Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992 TAG: 9202290174
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHELLE RILEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
3 COUPLES JUMPING IN ON LEAP DAY
Melissa Martin and Darrell Royal, both 25, will exchange vows today knowing that they will never see their 25th wedding anniversary.But, it really doesn't matter to either of them. After all, it would be 2096, and they would both be 129. It will take them more than a century to roll up 25 Leap Days (2000 is not a leap year).
Martin, a Cave Spring High School graduate who works at Elizabeth Arden, and Royal, who graduated from William Fleming and works for a subsidiary of Roanoke Electric Steel, are among couples saying "I do" in Western Virginia on Leap Day, the extra day added to February every four years.
It wasn't something these people just jumped into.
Last July, Martin and Royal decided to get married in February only because it would give them enough time to plan their wedding.
When they realized that they could have the service on Leap Day, "We just grinned at each other - it just fit," Martin said.
"It was kind of in the back of our minds to be unusual," Royal said.
And this Leap Day had an extra advantage to wedding-planning couples - it fell on a Saturday.
That's how Patricia Roach and Jerry Hogan, both of Roanoke, came up with a Leap Day wedding.
"She gave me two dates, but the 15th was too close to Valentine's Day . . . and the 22nd was my birthday," said Hogan, who works for WVFT Channel 21/27. Then Roach, who works for a high-technology services company, suggested the next Saturday, the 29th.
"It was a good day, and Leap Day added to the event," Hogan said.
Roach and Hogan and Marin and Royal all received mixed reactions from friends and family when they announced their plans.
But the case was different for Jill Callaghan and Rick Wild, who received a lot of support from their friends and families.
"They all think it's kind of neat, Callaghan said.
"This is very apropos for her," said Helen Callaghan, Jill's mother.
Jill Callaghan and Wild, both Virginia Tech graduates, live and work in Tidewater but will wed in Roanoke because her parents live there. They plan to set up housekeeping in Hampton.
In most cases, it took a while before relatives realized that the couples were getting married on Leap Day.
"Just about everyone would write [the date] down and then they'd get a funny look on their faces," said Melissa Martin.
And a few people were a little offended by the whole idea. Hogan said that when he and Roach went to register their china pattern, the clerk "got this look on her face. She was upset about it, but she wouldn't say anything."
The couples said that the Leap Day wedding has brought out the same question from almost everyone: "What are you going to do about your anniversary? After all, you're only going to have it once every four years."
For the three years in-between, these brides and bridegrooms said they would make do with Feb. 28 and March 1.
"I get my choice - either day I want," Roach said.
"She'll probably take both," Hogan added.
Royal said he told Martin that he would find gifts with multiple pieces, like crock pots, giving her one piece on the 28th and the other piece on the 1st.
At the very least, a Leap Day wedding assures one thing: "I think it's an easy out for him to not forget the date of our anniversary," Jill Callaghan said.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on March 4, 1992\ Correction
The year 2000 is a leap year. Because of an editor's error, a story in Saturday's paper about couples marrying on leap day was incorrect.
Memo: Correction