The wedding was supposed to be a surprise, but a long-standing practice of The Blade spoiled that.
Alex Zak and Kristen Kranz still got married Sunday, albeit with 32 friends and family members in the know.
The Toledo couple met during the pandemic, slowly started dating, and moved in together two years ago.
“We knew we were going to get married at some point,” Mr. Zak said. There was no pressure to tie the knot ... until they went to three weddings over the summer, including one Ms. Kranz was in.
After that, she apparently changed her mind. Following the last one, “She walked in the door and said, ‘Let’s get married,’” Mr. Zak said.
Ms. Kranz picked up the story.
“I’d just seen all of the extra people go through, the party, the bachelorette,” she said. “I knew we wanted to get married, but not right away. I thought, ‘How can we do this without putting our families through all of that?’”
They considered a courthouse wedding but wanted family to attend. A destination wedding would involve time and expense, even though both work for Marriott Hotels.
“I wasn’t the little girl who planned her wedding,” Ms. Kranz said. “I just wanted it to be pretty.”
So they asked themselves: “What would be unique to us that was our style?” Mr. Zak said.
The solution, they decided, was just a bit of subterfuge.
The plan was simple: Tell everyone they’d gotten engaged, plan an engagement party, and the surprise would be that the party was actually their wedding. Two confidantes were in cahoots with the couple, Ms. Kranz’s sister, Meghan Rayfield, and Mr. Zak’s friend, Sarah Stibaner.
Executing the plan was rolling along quite nicely.
Venue? Check. After scouting several locations and nixing the idea of saying their vows in one of Toledo’s pretty parks — “We’re not outdoorsy people,” Mr. Zak said — they selected the historic Oliver House in downtown.
Then came the rings. Check.
“That’s been the highlight of the wedding experience,” Mr. Zak said.
Ms. Kranz described it as “awesome.”
They tried a chain but didn’t connect with any of the offerings. That changed at local shop Broer-Freeman Jewelers on Central Avenue.
“They took into account our styles and everything. Kristen knew the right one right away,” Mr. Zak said. “She put it on her finger and never took it off.”
So, there’s a date, a venue, a ring, and a very happy couple. How, exactly, did The Blade put a wrench in all of their planning?
Getting married requires a marriage license, that bit of paper that makes it all legit. Legal notices — including marriages — are published in the newspaper as public record information. Archived copies of The Blade as far back as 1873 show marriage listings.
“I didn’t think anyone posted that sort of thing anymore,” Mr. Zak said.
The couple got their marriage license almost three weeks ago.
Ms. Kranz said her father, Dennis Kranz, reads every word in The Blade. On Sept. 19, he came across a couple of names he recognized among a list of birth announcements, marriage licenses, crime reports, and such. Under marriage licenses, “Sept. 13, 2024: Alexander Zak, 35, and Kristen Kranz, 38, both of Toledo.”
In his own defense, Mr. Kranz said he typically skips the marriage licenses.
“But I do read the log for the neighborhood crime, to see what’s going on,” he said. “But I saw my last name” on a column.
Mr. Kranz ran into his older daughter at a tennis match and asked, “When do you apply for a marriage license?”
Ms. Rayfield, dutiful sister and wedding secret holder, had a moment of panic.
“I didn’t realize at first that he was talking about them because my brother just got married at the beginning of August. He said, ‘Yeah, I saw Kristen in the paper.’ My face must have gave it away because he said I turned white,” Ms. Rayfield said. “I came up with a story about how I didn’t know if there was a timeline because during COVID people had to wait.” Then, she said, she knew the gig was up. “My dad, he knows his kids.”
Dad agreed: “Her face, I knew something was up.”
As soon as she could, Ms. Rayfield texted her sister who was having a fitting for her wedding dress.
“Have you talked to Dad?’” wasn’t a question Ms. Kranz said she was expecting.
The couple tried to come up with a cover story, then decided to just ’fess up.
“If her father hadn’t told her sister, who already knew, we’d have gone on and had the surprise Sunday,” Mr. Zak said.
There was an upside to their secret being out.
“My mom was able to go to my final dress fitting,” Ms. Kranz said.
That was a special moment for all three, Ms. Rayfield said, but especially for their mother, Brinn Kranz.
“The look on her face was great” when she saw the bride-to-be, Ms. Rayfield said. “The dress is great and it fits her wonderfully.”
Ms. Rayfield had never heard of a secret wedding. “I’ve seen things like this on TV, but not in real life,” she said. Her tip for anyone trying to pull off a similar surprise is “keep the story simple.”
Mr. and Mrs. Zak do have a bit of advice for other couples who are considering surprise nuptials: “Wait until the last minute to get a wedding license.”
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