NOTES ON PEOPLE (12/01/96)

NOTES ON PEOPLE

Couple weds at Disney World

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The first Ukrainian wedding took place at the recently constructed Wedding Pavilion here at Walt Disney World on Friday, August 3. John Berko and Diane Meashey had their nuptials blessed by the Rt. Rev. Matthew Berko, father of the groom.

The bride and groom are managerial-level employees in the Food and Beverage Division at Epcot Center. Mr. Berko was born in Toronto, and upon completion of college moved to Florida to work for the rapidly expanding resort giant. Mrs. Berko was born in York, Pa., and also came to Florida to take a position with Walt Disney World upon completion of college.

The 40-minute ceremony was celebrated in the popular Wedding Pavilion with all the traditional ceremony of a Ukrainian wedding: the embroidered ritual cloths upon which the vows were exchanged and later for binding the hands of the groom and bride as they were led around the altar thrice, the exchange of crowns, the common cup, etc.

Some 150 guests and family members attended the wedding ceremony and the reception that followed at the American Pavilion in Epcot Center. The couple flew to Barbados for their honeymoon.

The Rev. Berko, pastor of St. Andrew Ukrainian Catholic Church in Spring Hill, Fla., obtained special permission from Bishop Robert Moskal of Parma, Ohio, to bless this marriage at Walt Disney World.