The North Chapel at Liberty Station in Point Loma will host a 12-hour wedding marathon on Valentine’s Day, featuring 36 couples who have agreed to exchange vows in a mass wedding party.
From 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 14, the couples will begin to recite their vows in a pre-planned public ceremony at the former Naval Training Center.
Some couples are marrying for the first time while others are renewing their vows, said Marianne Gregson, director of program development for NTC Promenade.
Many different vendors who work weddings at the newly reopened and renovated North Chapel were asked by officials at NTC to help with the event, said Ariane Freville, events specialist for the French Gourmet, a Pacific Beach restaurant catering the affair.
“We’ve been in business for 30 years, and we’ve been servicing San Diego and doing weddings at the NTC forever,” Freville said.
The Navy closed the North Chapel in 1997. It sat vacant until 2007, when La Jolla-based developer C.W. Clark Inc. restored it, Gregson said.
According to Freville, after the couples are wed and exit the church, the French Gourmet will serve appetizers and wedding cake while other vendors provide their goods.
The many brides and grooms will be treated to a complimentary wedding ceremony, with flowers, a photographer, champagne and a nondenominational officiate.
Anseth Page Richards, wedding planner to the stars and co-owner of the Bridal Bar in Bird Rock, is a co-sponsor of the event. Because San Diego is one of the most requested locations in the nation for couples to wed, Richards said she is creating a new San Diego site-planning wedding Web site, but that brides can always find her or her Bar-Tenders at the Bridal Bar.
Other sponsors include Bird Rock’s A Better Deal Tuxedo Shop, Bauman Photographers, Clergy Referral Service, Event Beverage Solutions, Audio Visual Events, Exquisite Weddings magazine, NTC Promenade, Vons and KYXY 96.5 radio, which will broadcast the weddings live.
One lucky twosome will win a honeymoon to Jamaica, courtesy of Kahala Travel and Couples Resorts.
The North Chapel at Liberty Station is located at 2881 Roosevelt Drive. For information, visit www.kyxy.com.