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FeedHistory in the Making
A World War II-inspired wedding at Antietam Battlefield marks the beginning of this couple’s lifetime together.
Tania Bongiolatti and K.C. Kirkman II are a classic example of “When you know, you know.” Their story really begins as early as spring 2006, when Tania first traveled with a Civil War reenactment group from Winsted, Connecticut, to Antietam Battlefield in Maryland. She was there for a week-long volunteer project, and K.C., originally from Utah, was an Antietam park ranger. The couple had known about each other for years when finally, in spring 2010, the right conversation happened at the right time.
The Pursuit
By May 2010, after a month of e-mail and phone conversations, K.C. and Tania were already talking about marriage and had their summer calendar planned with trips to see each other at least once a month. On July 18, 2010, after initial monthly plans turned into trips every weekend, K.C. proposed. On one of his trips to see Tania, he took her to one of their favorite places—a cemetery near Tania’s home that held special meaning throughout her life and where the couple enjoyed walking and spending time in the historic solitude—and asked her to be his wife. “We had been talking and planning and looking at rings,” Tania says. “But K.C. caught me totally off guard—we had been looking at a vintage ring set on eBay, but then it sold, and I just sort of thought, ‘Darn, we didn’t get it. We’ll just keep looking.’” Of course, it turned out the rings were sold to K.C. and that’s the ring he proposed with. The couple continued long-distance from that May through their wedding day on November 6, 2010, and even afterward, until Tania finally moved in March 2011 to Martinsburg, West Virginia, to live with K.C. “For that entire year, we never missed one weekend together,” K.C. recalls fondly.
The Theater
For Tania and K.C., a passion for history is not something either of them chose. “I don’t know where my interest in history comes from,” Tania says. “It’s just something that’s in me.” K.C. shares similar sentiments. “I can’t explain the beginnings of my interest in history, it’s just always been there.” So, with their shared interest in Civil War, late 19th century, and WWII history—and K.C.’s position as a ranger at Antietam Battlefield, where their love story began—a history-themed wedding loosely inspired by the WWII era and held at the historic Antietam Battlefield just made sense. Tania and K.C. also wanted a fall wedding in which they could embrace the season, so they chose that first November, instead of waiting another year.
The Brigade
When Tania and K.C. decided a Civil War wedding was too common, they chose a 1940s-era wedding. The couple encouraged guests to wear vintage clothes, and K.C. says the theme “just took a life of its own.” Guests got their hair cut, rented uniforms, and really embraced the opportunity to dress for the period.
Tania, an avid vintage shopper, fell in love with a dress on eBay—a 1940s, white chiffon, tea-length gown with flocked decorations of floral sprays in peach and green. She laughs, “I remember bidding for the dress on my phone. I was watching the auction while driving home to Connecticut from one of my West Virginia weekend visits, and I won the bid in Pennsylvania somewhere in the dark.” She completed her ensemble with a hat she found in an antique store in Connecticut, a modern veil, vintage pearls with a gold clasp with blue stones (her something blue), pearl stud earrings, and short vintage gloves for the day and long vintage gloves for the ceremony. “The biggest hunt was for the shoes,” says Tania. She spent months looking for plain, off white Mary Janes and finally found them in a dance shop. Tania’s attendants—her mother was her matron of honor and two friends from Connecticut were bridesmaids—wore vintage inspired dresses in fall colors.
As a unit commander for a reenactment group, K.C. already owned an original U.S. Army captain’s dress uniform, so he elected to wear that on his wedding day—his favorite uniform, known as “pinks and greens,” which included a trench coat, dog tags, and sterling silver I.D. bracelet engraved with his initials given to him by his bride. His groomsmen wore original WWII service dress uniforms and Antietam Battlefield park service uniforms, which were based closely on 1940s park uniforms.
Sweet Victory
The bride and groom were married by a pastor from a Martinsburg church and chose to keep the décor and ceremony short, sweet, and traditional. Held in Dunker Church, the setting spoke for itself. “We wanted it to be more about us and not necessarily about all the other things, and being in a setting like that—it was enough in and of itself to enjoy the atmosphere,” K.C. says. The only flowers were the bridal bouquet and groom’s boutonniere that consisted of roses purchased from a local florist that mirrored the colors in Tania’s dress, and bridesmaids bouquets of fall-colored flowers. Traditional wedding songs selected by the couple accompanied the ceremony, and the DJs—a husband and wife team—helped make the ceremony an incredibly smooth experience. Tania remembers, “As my father and I were standing outside waiting to walk in, as the church doors opened and closed, music would billow out. It was so beautiful, I thought I was going to walk in crying, but I composed myself.” For K.C., “the ‘I do’ moment was really emotional.” He says, “That was a powerful moment.”
The Mess Hall
Thanks to friends of the newlyweds’ who traveled from Connecticut with their 1940s vehicles on a flatbed truck, K.C. and Tania were able to ride in style in a WWII Command Car to their reception at Mumma Barn. Maintaining the simplicity, K.C. hung swags of tulle across the barn ceiling with strands of white lights that cast a soft glow over the celebration. A simple, floral wreath hung behind the couple’s table, and an American flag adorned one wall of the barn. Tables were set with white linens, silver, and china, as well as sugar pumpkin centerpieces filled with baby’s breath and mums, and were named after places the couple traveled in the months leading up to their wedding. Framed photos included a short story so guests could learn a bit of the couple’s history.
Friends of the family catered the buffet dinner, and the nearly 100 guests enjoyed a simple, old-fashioned, three-tiered cake decorated in peach tones to match the bride’s dress. The couple found their vintage cake topper of a bride and groom in an antique shop. The favors, made by very close friends, were chocolate flowers with handwritten thank you notes including the wedding date and newlyweds’ names. “We wanted something simple that people would enjoy, so we chose flowers to go with the mums and fall theme and colors,” Tania says.
Traditional wedding dances were shared to 1940s or vintage-themed music, and Tania laughs, “Out of all the traditional dances, we had to have The Chicken Dance—it was a ‘must’!” The DJ called everyone onto the dance floor and a rubber chicken was passed around so each person had a turn to dance in the middle of the floor. K.C. says he’s “not a very good dancer,” but his first dance with his wife went so well that he ended up staying on the floor all night. “It is truly the best wedding I have ever been to,” he says. “And now everyone’s telling us we need to do it again—have an annual party on or near our anniversary. It was just an incredible time.”
VENDORS
BRIDE’S GOWN: eBay
FLOWERS: The bride and groom
PLANNER: The bride and groom
OFFICIANT: Pastor Mark Mooney, Otterbein United Methodist Church, Martinsburg
CATERER: Shari Walker, Special Gatherings, Martinsburg
CAKE: Shepherdstown Sweet Shop Bakery, Shepherdstown
ENTERTAINMENT: CJ’s Music Masters, Shepherdstown
FAVORS: Friends of the family
LODGING: Mary Hill House, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, MD
CEREMONY: Dunker Church, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, MD
RECEPTION: Mumma Barn, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, MD
PHOTOGRAPHY: Douglas Pettway Photography
