News Story - Idaho State Journal

POCATELLO – The bride didn't wear a traditional white wedding dress. But this wasn't a typical nuptial.

On Friday night, Greg Sudduth and Angela Garner got married in their new Habitat for Humanity house in Pocatello, whose construction that has not been completed.

After sunset, around 7 p.m., the 40 guests climbed up a shaky ladder, walked over wobbly wooden planks placed over scaffolding and then entered the second floor of a house that is still a skeleton.

The second floor, which doesn't yet have paint or walls to divide the rooms or a ceiling to hide the rafters, did have white string lights hung overhead and tea candles in the window sills. It seemed to be a suitable setting for Sudduth and Garner to start their life together.

''I've been waiting for this house for 3 years. I thought it was the perfect place to get married, where we were going to start a new life. It was on Halloween that we decided to do this. We had it now so that it could be in one big room. It was my husband's idea,'' said Garner.

''It was my idea,'' said Sudduth. ''But I wasn't thinking of (the wedding) being in the house. She expanded on the idea. I thought it would just be at the site of the house.''

But Sudduth can't seem to argue with success.

''After everything, it did turn out very well,'' he said. ''It's kind of off the wall.''

''Even though the house isn't completed, it was a beautiful place to do it,'' said Bishop Ralph Baker, from the Pocatello Third Ward Central Stake, who officiated the ceremony. ''I've done marriages in different places, such as parks and chapels. But I've never done it in a place like this. I tell people, 'Wherever you'd like to go, we'll go there.' We'd like them to have good memories.'' He added, ''I thought it was so novel that you had to climb up a ladder to get in.''

For many people in the room, the wedding was not just a celebration of a new union, but also a celebration of the work that has been completed on the new house thus far.

''There have been a lot of good people who have done a lot of good work on this place,'' said Baker.

In fact, the new bride and her friends and family have already put many hours of work into helping build the house. Habitat for Humanity requires that the homeowner put at least 500 hours into the home's construction.

''Building from the ground up is just as great as anticipating getting married or having a child,'' said Garner. ''It's a fun process.''

It will also no doubt be another welcome change when Sudduth, Garner and her four children move in, which they hope to do in late spring. Until now, Garner and her children have been living in her parents' basement appartment. They are grateful for the new opportunity Habit has given them.

According to its Web site, Haitat for Humanity is ''A nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing organization building simple, decent, affordable housing in partnership with people in need... Through the work of Habitat, thousands of low-income families have found new hope in the form of affordable housing. Churches, community groups and others have joined together to successfully tackle a significant social problem - decent housing for all. Today, Habitat for Humanity has built more than 200,000 houses, sheltering more than 1,000,000 people in more than 3,000 communities worldwide.''

To learn more about Habitat for Humanity, visit www.habitat.org.

By Brooke Anderson - For the Journal

This document was originally published online on Sunday, November 11, 2007

Article Rating

Reader Comments

The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of our paper.

Submit a Comment

Commenting Rules

We encourage your feedback and dialog. All comments are subject to deletion by our Web staff.

Report a Comment

Report a comment for review to the ISJ web staff.