01:00 AM EST on Sunday, March 14, 2004

Jodi Croce and Joseph Olson

St. Ann Church, Providence

2.14.04

Jodi Croce and Joseph Olson have 23 men, women, and children in their wedding party. And they're all getting ready today in two side-by-side ranch houses on Wilna Street in the north end of Providence. Jodi and Joseph live with her parents in #18; neighbors and friends Leo and Donna Beaumier in #14. Simba, a wiry little Minpin (Miniature Pinscher) yaps behind a chain link fence as those involved in the wedding dash back and forth between the two. Only the bride and groom are not allowed to cross over.

They met on October 13, 1994 -- on his birthday -- "at Shooters or Bootleggers, one of those waterfront bars," says Jodi. She had first seen him there 6 weeks earlier. "I had noticed him. I liked his hair -- long hair slicked back. But he was with a girl." So when she went back in October, she was specifically looking for him. "I spotted him immediately. He was with two girls, and I thought 'This guy's a player!' It turns out they were his sisters."

So they met, they talked, he took her phone number -- four days went by and she hadn't heard from him. But someone was leaving roses on her car. "I thought it was my old boyfriend, who wanted to get back together. It was Joey." In the summer of 1995, they moved in together.

Six years later, on New Year's Eve, Joe asked Jodi to marry him -- in front of 350 strangers at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick. They had gone to see Angie and Aidan's Irish-Italian Wedding, and Joe arranged with the cast to get Jodi onstage where he could actually get down on one knee and propose.

Jodi, 28, is a senior account manager with a transport company in Warwick, and Joseph, 30, owns an auto repair shop in Johnston. "Why did we wait for 10 years? Getting married just wasn't an issue. And we had fun; we had our toys: boats, jet skis, Corvettes. Besides, Joey's mother was 3 times married, 3 times divorced. Both of his sisters had divorced. So he didn't place a lot of value on marriage. We knew we would be together forever, so it was OK.

"Since we got engaged on New Year's Eve, I thought why not get married on New Year's too. But Valentine's Day worked out better, and Joey loves the fact that he'll never have to remember when our anniversary is."

Today, at St. Ann's, eight bridesmaids and four flower girls in red dresses precede Jodi down the aisle. They carry white fur muffs, no flowers.

During the ceremony, the priest admonishes the couple to "go beyond the flowers and candies and cards on Valentine's Day."

Jodi cries as they exchange vows, her chin quivering visibly. Following a very long kiss at the altar, Jodi turns and waves to the 200 guests, sporting a very wide smile.