Most women start to think about their wedding day at about the age of five. They dream of how big and beautiful it’s going to be and perfect they want it to be among a bunch of other fun things. But what do you do if, after you get engaged and start planning your wedding, your fiance tricks you and you end up getting married on a day when you aren’t expecting it? What exactly would you call this? This is what you call a surprise wedding, and that’s exactly what happened to 20 year-old RWC student Kara Patterson (now known as Kara Hignite).
Kara got engaged in February 2008 to Army Sergeant Ray Hignite. The wedding date was originally scheduled for the Fourth of July, but Ray got called up for duty, and the wedding had to be pushed back to a later date.
So what happens next, you are probably wondering? The couple then began planning their wedding right after Halloween. Kara described how she just wanted a simple but yet sweet ceremony at her house with just family. When everyone began acting strange, ignoring her and lying to her about the subject, Kara explains how she had her suspicions, but just kept on believing what everyone was telling her.
Saturday, December 20, 2008, was a big day for Kara and her fiance, Ray. Her Maid of Honor, Jodi Stewart, wanted Kara to bring down her dress and everything to go with it to Gym Nation, where Kara was to coach her gymnastics team in a meet. Jodi explained to Kara that she just wanted to make sure the red ribbon on Kara’s dress matched Jodi’s red dress.
After Kara had her dress on, the judges for the gymnastics meet began doing her hair and putting her veil on. At this point she wondered what exactly was happening. When she saw her brother Adam, Kara knew what was happening only because he wasn’t supposed to be due in town until the following week.
The actual wedding lasted about 10 minutes. “This was a big shocker to me and is the best gift anyone could have planned and given to me,” Kara said. “I was nervous, and seeing Ray’s face was one of the best parts of the wedding. Though afterwards was the best part!”
Ray said, “This wedding took a lot of work and effort and was stressful but it all worked out and was definitely worth the stress and was heck of an experience! Seeing Kara walking down the aisle and being announced as a married couple for the first time.”
The newly wedded couple went on a carriage ride to see the Nutcracker at the Aronoff Center after they were married followed by dinner at Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse, which opened early for them to have a private dinner.
You can find more information about this surprise wedding visit at Cincinnati.com. Just type in “surprise wedding.