THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 26, 1995 TAG: 9506260025
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY EARL SWIFT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
The line between happiness and heart failure was a fuzzy one for David Clifford Speese.
Dandy in tails and a top hat, he strutted down the aisle Sunday, believing he was the best man in his best friend's wedding. Then, with 100 sets of eyes looking on, he learned he was wrong.
He was the groom.
In the next five minutes, he went from single to engaged to husband, marrying his longtime girlfriend, Karen L. Braman, in a chandelier-lit parlor of the 19th century Obici House at Sleepy Hole Golf Course.
He saw his best friend, who had no plans to marry anyone, become his best man.
And he realized that his new wife is pretty handy with a practical joke.
The happy, though odd, day came nearly nine years after David and Karen moved in together, and four after the birth of their son, Chance. Over those years, the Virginia Beach man had asked her repeatedly to marry him. Karen, gunshy after a luckless first marriage, had always refused.
Late last fall she changed her mind, but decided that this wouldn't be an everyday wedding: It would be a surprise affair. ``For as long as I've known her,'' explained her friend, Maureen Aguiar, ``I've never known Karen to do anything that's normal.''
First she recruited James Enoch, David's close friend and a fellow restaurant cook, to announce his impending marriage and ask David to join the wedding party.
With the help of a handful of conspirators, she reserved space at the Obici House, ordered flowers and food, and orchestrated the ceremony itself. After the planning came the hard part: Keeping a lid on the secret among dozens of invited guests.
Against all odds, David was still in the dark Sunday afternoon when he and James crossed the crowded wedding room and stopped before a mantel decorated in tulle, baby's breath and pink roses. Two little girls followed, tossing flower petals to the floor. Chance uncertainly crossed the room to join his father with the rings.
Long seconds passed. The room trembled with anticipation. Then Karen appeared on a nearby staircase in a pink wedding gown. A few people in the crowd tittered nervously.
Up front, the truth didn't sink in. ``She looks beautiful,'' David whispered to James.
Karen descended the stairs to a waiting microphone. ``David, you've waited a long time for this,'' she said, her voice hoarse with excitement. ``I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and our son. Will you marry me?''
Every head in the room swiveled from Karen to David. Speculation about his reaction had been traded among the guests for weeks. Would he get angry? Storm out, even? Or would he bound across the room and sweep her into his arms?
``I think his jaw will hit the floor,'' Gene Preston of Virginia Beach had offered before the ceremony. ``Then he'll smile a really big smile and say `Yes.' Everybody who knows David knows that he's just going to be so happy.''
``I think he's definitely going to say `Yes,' but he'll be so appalled he'll just be going through the motions,'' Bob Markatine had guessed.
``We don't think there's much of a chance that he'll say `No,' '' Julie Randall, the matron of honor, had said. ``What I think might happen is that he might just pass out up there.''
In fact, James was packing smelling salts in his tux for just such an eventuality.
David didn't do any of that. He answered that he would marry her, and tears began to stream down his face. But he still hadn't caught on, still didn't realize that Karen meant to get hitched then and there.
It took a nudge from James, as the audience erupted in applause, to bring the ruse into focus. ``This is your wedding,'' James whispered.
David: ``Huh?''
``Move over.''
Near-frozen with shock, David shuffled to the groom's station beside the Rev. Vinny Losciale, pastor of Beach Fellowship Church.
``This is something I've never done before,'' the minister admitted later. ``I don't think I broke the law.''
Following the ceremony, James expressed relief that his stint as mock-groom was over. ``To pull this off, I had to tell everybody I know I was getting married,'' he said. ``For two months I've had no social life.''
David, meanwhile, was still a bit dazed. ``I'm totally shocked,'' he said, eyeing Karen. ``She's always good for surprises, you know?'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Bill Tiernan, Staff
James Enoch, above left, waits to spring a surprise on David C.
Speese, who thought he was to be the best man Sunday but ended up as
the married man. At right, Speese walks out with his new bride,
Karen Braman.
ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Karen Braman talks to her son, Chance, 4, before her surprise
marriage to David Speese. Chance was in on the secret.
by CNB