AFTON, Va. — Matt Spitler married Leandra Olson on Friday. Theirs was a joyous union of North Buffalo and North Dakota, at a winery in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Central Virginia.
Jared Syms knew he had to be there. He had played basketball with Matt at St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute in the mid-2000s, and they remain dear friends. But there was a problem: He had another wedding to go to — in Buffalo — the next day. Could he make it to two wedding receptions separated by 24 hours and 433 miles?
“This book is the culmination of a lifelong interest in my hometown,” Brian Hayden says. “It combines my interests in writing and journalism and history and travel and tourism.”
With some creative planning, Jared pulled it off.
Matt, the groom, is from the First Family of St. Joe’s basketball. His father and brothers played there. Uncles and cousins, too. The Spitlers account for a multitude of Marauders.
“Matt was really good,” Jared says. “I was nothing special.”
Matt told the assembled celebrants at the reception how his bride is an inveterate dog rescuer. He thanked the dogs of Nelson County, Va., for not crashing the wedding. Matt and Leandra have a dog of their own — a rescue named Tater — and the party favors were dog treats.
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