For couple, love grows at the garden center
WEST MANCHESTER TOWNSHIP – It’s not uncommon for two people who work at the same place to date each other, or for that love to blossom into marriage. But when they get married, and coworkers who helped bring them together can’t get off work for the wedding, what do they do?
One couple answered that question by bringing the wedding to their co-workers — at the Walmart in West Manchester Township, Pa.
On Saturday, Chrissy Slonaker Torres married Leida Torres in the store’s garden center.
The couple met in September 2015 when Torres got a job as a manager there. Within the next few months, the pair began mildly flirting — often walking past each other just to walk past each other.
Slonaker Torres was reluctant to get into another relationship after her first marriage didn’t go well. But Torres was persistent.
“One day when it was snowing, she asked if I could come pick her up since I have a truck,” Slonaker Torres said. “When she got in the truck, she said, ‘So, are you going to go on a date with me?’ ”
A few days later, the pair had their first date at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and things took off from there. “I found my soulmate, finally,” Torres said. “She’s the love of my life.”
The couple decided to get married in December and planned a private ceremony at their York, Pa., home. But, they realized many of their co-workers — dozens of people who have supported the couple, and whom Torres refers to as “family” — wouldn’t be able to take off. The store is open 24 hours, and someone has to be there.
Slonaker Torres decided to bring the wedding to the Walmart.
“We both have a lot of really close friends that we call family in our Walmart store,” she said. “We discussed it with the store manager and the home office so that everybody ... that we share our lives with can be a part of the wedding.”
Torres agreed. “I just told her, ‘Let’s do it,’ ” she said. “Our Walmart family has been so supportive. Why not?”
Co-workers placed a tent in the middle of the section and rolled out a brown diamond rug. Another friend placed red and white flowers underneath the tent. Robb Green, the former “Marrying Mayor” of Jefferson, Pa., was the officiant.
More than 100 family members, co-workers and customers attended. “It was beautiful,” Torres said. “I just loved it.”