Ruth wore an ivory gown; Arthur, an ivory tux with tails. They were attended by two maids of honor, a best man, six bridesmaids, two flower girls and a ring bearer, not to mention six event "coordinators," one photographer and one videographer.
In the church hall afterward, there was a jazz band, a $700 wedding cake and dinner for more than 300 guests.
The bride cooked the meal, but not to cut corners on the wedding tab, which the couple's five children picked up.
"I'm very funny about my food," Delegate Kirk said. "I don't want nobody to get sick. And you have to be very careful when caterers are cooking, because they precook everything. I had macaroni and ground beef together. I had baked chicken 'cause I didn't want fried. I had ham. I had potato salad, string beans, corn. I started cooking Thursday night."
Since the bride is a state lawmaker, there were lots of delegates and senators among the guests. Annapolis lobbyist Bruce Bereano, who never misses a party, was there. So were Bob and Kendel Ehrlich.
Delegate Kirk, a Democrat, is pals with the Republican ex-gov?
"He likes me 'cause I tell him off if he's wrong," she said. "When he was governor, and I didn't like what his staff said, I'd go upstairs and tell him what I thought, and he liked that."
And what about the current governor?
Kirk thought it best to leave Martin O'Malley off the guest list since Ehrlich was on it.
"If one's coming, I didn't need nobody looking at each other," she said. "Not on my day."
Back home, with cat
William Donald Schaefer was glad to get back home to the Charlestown retirement community last weekend, a few days after doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital inserted a pacemaker in his chest. And the ex-governor's cat, Willie IV, was glad to have him back.
"His cat, Willie, was very excited to see him," said longtime Schaefer aide Lainy LeBow-Sachs. "He was jumping all over the place, scratching his legs, biting his toes."
That might not sound like much of a welcome, but LeBow-Sachs assured me that Willie IV was scratching and biting in a good way.
