Sunday, September 07, 2003

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The bride wore a white cowboy hat decorated with plastic flowers and tulle, blue jeans, white sneakers and a gray T-shirt from "Jellystone Park, Mill Run, Pa."

The groom wore the same outfit, though his hat was black and unadorned and his shirt was several sizes larger.

Maid of honor was Cindy Bear.

Yogi was best, um, bear.

The ring bear-er was Boo Boo.

So went the dream wedding of Sandy Burkhart and Bill Layton Sr. -- not as goofy as some might think.

This was the second time around for this Johnstown couple, who met working at a convenience store. She nicknamed him "Yogi" because, even when he wasn't cracking her up with his impersonation, he reminded her of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon character. As Bill puts it, "I'm a pretty big guy, not tall-wise."

As she became his sidekick, he started calling her "Boo Boo." That led them, about two years ago, to start collecting Yogi and Boo Boo items, which they displayed in their bedroom (she calls it "the shrine").

In November, when he proposed, they figured they'd just have a civil ceremony. But one of their weekend flea market runs had taken them through Fayette County, past one of the Jellystone Park campground franchises they hadn't known was there. They had to stop and take pictures. Sandy saved a pamphlet.

This summer, reading in it how the mascots can be rented for birthday parties, Sandy had an idea: Maybe they could get married at the campground, stood for by their beloved bears. Worried that she'd sound crazy, she called and asked. Campground activity director Shirley Blair said, Sure.

So on Aug. 16 -- the Saturday Sandy could get off work -- she and Bill pulled in with their Scotty camper. They'd invited no friends or family. All they wanted, as Sandy had put it a week earlier, was "a small little five-minute wedding ... something memorable where we can have pictures and say, 'Hey, we did something different.' "

Little did they know what Blair and her colleagues had taken it upon themselves to cook up.

Making Sandy the hat and a bouquet was just the start. Shirley arranged for the bride to climb on one of the kids' riding ponies, decorated with just-picked white hydrangeas. Then Bill, also game, led Sandy to what campground staffers call the Big House, the wide wood porch of which they'd prettied with pots of petunias and tulle bows.

The bears all were there, along with Ranger Smith as well as the minister who Shirley had to make many calls to find: Pastor Tom Bonomo from the United Methodist church just up the road.

Shirley even arranged for an organist. Glenda King, who works in the kitchen, plugged an extension cord into the vintage Pianorgan and took a practice run of the wedding march. The sheet music was delivered just that morning to Dull's Market across the road by the choir director of Indian Head Baptist Church.

"This is what you call 'no rehearsal,' " King said with a giggle as more than 40 curious campers filed over and filled the assembled white plastic chairs. Out of respect for the couple's privacy, Shirley hadn't advertised Jellystone's first-ever real wedding in the day's activity sheet, but word got around.

Glenda's first few fine notes hushed the crowd, and the couple walked up the steps. The rest was pretty much by the book, starting with Pastor Bonomo's "Dearly beloved, we're gathered ..."

He'd talked with the couple to make sure they were serious, but it was their non-seriousness that impressed him. During the service, he said, "I hope that fun part won't leave you, but will become an enduring part of your marriage."

Moments later, Bill said, "I will." Sandy said, "I do." They exchanged rings and, finally, the kiss.

Sandy wasn't the only one to get emotional in the afterglow of clapping and snapping pictures. Shirley surprised the couple with a bearish gift basket, including a plastic picture frame, a flashlight and a candle. Then she gave them the Yogi sheet cake that Glenda had baked and frosted. Bill laughed when the mascot Yogi tried to steal it.

The new Mr. and Mrs. Layton could not believe how nice they were being treated by these people -- strangers all. Shirley felt it was nice of them to let the campground be part of their wedding and didn't charge for anything. But Bill insisted they pay for their campsite. It was $32.

Shirley had decorated a golf cart with tulle and white balloons for a victory lap, but spontaneously it was decided to take the whole bridal party atop the campground's fire truck, with lights and siren going. Before the newlyweds started their honeymoon of champagne and miniature golf, Sandy looked around -- wet-eyed but beaming -- and shouted, "Thank you so much Yogi, Cindy, Boo Boo."

An index to other stories in this package.

Bob Batz Jr. can be reached at bbatz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1930. Reach Steve Mellon at smellon@post-gazette.com.

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