Organ store nuptials hit the right note

Gary Masdin was one happy man Tuesday.

He was getting married on Valentine's Day. Plus, he didn't have to pay for a musician at his wedding, he said, grinning.

Masdin likes to joke around, and his soon-to-be-bride, Maryann Rappa, playfully swatted him on the arm.

But technically, Masdin was right.

When you get married in a store that sells organs, the music is thrown in for free.

And the Fletcher Music Center staff was more than happy to oblige.

Erica Vera, class leader, got the food ready and decorated the tables for the 50 guests attending the reception at what was the Sebring store's first "Fletcher Wedding."

At around 2 p.m., store manager Joe Brown played "The Wedding March" on an organ — of course — and Rappa's son, who flew in from New York, gave his mother away while her childhood friend Steve Marabel officiated.

The two retirees became man and wife while the wedding party clapped and cheered.

Dressed in a white strapless dress with a red wrap around her shoulders, Rappa beamed.

"I never thought I would meet the right man in my life," she declared. "He's always happy, and he makes me happy. He's so special."

When Rappa met Masdin, he was still married and was working at what used to be Albertson's grocery.

He'd joke around and carry her grocery bags for her. She liked his personality.

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Then in 2009, she heard his wife had died. Rappa made sure to give him her phone number. She was getting despondent in Sebring and was thinking of moving back to New York.

"I told him, 'If you ever get lonely, call me,'" she remembered.

Masdin claims he got tired of talking to his puppies and took Rappa up on her offer.

Then late last year he popped the question.

"He asked me to marry him and I jumped on it," she said smiling.

"We are very compatible."

Masdin takes organ classes at Fletcher, so he goes there often.

It was actually Vera who suggested they get married at the store.

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Fletcher is not just a place to spend money. It's a place for patrons to socialize; a home away from home, said store employee Ed Pittman.

"We become friends with them," he said.

Anybody who buys an organ gets free classes for life. On any given week, about a 150 people take organ classes at Fletcher, Pittman said.

Some of them are like Masdin, who tied the knot in the store's back room.

Others are like another student who asked Vera to be maid of honor when she renewed her vows on her 50th anniversary.

"When they want us to do things we don't say no," Vera said. "We actually feel honored."