Bride Carries Bouquet, Picket Sign Down Aisle
Striking United Parcel Service worker Deborah Burdette walked down a makeshift aisle in a beaded white wedding gown Saturday - one hand around her father’s arm, the other carrying a bouquet and a picket sign.
Burdette, 35, married Joel Phillips, 43, at noon on the picket line outside the UPS office in this city 100 miles northwest of Columbia.
They had a portable radio in place of an organ. Picket signs and a white paper bell served as decorations under a white tent set up for picketing workers.
After exchanging vows, they held hands as they passed underneath raised picket signs held by fellow workers.
“Keep striking, y’all!” yelled Burdette-Phillips.
The couple, engaged eight months ago, had planned a church wedding for Saturday. But after realizing the many guests wouldn’t be able to make it because they would be on the picket line, she decided to take the wedding to them.
“This was the best way to do it,” said Burdette-Phillips, a full-time package car driver.
Her mother, Easter Jacobs, was shocked and wanted her daughter to be married in a church like she had planned. So, after marrying on the picket line, they headed to the church for ceremony No. 2.