the retired pastor who performed the service, described himself as a daily visitor at the Hy-Vee. The morning of the same day he joined Roderick and Lane in holy wedlock, he led the opening prayer at the Soap Box Derby.
Lane credited Gallagher and Hy-Vee with making his wedding day so memorable: "They treat their employees well, and they are willing to do things like this."
Roderick and Lane had their first date in May 2004 and became engaged in February 2005.
"It turned out better than we could have ever envisioned," he told Quincy newspaper Herald-Whig after the ceremony. "The floral department and the bakery department, everybody at the store did a great job."
It was store manager Lynn Gallagher's idea that Roderick and Lane exchange vows at the supermarket, partly to attract publicity, but chiefly because he wished the couple to have a wedding that attendees would long remember. Assistant manager Ryan Benz told Progressive Grocer that the store "helped pay for portions of the wedding," including the wedding cake, flowers, and "everything [else] we could do at the supermarket."
The 20-minute ceremony was held in the supermarket's restaurant dining area, where a corner was sectioned off by dividers to afford some privacy, although restaurant patrons and shoppers served as curious onlookers. Family members gave the bride and groom away and performed the accompanying music. It was the second marriage for both Roderick and Lane.
George Youtzy, the retired pastor who performed the service, described himself as a daily visitor at the Hy-Vee. The morning of the same day he joined Roderick and Lane in holy wedlock, he led the opening prayer at the Soap Box Derby.
Lane credited Gallagher and Hy-Vee with making his wedding day so memorable: "They treat their employees well, and they are willing to do things like this."
Roderick and Lane had their first date in May 2004 and became engaged in February 2005.