Couples back to say 'I do' at Heinz Chapel
They're going to the chapel and they're going to be remarried.
Two Butler County couples are among 400 people taking part in Saturday's Heinz Memorial Chapel's 75th anniversary celebration with a mass marriage vow renewal ceremony.
Mary and Robert Fisher, 604 Surrey Lane, and Jon Hamrahi and Kristine Hattman, 177 Autumn Hill Drive, Cranberry Township, will join in the 4:30 p.m. ceremony on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Both couples were married in the chapel.
Saturday's purely symbolic vow renewal ceremony will be performed by Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice and Pitt alumnus Max Baer.
After the ceremony, there will be a reception, dinner at the University Club and concert at the chapel.
For the Fishers, the day marks a double anniversary.
“We got married on Nov. 7, 1998,” said Mary Fisher, a retired teacher. “This will be our 15th wedding anniversary, which is a milestone. We talked about it, and that's as far as we got.”
That is, she said, until they received an invitation to attend the anniversary observance and vow renewal ceremony.
“To get an invite, you either had to be married there, sing in the chapel choir or be a donor,” said Smith. “We were married there and we were donors, so we were two out of three.”
Fisher said they will attend the vow renewal ceremony, reception and dinner.
“Then there will be a concert at Heinz Memorial Chapel, and I am planning to wear my wedding dress,” said Fisher. “It's a little tight. It's not like the young brides wear. It was a pearl rhinestone, more like an evening gown than a wedding gown, and Bob is going to wear his tux.”
At the original wedding, said Fisher, “We had, I would say, 100 close friends. I remember most of all the music played by Dr. Lord and my soloist, Lynne Timms, and even though it was November, it was a cool but very pleasant evening.
“A reception followed at the William Penn Hotel. The girl that helped me called after the fact, and said 'Your party was most well-behaved and best-behaved party that I have seen in 17 years.' She wanted pictures and I can't remember if I gave her any pictures or not,” Fisher said.Hamrahi and Hattman met each other while both were graduate students at Pitt pursuing their MBA degrees.“We were both in the MBA program in the Katz School of Business in '86 and '87, coming in every day from Moon Township. That's how we met and got to know each other, and it all blossomed from that,” said Hattman.“I was driving a car and he was taking the bus, and we decided to commute together and share expenses and that is how we got to know each other,” she said.They were married in the chapel on Sept. 3, 1994. Hattman said, “It was a small wedding. It was 50 or 60 people.”Hamrahi said what he remembers about their wedding was “being in the back area waiting for my wife to come down the aisle.”“Even in the back area, the ambience is so very unique,” said Hamrahi. “It's so beautiful, it just added to the wedding.”“It had a special meaning for us because we met at the University of Pittsburgh,” said Hamrahi of their Heinz Chapel nuptials.The chapel, dedicated Nov. 20, 1938, was a gift of the Heinz family and has served as a spot for many events, including concerts, baptisms and Pitt's Lantern Night ceremonies as well as memorial services and funerals.But Chapel Director Patricia Gibbons said, “While it's got incredible stained glass and it's a beautiful building unto itself, I think most of the people of Pittsburgh, when they think of the building, think of weddings.”As many as 200 wedding ceremonies a year are performed in the chapel.However, the first wedding in the chapel wasn't performed until Jan. 11, 1946, when socialite Jean Eddy married John Succop after asking friend Vira Heinz for use of the nondenominational chapel because the bride and groom were from different Christian denominations.Since then, both the couple's daughter and their granddaughter have been married in the chapel.
