Canine wedding goes off without a scratch

Stefanie Frith

As the sun beat down upon the white tents decorated with real daisies

Saturday on Balboa Island, the crowd chatted about how the weather

couldn’t have been more perfect for the afternoon wedding of a couple who

loves one another as much as Olive and Tino do.

“Rain or shine, we had to be here for this special day,” Kathy Bonnell

of Fountain Valley said.

“It’s just amazing, and so beautiful,” Diana Warner of Balboa said.

And as Yoda the ringbearer and Pepper the flower girl, dressed in pink

satin, were wheeled down the aisle in a wagon, the crowd burst into

cheers and applause and the first-ever pug dog wedding benefiting Little

Angels Pug Rescue began.

“Do you Olive, take Tino to be your stud puppy and Dog Chow dog?” Rudy

Horwitz, the minister, read. “Do you promise to love and cherish his

smashed-in mug, wet nose and squatty legs?”

To this, Olive just gave Tino another lick.

The brainchild of Stephanie Bailiff, owner of The Barkery in Balboa

where the ceremony took place, the dog wedding was the first event

planned to raise money for Little Angels. There were also pug adoptions,

raffles, a wedding cake for the dogs, a wedding collar toss and a

Smoochin’ Pooch contest in honor of Valentine’s Day.

The event raised $300 and by the end of the day, all 12 of the pugs in

need of homes were adopted.

“I was hosting a Christmas party here at the store and I was talking

with my friend Sue McKibbon [the mother of the groom], and we just

started talking about this dog wedding,” Bailiff said, her hair decorated

in daisies to match the decor. “It started as a joke, but then we knew it

had to be big because I love dogs. I quit being a lawyer to open this

store, and I wanted to do something good for the pugs.”

Once the idea was set, donations for the wedding and contests poured

in so that Little Angels would benefit as much as possible. Engagement

pictures were done by Just Priceless in Newport Beach and Rosie’s Rags

made the wedding dress, tux and bridesmaids’ dresses. A writer friend of

Rudy and Lauren Horwitz, owner’s of Rosie’s Rags, wrote the vows, which

Rudy read, much to the laughter and barks of the audience.

Just before the wedding began, Blake Warner and his mother, Diana,

were trying to calm down their pug, Doby. Diana Warner said Doby was

quite jealous of Olive and Tino’s relationship.”Doby was supposed to get

married to Olive,” she said, shaking her head in mock disappointment. “We

sometimes babysit Olive, and she walks by our home on Balboa all the

time, so Doby is really disappointed that he’s not going to be up there

with her.”

Kathy Bonnell and her son, Ryan, brought their dog Bridget to the

wedding because they said Bridget is on the hunt for a new boyfriend --

er, dogfriend.

“We heard about the wedding when we were here a couple weeks ago and

just had to come,” Kathy said, giving Bridget, who is a Bichon Frise, a

pat. “And we brought Bridget because she’s jealous that she’s not getting

married, but she is definitely in hopes of finding her pug boyfriend

here.”

The pugs have no plans to cohabitate. But Olive, now a married pug,

seemed quite content after the wedding, following owner Bailiff, around

while wearing her lacey wedding collar.

“Isn’t this the funniest thing?” Bailiff asked, giving Olive a pat. “I

can’t believe I am the mother of the bride.”