By Josh Staloch
Staff Writer
GREEN BAY – It was a wedding day centuries in the making.
It won’t be hard for a local couple to remember their wedding date – just think twos – five twos to be exact: 2/22/22.
And if that amount of twos wasn’t enough, the couple tied the knot at exactly 2:22 p.m.
That added up to eight twos.
No matter how the date, 2/22/22, is written – month-day-year; day-month-year; or year-month-day it’s always the same.
There will be other ubiquitous palindrome dates, such as 3/3/33, 4/4/44 and 5/5/55, occurring every 11 years.
However, no palindrome date like 2/22/22 will occur again in this century.
The once-in-a-lifetime palindrome date wasn’t lost on these lovebirds, both beyond excited for their “Twosday” nuptials.
The planning
Donna Streckenbach, proprietor of The Bridal Church, has been in the business of offering couples a unique wedding experience for 45 years.
The non-denominational setting, located on Cherry Street in Green Bay’s downtown, is adorned with stained-glass windows and an ornamental archway draping over the center aisle.
And while a frigid Tuesday afternoon in late February might not seem like a great day to utilize the picturesque, 250-seat venue, Streckenbach was all smiles on Tuesday, Feb. 22, as The Bridal Church played host to a meticulously-coordinated event to get Tabitha Jean Recob and Adam Matthew Ernst married at 2:22 pm on 2/2/22.
Ernst, the groom, said marriage wasn’t really on his radar before meeting Recob.
The pair began planning to get hitched on a one-of-a-kind day on the 2022 calendar months ago.
“A couple of months ago, Tabitha politely asked me, ‘Adam, can we get married on 2-22-22?’” Ernst said. “I sort of blew her off and said ‘Sure, whatever,’ and then, as Christmas approached, I had a big change of heart and decided to purchase an engagement ring and said ‘Let’s do it’ on Christmas Eve. And now I’m comfortable. I definitely made the right decision.”
The vows
Streckenbach said the production Feb. 22 at the Bridal Church took thoughtful planning to wrap things up, officially, at 2:22 and the man in charge of that was Tyler Smith, the couple’s minister.
“I’ve been over this thing, I don’t know how many times, just trying to time it right,” Smith said. “There’s definitely been a lot of rehearsing by everyone.”
Smith got the proceedings going just past 2 p.m., with the first kiss as man and wife coming at around 2:15 before the couple, in front of a small gathering of family and friends, signed their marriage license at 2:22 p.m.
Streckenbach said because of the uniqueness of this date, another couple said “I do” at 5:22 p.m. – sharing the 2-22-22 date with the Ernsts.
Rachel Frailich and Eric Hendricks, both 35, tied the knot later in the evening at The Bridal Church.
“Honestly, I just loved the date,” Frailich (now Hendricks), whose birthday is in February said. “I love the month and I just thought it was really cool, kind of unique. It was fun. We actually got it all done, signed the marriage license, at exactly 5:22.”
All it took was for Rachel to mention once that she thought it might be nice to get married on 2/22/22, Eric did the rest.
“I mentioned the date once, how it might be kind of cool,” she said. “He took it from there, got the ring and proposed.”
Both couples agree their wedding dates are simply unforgettable.