Marriage is a relationship with God then, each other

BEVERLY, Mass. — The arts festival crowd looked on in surprise and amazement as the 21-passenger Cadillac Escalade limousine drove slowly down the street and stopped in front of Saint Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Beverly, Mass.

The crowd cheered and clapped as nine bridesmaids and the bride, Angela Scally, got out of the limousine. One little girl asked if she could say hello to the princess.

Angela and Eric Barber were married June 21, in Beverly, Mass. Angela was formerly a member of St. Olaf Parish, Bountiful.

"You two come here today to ask to be married in the church because marriage is first and foremost a relationship with God, not first and foremost a relationship with each other. That is part of it," said Father David Barnes, pastor of Saint Mary Star of the Sea Parish. "God comes into your marriage so you can help each other get to heaven. From this day forward, you accept that responsibility. Later you will say the words I take you for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, until death do us part. Many people say these words are nice, but impossible to fulfill. But in the Catholic Church, we believe in love and through God and the Sacrament of Marriage, these promises can be fulfilled. In order to help you fulfill your commitment in this ceremony, God gives you all the graces necessary to fulfill all your promises."

Angela and Eric are both 28 years old, and they met when Angela started working as a dental assistant in Eric’s childhood dental office.

"He has always gone there for cleaning and dental work," said Angela. "So when he started coming in, I always thought he was super cute. Apparently he thought I was cute as well because he asked me out. But I said no because I was in a relationship with someone else. About a year and a half later, I was getting ready to leave to go to hygiene school full time. Right before I was going to leave, he came in to have his teeth cleaned and the dental hygienist said to him, ‘guess who is single?’ I was no longer in that relationship, so we ended up going out, and here we are. Now I clean his teeth. No one else is allowed to clean his teeth.

"We started dating when I started hygiene school, so the first two years of our relationship were pretty tough," said Angela. "It was pretty intense. But we got engaged after a year and a half on Dec. 8, 2006, and we dated for three years. I just worked on Saturday mornings. I graduated from hygiene school in 2007."

Angela is working for Drs. Peter and Sydney Frasca, a husband and wife team in Beverly, and Dr. Darryl Smith in Swampscott, Mass. She travels between the two offices.

"I love what I do," said Angela. "This is what I should be doing. When I got into this field, I knew I wanted to stay. This is a great field if you want to have kids because it is flexible. We want to have children, and I just like teeth."

Eric graduated from North Eastern University in Boston, Mass., in Civil Engineering and was working for the Department of Public Works for the City of Beverly when we met. Since then he was promoted to City Hall and is working as a civil engineer. Two days before the wedding he found out he passed a professional engineering test he took in April for which he has been studying this past year. Now many doors will open for him. Angela said he qualified to take this test once he had been out of school five years.

"We have a lot of things going on and I am so excited," said Angela. "Our jobs played a big part in deciding to do the type of wedding we have planned because it is going to be an all day affair. Eric and I are paying for the whole wedding ourselves for the most part.

"We kind of got ahead of ourselves, but this is exactly the type of wedding we wanted, and we do not have any regrets," said Angela in an interview with the Intermountain Catholic before the wedding.

"It was beautiful wedding and a lot of fun," said guests throughout the wedding and as they were leaving to Angela’s parents, Linda and David Scally, former members of St. Olaf Parish. "This is the best wedding I have ever attended."

"Eric and I planned this wedding together," said Angela. "He has been awesome."

The day began at 7 a.m. for Angela, her mother, her, sister, Tina, who was her maid of honor, and some of her nine bridesmaids at the Scally home. They had their hair done by Brianna Bryson and their make-up done by Heather Crosbie. The photographer arrived at 11:30 a.m. for pictures. The limousine arrived at 12:30 p.m. to take everyone to the church for the 1:30 p.m. ceremony.

Following the ceremony pictures were taken in Lynch Park, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. It was a beautiful sunny day and the weather was perfect. From the park the limousine took the entire wedding party including the eight groomsmen and nine bridesmaids to the Commons in Topsfield, Mass., for the reception. The Commons is a gorgeous Christian church that was converted into a reception hall.

The reception began with a cocktail hour complete with hors d’oeuvres and an open bar. From there the 204 guests were invited to a sit down dinner of either steak or chicken. The entire wedding party was introduced and seated. Dinner was followed by an evening of dancing, even by people who said they never dance.

Following the reception, the guests were invited to a casual after-party at the Comfort Inn. A shuttle was provided between the Commons and the hotel. This was a wedding to remember.

It would have been a somewhat sad occasion for Angela if her grandmother, Jean DeFillipo, had not been able to attend.

"When we found out my grandmother was sick, I lost it," said Angela. "Because as far as I am concerned, my grandmother is going to live until I am 80. That is just the way it is. My mother is never going to die. Without my grandmother, I could not have received the schooling I did. She supported me. There is nobody on this planet that I can compare my grandmother to. She is so special to me. I lived with her nine years. I got an Associate Degree in business from Marian Court College, while living with her, and working full time.

"So when she got sick, literally the day after Christmas in 2007, I said I am not getting married without my grandmother," said Angela. "We found out she had lung cancer. She started all the treatments, and stopped them. Then her lung collapsed, she was not breathing right, and developed a lung condition, an infection, and was in the hospital. I did not think she was going to be able to make it to the wedding, but she is doing better now and is on oxygen.

Angela did not think her grandmother would dance at her wedding, but she did.

"My Angela is tender, big hearted, generous, sweet, thoughtful, honest, and sincere," said DeFillipo. "I had nine beautiful years with her when she moved back from Utah to live with me in 1998. She made me and her grandfather, Tony, feel like we were special. She will do anything for her family and those she loves.

"She taught me a lot," said DeFillipo. "You know you can learn a lot from your children if you are open to it. I learned a lot from her. She is as beautiful inside as she is outside. She is my angel."

They will honeymoon in St. Lucia.