Why Dolly Parton Stopped Her Wedding Mid-Ceremony
Even though Dolly Parton’s record label instructed her not to get married lest it affect her image, the “Two Doors Down” singer and Carl Dean could not wait. So they snuck off to a town called Ringgold, Georgia to tie the knot in secret. But once there, Parton decided the hasty ceremony wasn’t what she’d always envisioned.
Dolly Parton and Carl Dean’s almost-wedding
Parton’s mother made the trip to Nashville to accompany her daughter and new son-in-law to Ringgold.
“Mama made me a wisp of a veil to go with a white eyelet dress she had also made,” Parton wrote in her 1994 memoir, Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “She had also wrapped a little white Bible in lace and tied it up with field flowers for me to carry.”
It was a Friday when the small party headed to Ringgold. The couple got their license from city hall. But as the judge started reciting the marriage rites, Parton cut in: “Wait, I want to get married in a church.”
The judge explained that they could only perform the ceremony that day at city hall. If Parton and Dean wanted to be married somewhere else, they’d have to wait until Monday.
A motel was way out of the group’s budget but the “Jolene” singer was determined to get married in a church, so they decided to head back to Nashville for the weekend. But before they left, Parton wanted to look around to find the perfect church to get married in.
“We drove around town until we found Ringgold Baptist Church,” she wrote. “We went in and had a chat with the minister. He didn’t ask a lot of questions. He just seemed to sense by looking at Carl and me that we were sincere about being together for life. The minister, Don Duvall, shook our hands and said he’d be pleased to marry us on Monday.”
The wait
Parton had planned on spending the weekend with her new husband (and consummating their marriage). So spending the two days with her mother was a major gear shift. To the singer, the phrase “When you’ve found the one you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want to start the rest of your life right away” took on a whole new meaning.
“Mama stayed with me that Saturday and Sunday,” wrote Parton. “Now, I love Mama, but she wasn’t exactly the companion I had hoped to have those two nights. There’s a funny thing about time and how long or short a piece of it can seem. It depends on what you’re doing and, more importantly, who you’re doing it with. It may be discovered someday that an orgasm actually lasts for hours and only seems like a few seconds.”
It was a long two days.
The couple’s Monday wedding ceremony
“Monday came on the back of a snail,” wrote Parton. “We put our things back in the car and drove some 150 miles to Ringgold once again.”
It happened to be Memorial Day. On May 30, 1966, Parton and Dean officially got married.
“I had a sweet little wedding service with Mama and the preacher’s wife as witnesses,” wrote Parton. “Mama had brought her camera and snapped a few pictures.”
The “Coat of Many Colors” singer wore her homemade white dress and veil. She carried the bible wrapped in lace her mother prepared for her. It was an intimate day, but a special one.
