Reverend ditches wedding

An Elyria, Ohio couple almost couldn't get married on their wedding day due to a runaway reverend. The couple was preparing to get married on the beach at Lakeview beach in Lorain. "We were extremely excited," says Erin Kuhns.

But just before Erin went to meet her soon-to-be husband Bret at the alter, the Reverend approached the limo. "She asked if I drank alcohol," Erin explains. "I said yes, we toasted wine at the house." The Reverend Mrs. Gillian Kresila refused to marry the couple. She kept the $50 deposit and left the beach.

It was 4 p.m. and Erin was hysterical and Brett says, "I had no idea what was going on. No one would tell me. I just knew -- wedding -- not happening." Once he learned what had happened, he was relieved that his bride didn't runaway, but furious the reverend did. "I think it's ridiculous. We paid them and to deny service for no good reason, I can't believe a business would operate like that," Bret says.

Reverend Kresila says, "It's illegal to marry people who are under the influence in Ohio," and she could lose her license. She said, "She is not a doctor and can not tell how one drink affects one person or anther person." She said that is why they have a zero alcohol tolerance policy.

But Erin says they would not have had the toast if they had known the full policy. She says, "We were told not to, to drink. She said don't drink before the wedding, but she didn't say don't drink or I wont perform the ceremony."

According to the Ohio Revised Code: No marriage license shall be granted when either of the applicants is under the influence of an intoxicating liquor or controlled substance.

But Erin and Bret signed their license weeks before the ceremony at the courthouse. And Erin says she was not drunk. "A four ounce champagne glass was all I consumed that entire day," says Erin. "We are not partiers we're not that type of people."

The family scrambled and found a backup reverend to marry the couple and the new Mrs. and Mr. Kuhns had a beautiful day. They say, "Boy oh boy -- was it memorable!"

"We'll always have a story to tell about our wedding day to the kids and grandkids," sums up Erin.