Mary Byrne
For one Belmont couple, a quiet wedding ceremony at Town Hall was all they had planned on Friday. No music, dancing, or long guest list – just a brief ceremony to solidify their relationship.
But as the newlyweds Oleksiy Potapov and Ella Thrun made their way out of the building that afternoon, a crowd of nearly 60 parents and staff members from Winn Brook Elementary School were ready to receive them.
“It was really heartwarming and very unexpected,” said Thrun, 29. “It ended the day perfectly for us.”
Town Clerk Ellen O’Brien Cushman, who married the couple, said there were anywhere from 50 to 60 parents and school staff members at Town Hall on Friday afternoon, there to meet their children who were evacuated from Winn Brook Elementary School on Waterhouse Road due to a natural gas leak.
Cushman said she informed the couple that buses would soon be arriving with the students, and if they started the ceremony sooner rather than later, they might be able to beat the rush of children. Potapov and Thrun were married across the hall from where parents and students were expected to gather.
“There were a lot of parents there, so when we exited through the main entrance of Town Hall, they were like, ‘Oh, did you get married?’ We said yes, and they started cheering and saying congratulations,” recalled Potapov, 31. “I was a little caught off guard, but it was pleasant.”
Cushman, who described Potapov and Thrun as a “very sweet couple,” said they didn’t appear embarrassed by the rush of unexpected wedding guests.
“People are pretty happy when they realize there’s a couple getting married,” Cushman said. “They like to share in the joy.”
Thrun said they had originally planned for a celebration at Town Hall that included family and friends but ultimately decided to make it a day for just the two of them.
“We still got the celebration, in a way,” she said, laughing. “It was a beautiful moment, and [we felt] very cherished by the community of Belmont. They made our day, definitely.”
The two Belmont residents, who moved to town about a year and a half ago from Watertown and Medford, met through a dating app just before the COVID-19 pandemic. They started as just friends, Potapov said, before “it grew into something more serious.”
While they plan to eventually celebrate their marriage a little more formally with friends and family at a later date, for now, “this was good to make it official.” Potapov added that they are expecting a baby “any day now.”
“We definitely love Belmont and will be staying in Belmont for quite some time,” Thrun said.
