The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Couple has historic first wedding at Lorain Lighthouse
The waves and wind of the Port of Lorain replaced wedding bells for one area couple who were married in September at the Lorain Lighthouse.
Bill and Lisa Bain of Sheffield Village earned a place in the history of Lorain’s Jewel of the Port when they became the first couple known to hold their wedding ceremony there Sept. 20.
It was a summer of planning for the couple, but the event came together quickly with help from officials of the Port of Lorain Foundation Inc., also known as the Lorain Lighthouse Foundation, which raises money for lighthouse maintenance, and the Lorain Port Authority, which uses its tour boats to float visitors out to the building.
“We couldn’t have planned anything more perfect if we had two years to do it,” Lisa Bain said.
They also needed Mother Nature to smile on their day.
“We knew it was a potential problem if it was windy,” said Bill Bain. “And, lo and behold, it had to be windy.”
The couple made the trip as part of a group of 16, including Bill’s sons, Eric and Matthew; Eric’s wife, Tracy, and their children, Faith, Ella and Weston; Matthew’s son Walker; and Lisa’s daughter, Amber. Lisa Bain’s son, Tony Steenstra, joined the wedding party back on land after serving weekend duties in Akron for the U.S. Navy Reserve.
The children all did well on the boat and their wedding outfits included life jackets, as required by law for youths in Ohio.
They also were joined by Edward Baker, board president of the lighthouse foundation, and foundation members Matt Dempsey and Alan Pollock. Avon Lake Municipal Acting Judge D. Chris Cook performed the ceremony. The idea
Lisa Bain, 48, grew up in
Avon Lake, but her late father, Ben Vasiloff, was a 45-year U.S. Steel worker who was nostalgic for old Lorain. The family would venture into the city to look at Christmas lights or watch the waterfront, and Lisa Bain became a lighthouse aficionado.
A native of Saginaw, Mich., Bill Bain, 58, moved to northern Ohio in 2000 for his job with the Communications Workers of America in Rocky River. Lisa Bain started working for the union soon after and they met in 2001, becoming friends, then a couple.
They investigated lake front locations for their wedding ceremony, including Black River Landing, but that venue books up most summer weekends, the couple said. As they searched, Lisa Bain suggested they inquire about the Lorain Lighthouse.
“He said, you like to think outside the box, don’t you, honey?” Lisa Bain recalled with a laugh.
She emailed an inquiry and Baker’s easygoing response made her think weddings at the lighthouse were somewhat commonplace, Lisa Bain said.
But Harry Williamson, a CWA colleague who also is a board member of the Port Authority, was the first to inform them their wedding would be a first for the lighthouse.
“I thought it was cool,” Lisa Bain said. “Once I told all the kids, they already thought getting married at a lighthouse was going to be cool. But, hey, by the way, nobody’s ever done it before. We’re going to be in the history books — then they thought it was really cool.”
The big day
On Sept. 20, it was warm and sunny, but wind pushed up waves that Baker estimated were cresting as high as 4 1/2 feet.
Baker, Pollock and Dempsey and a boat captain rode out to the lighthouse in one of the Port Authority’s tour boats. The boat and captain returned to the dock for the wedding party and the children’s enthusiasm grew as the boat started bouncing, the Bains said.
An attorney in Lorain, Cook is a friend of the Bains and lifelong boater who also set foot on the lighthouse for the first time to preside over the ceremony.
Conditions were not unsafe for the size of the boat, Cook said, but the angle of the wind and waves created the problem.
“There was a time they were trying to dock that boat and I didn’t think they were going to make it,” he said. “The way the wind and the waves were up against the lighthouse, trying to dock it was really hairy. There was no question it was kind of touch-and-go for a few minutes trying to dock that boat.”
The boat captain and lighthouse foundation members could not tie up safely on the vessel’s first pass by the dock.
“It was wavy out there,” said Dempsey, who helped moor the boat. “It was just rocking and rolling out there. But nobody got wet — that was a good thing.”
The wedding group left dock about 4 p.m. and were at lighthouse about an hour.
Wedded bliss
The captain and the lighthouse support staff were bound and determined to get there safely, Lisa Bain said.
“We were really fortunate that they were so willing to help because they could have said, no, you can’t go out,” Lisa Bain said.
At the lighthouse, the group went to the second-floor, where the interior lighting was best. Cook began the ceremony and the couple exchanged vows they wrote to each other, and their rings.
“I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house by the time they got through their vows,” Cook said. “It was really neat.”
Afterward, the wedding party returned to shore for a dinner at the Jackalope Lakeside’s banquet room. The Bains also enjoyed a weekend getaway and are planning an extended honeymoon in Europe in 2015.
In recent years, the Lorain Lighthouse Foundation had requests for special trips to the structure, such as class reunions and tours for visitors from out of state, Baker said. Unfortunately, some trips get canceled.
“Everybody that goes out there knows that it’s weather dependent,” Baker said. He predicted the foundation board could be receptive to future inquiries about weddings.
“It’s a different request,” Baker said. “We’ve had people ask if they can have their honeymoon there. We’re not going that far yet, but in the future, who knows?”