Carole and Mike Sullivan

photo by Jesse Prentiss

Anyone who happened to see Carole Sullivan depart Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Little Italy on the afternoon of July 2 will probably never forget the sight of the just-married WKYC-TV morning co-anchor and her wedding party speeding away in the famous Euclid Beach Rocket, leaving streams of tulle in their wake.

"My wedding dress was flying out of the rocket car! The veil was flying out of the rocket car!€VbCrLf Carole says as she laughs, trying to adequately describe the outrageousness of the scene. But the Euclid Beach Rocket - one of two converted cars salvaged from the beloved Euclid Beach Park ride - turned out to be a very practical mode of transportation. Renting it for an hour was a lot cheaper than hiring a limousine for a four-hour minimum. More importantly, it set the tone for the 6 p.m. reception that the 32-year-old bride and her groom, former Cleveland Browns assistant coach and current Western Michigan University offensive line coach Mike Sullivan, hosted at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens.

"I wanted people to feel like, €˜Gear up for the reception, because it's going to be a blast!' €VbCrLf she explains. "What better way to do that than with The Rocket?€VbCrLf

Carole's attitude toward planning her nuptials was certainly more relaxed than that of many brides. "I don't know why people say you need a year to plan a wedding,€VbCrLf she says. "I had almost everything done in the first month.€VbCrLf Sobella Design Studio of Lyndhurst basically chose the shade of mint green that dominated her reception color scheme when they designed her mint-green-and-bronze invitations. Although she splurged on a white Edgardo Bonilla dress with a tulle ballgown skirt and strapless bodice overlaid with crystal-beaded Alencon lace from Catan Bridal and Fashion in Strongsville, she gave her matron of honor and flower girl carte blanche selecting the color and style of their attire. Her matron of honor, who was pregnant at the time, picked a pale-pink dress with a strapless bodice and long A-line skirt at a local maternity store, while Mike's sister-in-law found a sleeveless lavender dress with a mint-green sash for her daughter in their hometown of Chicago.

Kiss and Tell   She called him Although Mike introduced himself to Carole while she was having dinner with friends at the Warehouse District restaurant Sushi Rock, Carole was the first to pick up the phone the next day. "I wasn't going to wait and see if he was going to call me. I just don't have that kind of patience.€VbCrLf   "He scooped me!€VbCrLf Carole had planned a number of surprises for Mike's 37th birthday on Dec. 22, 2004. But she was the one left with her mouth hanging open when he picked her up a couple of hours earlier than planned, took her to Coe Lake in Berea, and proposed to her in the middle of a major snowstorm. "I looked like hell - I had no makeup on, my hair was pulled back. The guy must really be in love.€VbCrLf   Flip-flop favors Carole stocked the ladies' and men's rooms with baskets of flip-flops in all sizes and colors. "Everybody who went into the bathroom came out with a full-on smile and a pair of flip-flops in their hands. Within minutes, they were on. Women were matching them with their dresses. It was a huge, huge hit.€VbCrLf   Forget "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?€VbCrLf A week after their wedding, Carole and Mike left for a two-week honeymoon in Argentina. "Mike is fluent in Spanish, and we knew that we could eat a lot of great Argentinean beef and drink a ton of Argentinean wine.€VbCrLf   What's in a name? Unlike many women in her field, Carole (nee Chandler) took her husband's last name. "For me, it was just another sign of our commitment. We're a team.€VbCrLf

Similarly, John Ferguson of VanderBrook Inc. in Cleveland Heights was given a free hand creating a unified color scheme for the ceremony by using garden flowers in shades of pink, white and lavender to make the altar arrangements and bouquets. The bride's only request was that her bouquet consist solely of carnations - "the cheapest flowers known to man,€VbCrLf as she describes them. Although the demand was an unusual one, Ferguson complied, providing a rounded arrangement in white and pinks.

"Mike and I have a running joke,€VbCrLf Carole explains. "When we first started dating, somehow we got on the topic of flowers. I may have said, in a little too brash of a tone, €˜Don't ever give a girl carnations!' The next day, he showed up at my door with a bouquet of them. It was hilarious - I laughed so hard. The only flowers he's ever given me are carnations.€VbCrLf

When the 200 guests arrived at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, they were greeted by a steel band from Trinidad playing outside the entrance to the atrium. Inside, they found servers bearing trays of mojitos, citrus aquafresca, pinot grigio and hors d'oeuvres. They passed a bongo player in the glasshouse en route to the patio. Scattered around the lily pond were 28 round tables covered with mint-green tablecloths and white overlays, each punctuated by a single mound of moss-topped green kermits and bells-of-Ireland sprays.

"I didn't want to spend $50 on five roses for a centerpiece,€VbCrLf Carole says. "I wanted something affordable and artistic and fun.€VbCrLf

After a buffet dinner of beef, pasta and chicken pad thai served at three separate stations, the bride and groom cut a light lemon cake layered with white-chocolate mousse, iced in mint-tinted buttercream, and topped with a replica of the monogram created for the invitations. A disc jockey from TKO Entertainment in Strongsville took over for the steel band, and the dancing began to a playlist of everything from Dean Martin to the Notorious B.I.G. Mini ice-cream cones were passed around at about 9:30 p.m., and pizza was served 90 minutes later. Guests started lighting the sparklers at each place sitting "after the sun went down and the cocktails went in.€VbCrLf

"We burned a few tablecloths,€VbCrLf the bride admits.

At the end of the day, the Euclid Beach Rocket fulfilled its happy mission. The bride and groom had such a good time at their own wedding that they were actually the last ones to leave for their room at the Glidden House Inn, where most of their out-of-town guests were staying.