Thursday, March 16, 2000
Wedding gets green light for Irish fun
BY JIM KNIPPENBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Merciful heavens, talk about wearing 'o the green! Mark Marron and Dinah O'Toole are living it.
Such hard-core Irish types, these, they actually planned a weekend full of Irish-themed parties, ending with their wedding and, you guessed it, an Irish-themed reception.
Marron, of Mount Adams, and O'Toole, youngest of Betty and Jim O'Toole's (as in former Reds pitcher) 11 kids, will marry Saturday in Mount Adams' Church of the Immaculata, and follow it with a reception at the Syndicate, where most everything will be shades of green.
But they may be a tad bleary-eyed by then. Green at the gills, too.
Turns out they're throwing a golf tournament at the Vineyard Friday, followed by a tour of Irish pubs (“We hired a bus; can't have all my Rochester relatives driving around getting lost after a few beers,” Marron says), followed by a rehearsal dinner at Jack Quinn's “where we'll take over the whole third floor. Expect loud, but expect fun, too.
“We were going to elope to Ireland — sort of; we were going to fly our parents over, too — but we decided that a really big party celebrating the weekend with a few hundred friends would be more fun.”
Right. So what color will the beer be at the reception? “I'm still thinking about that. We're serving bottled beer, but it wouldn't be hard to toss in a couple kegs of green draft. I think I will. Count on it.”
IN THE MEDIA: Well, would you look at this: Cincinnati organizational expert Stephanie Denton not only got herself in the March 7 Family Circle, she got herself into the editorial offices, too.
Turns out editor Susan Ungaro invited her to come up and organize the office, top to bottom, then write about the experience. Which she did, in four full pages. And, we might add, left behind a mantra for Circle editors: File, don't pile.
What she told them, and anyone else who reads the article, is to keep only things that are beautiful, useful or loved (pitch stuff “you think you might need someday”); use little bits of time to accomplish little bits of work; make “to do” lists and focus on same until tasks are finished.
And above all else, say goodbye to paper clutter.
COOKIES, PLEASE: Well dang, here's something you don't see every day: A full box of cookies on your pillow come bedtime.
That's what's happening at the Westin. Turns out manager Wayne Bodington bought 500 boxes of Girl Scout cookies from Avondale's Troop 3951 and is now using them as amenities in Starwood Preferred Guest program — one of those deals that gives perks such as room upgrades, free rooms, etc. to loyal regulars.
So anyway, the Starwood guests are getting a box of Lemon Pastry Cremes (in addition to chocolate mint candies, of course,) during the month of March (maybe longer, if the Cremes hold out).
Bodington decided on Cremes, he says, because so many of the other cookie flavors — peanut butter, chocolate — involve food allergies and, well, you don't want that in your hotel.
According to Troop leader Phyllis Herring, proceeds from the sale will boost the Troop's European tour fund.
Knip's Eye View appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
Psst! appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Have an item to report? Call Jim Knippenberg at 768-8513; fax: 768-8330.
KNIPPENBERG ARCHIVE
