Peyton and Mary Clare

A Purrfect Union

Photos by Robby Followell

Peyton DiBartolo and Mary Clare Scurria both love cats. So much so, they incorporated them into their wedding day. Mary Clare tucked a little cat pendant that had blue on it onto her wedding dress and the cocktail napkins used at the reception had two cats with their tails intertwined making a heart that said, “The first day of the rest of our 9 lives”.

“Another really special part of our wedding was when my cousin read a passage. I didn’t want to use a reading that everyone uses. I wanted it to be unique and really mean some-thing to us,” Mary Clare said. “So, she was able to find the most perfect reading and it even had a line in there about being cat lovers so that was really special to us.”

All these gestures were certainly meaningful to the couple, but they were not the only touches that made their wedding day — Jan. 13, 2024 — memorable.

They had a plethora of treasured moments beginning with the bride’s wedding dress. It had first been worn by her mother during her parents’ wedding.

“My mom and I were on the phone one day and she asked what kind of dress I wanted,” Mary Clare said. “I told her since the wedding was in January, I wanted long sleeves. She said very casually, ‘Well, you know my dress has long sleeves, so if you wanted to look at it and try it on you could wear that.’ I said, ‘Actually, I’d really like that. I think that would be really cool.’ So, she said OK, and we talked a little bit longer and then hung up.”

Shortly after their phone call, Mary Clare started getting text messages with photos of her mother’s dress.

“She had gone upstairs to the attic, taken the dress out, and sent me 10 to 15 pictures of it. She was very excited,” Mary Clare said.

To add to the joy, the dress only needed a few changes to make it perfect.

“We did make a few changes to the neckline and the sleeves, but everything else was her original dress. I also wore her veil as well. It was really special for both of us, and we put out pictures at the reception of her on her wedding day and my bridal portraits so that everyone could see both of us in the dress,” Mary Clare said.

DINING TO DATE

Peyton and Mary Clare first met in 2013.

“We were both living in Monroe, La. He was working at a restaurant at the time, and I had a huge crush from the first moment I saw him. I would go eat at his restaurant probably four to five times a week just to try to get the chance to talk to him,” Mary Clare said.

It wasn’t until 2014, however, that they actually went out on a date.

“We had been friends that whole first year, but he would never ask me out. So, I had to finally start asking him out myself and even then it took him another three to four months to realize that I was interested in going out with him and not just hanging out as friends,” she said.

The couple continued to date for several more years before discussing marriage.

“We dated for eight years before we got engaged,” Mary Clare said. It was a year-long engagement. “Neither one of us ever really felt a strong desire to get married. We had discussed it before and always just said ‘one day.’ Then, one night we were at home watching TV and he said, ‘We should get married.’ And I said, ‘OK, that’s fine with me.’ So, he bought a ring.”

Mary Clare said she and Peyton were both “homebodies,” so to have some big proposal was not something either would have wanted. When the ring arrived, as per their lifestyle, Mary Clare said Peyton proposed in their kitchen.

“But it was perfect, and it felt ‘very us,’” she said.

BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLIES

For those that don’t like the attention focused on them, getting married in front of a gathering of people can lead to a bit of nervousness, which is what Mary Clare said she and Peyton were both experiencing on their wedding day. Happily, love prevailed.

“We were both really, really nervous. Neither one of us likes to be the center of attention and there were a lot of people there. When I first walked out, I was so nervous and out of it that I don’t think I even looked at him or noticed Peyton was there until my dad and I were halfway down the aisle.”

Mary Clare said she thought Peyton was even more nervous. “His legs were shaking. But once I got up to the altar and we said hello to each other, we both calmed down and felt better,” she said. “But we were glad the ceremony wasn’t too long.”

WEDDING DAY DETAILS

Peyton and Mary Clare had a mix of family and friends that made up their wedding party.

“We both have big families, so we were able to find roles for everyone,” Mary Clare said. “My cousin was my maid of honor and Peyton’s dad was his best man. All of our sib- lings were groomsmen and bridesmaids. And I have a lot of cousins, so I was able to find roles for each of them in our wedding which was also really special to have everyone we love the most included.”

In addition to wearing her mother’s wedding dress and the cat pin, Mary Clare wore her mother’s diamond necklace and her late maternal grandmother’s wedding ring.

“A few months before the wedding, my mom gave me my grandmother’s first engagement ring. My grandfather had bought her a newer — bigger — one for their 20^th wedding anniversary, but this was her first one that she had worn for the first 20 years of their marriage,” Mary Clare said. “And I wore the ring as my something new. Even though it was old, it was new to me.”

Both the wedding and the reception were held at the Levee Street Warehouse and Fresh Cut from Jackson provided all the decorations, flowers and food.