Mobile wedding chapel
For couples who want to get married in unique locations or are under time constraints, James and Diane Donaldson’s bus is often a welcome sight. The Donaldsons chug along Southern roads, ready to officiate wedding ceremonies with lightning speed. Speaking of inclement weather, that was one of the reasons the Donaldsons began conducting services in their “Mobile Wedding Chapel”.
“We were getting tired of being rained out, because a lot of venues are outdoors and it would be real hot or we’d be caught in storms or it would be cold,” Dianne said. “So my husband had the idea of fixing up the bus so we could have heat and air and be comfortable.”
James and Dianne are affiliated with the Refuge Assembly of God Church in Soddy Daisy, and have been ordained ministers for three years and members of the congregation for four. They both said they underwent a rigorous process in order to become ordained.
“We are not, positively not, Internet ordained in case you are wondering,” James said. “We are completely, me and my wife, able to legally do weddings in all 50 states.”
“We have to sign a paper, they have to background check us,” Dianne said. “We have to answer around 100 questions. It’s not just something the church does lightly.”
Refuge Assembly pastor Dennis Parilllo said, “We are so thankful for them. They are very sweet people who love the Lord and they have made it possible for many couples to be married in their mobile wedding chapel.”
While the couple, whose business is dubbed “Wedding Officiant Minister” is technically open to anyone within all 50 states. However, because of the travel expenses, the pair usually stay within 50 miles of their Soddy Daisy home.
“It’s basically two dollars a mile, and if we had to go a great distance, we may have to charge for expenses like gas and food,” Dianne said. “We normally haven’t gone that far, but we do have one coming up in Ocoee Rapids, so that should be interesting.”
She said they get most of their business from couples who go to the courthouse and want a quick marriage, but don’t realize they cannot do ceremonies there at the present time. Inside the building is a bulletin board, advertising the services of wedding officiants such as the Donaldsons.
“They get our card from there and we’ll go meet them,” Dianne said. “One called and we told them 'Give us an hour to get dressed and we’ll go up there and meet you.' ”
“There are other wedding officiants on that bulletin board, and we’ve got our cards there and a brochure that says a few things about us,” James said. “Just about everyone at the courthouse knows us.”
Even though COVID-19 has affected just about every other business in America, the Donaldsons said the pandemic has had no impact on their wedding officiating. Dianne said the number of weddings varies from month to month, with no set pattern for when busy times will occur.
“We haven’t done less and we haven’t done more,” Dianne said. “We’ve had more this month, but that happens because weddings come in spurts. One year, July was the biggest month, but this one proves August to be the biggest month. We did four last week and four this week.”
Inside the bus is a mini-chapel, replete with a laptop, lights, air conditioning and heating, and seating. James stressed the speed in which the ceremonies take place, saying that it takes 45 minutes at most. They are not involved in the reception or any other aspect of the wedding other than the ordainment.
“Inside there we’ve got a computer and a printer and my wife takes pictures with her Nikon camera,” James said. “When we’re done, we’ll show them the pictures on the computer, and, if they want them, we’ll print them out. We let them have the original ceremony I read that has their names on it, and a real nice certificate to hang on the wall. We do that in the chapel within minutes.”
James and Dianne have been doing these ceremonies for years, and thus have plenty of interesting stories about some of their more bizarre weddings. Sometimes, the couple have to drive their bus up winding and narrow country roads, and one time they had a ceremony on top of Fall Creek Falls. However, James said he and his wife are willing to go wherever the newlyweds want them to go.
“It was where they wanted to do it, so we were there to make a happy day for them, because it’s supposed to be a very happy day.”
The Donaldsons can be contacted at 423-645-9200.
James and Diane Donaldson