Wedding to be held at parade
NUPTIALS DONE QUICKLY
Thousands of green-clad revelers will flock to Hot Springs today for the First Ever 21st Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
This year’s parade grand marshal is former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith; “Yellowstone” star Forrie J. Smith is the official parade starter. It starts at 6:30 p.m. and there will be Elvis impersonators from the Hot Springs chapter of the International Order of the Irish Elvi; the Cousin Eddies, a tribute to the Randy Quaid character from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation;” the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders; the Mountain Pine High School Pride of the Red Devils marching band; floats of all kinds; and plenty more navigating all 98 feet of Bridge Street.
Oh, and there will be a wedding. A very, very quick wedding.
Walking down the aisle on the Lucky You, I Do float will be Janet Smith, 46, who will marry longtime beau Jerry Don Wheeler, 57, in a span of 60 seconds or less in what organizers hope will be the world’s shortest wedding.
Wheeler and Smith, who split time between residences in Pearcy and Mount Ida, first met at work and have known each other for years. In 2018 they finally went on a date to a Keith Urban concert in Little Rock and have been together ever since.
The idea to take part in the parade came from their friends Paul and Angela Woolley, who own The Royal Ridge Weddings venue in Royal.
“They told us, ‘We love you guys and we love your story and we want you to help set the record,’” Janet said during an interview on Friday.
Word is that the current claimed shortest wedding is for a 2007 ceremony in Westminster, Colo., that lasted six minutes, 36 seconds.
“Angela and Paul wanted to go big and wanted it to be 60 seconds or less,” said Janet.
The Lucky You, I Do float upon which the wedding will take place sounds impressive.
“It’s going to have flowers, decorations, photographers, lights, music, a DJ,” Janet says. “This won’t be a hokey little wedding.”
Were they getting nervous in the days before the ceremony?
“I’m not nervous about marrying Jerry Don,” Janet said. “But being on the float in front of so many people, I am nervous about that.”
“I’m too old to get nervous,” Jerry Don said.
For their honeymoon the couple plan to take a scuba-diving trip in Mexico.
COUNTY LOCKUP SERIES
“Unlocked: A Jail Experiment,” a Netflix docuseries set in the Pulaski County jail, will begin streaming on April 10. The eight-episode series follows a six-week experiment implemented by Sheriff Eric Higgins to give inmates more autonomy, with the hope that it could lead to a more community-oriented environment and help discourage inmates from committing crimes in the future.