An avid horseman was getting married at St. John the Baptist Church on 119th Street Saturday afternoon. He had wanted to involve his horses in the wedding ceremony but couldn't so the women in the wedding party brought in a horse and carriage to surprise him, horse trainer Tamara Nevinger said.
"The groom in the wedding is a horseman and was upset he couldn't have any of his courses so the gals got together to surprise him with this. He has no idea," she said. "It's for a nice little photo shoot so he will have a horse in his wedding photos outside the church.
It was important to his family." Antique Coach and Carriage from Homer Glen supplied the horse and carriage for a photo op outside the church. The firm has brought horse-drawn carriages to weddings, quinceañeras, birthday parties and other special occasions across Northwest Indiana and Chicagoland since 1985.
"We've done jobs in Michigan, even Iowa," Nevinger said. "We've been to this same church before. We do a lot of jobs in Chesterton at the Sand Creek Country Club.
" The spectacle of setting the horse up on 119th Street drew a crowd of the curious before it trotted over to the Catholic church. Beauty is a Percheron, an elegant French draft horse breed that's often used in harness racing. It's one of 10 horses that Antique Coach & Carriage keeps in its stables.
Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts "She does light duty and gets requested for weddings because she's white," Nevinger said. "This should be emotional for him because of how much horses mean to him so it's going to be fantastic for him to see that horse. All the women in his family are doing this for him to make his day extra special.
" People often choose to surprise unsuspecting loved ones with horses at weddings, Nevinger said. "It's either for pizzazz or for the horse lover who's missing having their horse in whatever celebration they're doing. It's like having a dog lover or a cat lover.
Horse lovers are the same. You just can't bring the horse anywhere. Just having a horse here will do a lot with him.
" The horses usually turn heads when out trotting around in public, Nevinger said. "They always get attention when people see a horse on the street," she said. "Horses are one of those beautiful things that people just admire.
" Weddings account for about 35% of Antique Coach & Carriage's business, owner Debbie Hay said. Hay said she sometimes gets jokes about how on-the-nose her surname is given her line of business but said it's from a Scottish clan she descended from. She said the firm also does cotillions, sweet sixteens and festivals.
"If you wanted to have a carriage for like Pierogi Fest, we'd come out," she said. "We're open year-round.".
