2 diehard sports fans married on hockey rink beside homemade Green Monster wall

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Notary public Randy Hotham, dressed as a professional football league referee, conducts a sports-oriented wedding ceremony on Saturday on a large hockey rink built in Frank Porter's backyard off Canton Point Road in Dixfield. Dressed in powder-blue Winter Classic Pittsburgh Penguins hockey jerseys on opposite sides of a Stanley Cup trophy replica are bride Pamela Duprey and groom Glenn Porter of Dixfield. At left is Frank Porter, who gave the bride away. Best man Scott Tabb of Oxford stands beside Glenn Porter. Hidden behind Duprey is Tabb's wife, Paulette, the maid of honor.

- Terry Karkos

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Legislator Randy Hotham, a notary public, bursts out laughing while officiating the Saturday wedding of Glenn Porter, left, and Pamela Duprey, of Dixfield, after Porter read his vow saying that he would love Duprey "until death parts us, or she becomes a Yankees fan."

- Terry Karkos

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Members of Saturday's sports-oriented bridal party in Dixfield are, from left, best man Scott Tabb of Oxford, holding a replica of the Vince Lombardi professional football trophy; bride Pamela Duprey and groom Glenn Porter, both of Dixfield, holding a Stanley Cup hockey trophy replica; and Tabb's wife Paulette, holding a replica of the World Series trophy.

- Terry Karkos

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
In true hockey fashion, unsuspecting groom Glenn Porter goes sprawling after being body-checked by bride Pamela Duprey prior to their sports-themed wedding on Saturday afternoon in front of a 36-foot-long replica of Fenway Park's Green Monster that the groom built with friends in his father's backyard for the event.

- Terry Karkos

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Laughing all the way to the homemade hockey rink "altar" at Saturday afternoon's sports-themed wedding in Dixfield, bride Pamela Duprey, 50, of Dixfield, reacts while being led in by her future father-in-law Frank Porter.

- Terry Karkos

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
After getting hitched to longtime girlfriend Pamela Duprey during their sports-themed wedding on Saturday afternoon in Dixfield, groom Glenn Porter, dressed as a Pittsburgh Penguin hockey player, celebrates by hoisting a replica of the Stanley Cup trophy with friend Pat Bolduc of Lewiston.

- Terry Karkos

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
The cake at Saturday afternoon's sports-themed wedding of Glenn Porter and Pamela Duprey of Dixfield consisted of smaller marble cakes topped by professional athlete figures flanking a white cake at center topped by two hockey players facing off on center ice with an Oreo hockey puck.

- Terry Karkos

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal
Standing in front of a giant replica of Fenway Park's Green Monster wall, bride Pamela Duprey and groom Glenn Porter celebrate prior to getting hitched Saturday afternoon in Dixfield in true sports-fan fashion.

- Terry Karkos

DIXFIELD — Trying to refrain from bursting out laughing was a lost cause at Saturday afternoon’s sports-themed wedding between Glenn Porter and Pamela Duprey in Porter’s father’s backyard off Canton Point Road.

For instance, how many couples can say they got hitched wearing actual hockey jerseys instead of tux and gown while standing around the Stanley Cup trophy replica on a hockey rink beside a 36-foot-long replica of Fenway Park’s famous Green Monster wall?

“It’s too funny,” Cindy Paine of Dixfield said.

“It’s crazy,” Porter’s dad Frank said.

Across from a stadium parking lot tailgate party, a large New England Patriots stadium menu attached to a canopy listed the day’s meals – food found at a sporting event. A chili cookoff would follow the ceremony after Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Porter cut the cake.

The cake was actually four cakes, each topped with a detailed athlete that ringed a larger cake topped by two detailed hockey players facing off at center ice with an Oreo hockey puck.

Parked beside the rink, a pickup truck displayed a replica of the Vince Lombardi football trophy, while the World Series trophy replica stood in the bed of a third truck.

Shortly after 2 p.m., notary public Randy Hotham of Dixfield, dressed in the uniform of a Professional Football League referee, twice tweeted his whistle and people quickly took their places.

Instead of the traditional wedding march, Frank Porter walked Duprey past the Green Monster to Hank Williams Jr.’s song, “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble.”

Then, a recording of the national anthem was played, after which, best man Scott Tabb of Oxford, yelled, “Play ball!”

According to the scoreboard, when Duprey, 50, and Porter, 45, next read their wacky vows, the Red Sox led the Yankees 8-0 in the top of the fifth inning.

“I promise to love you as much as the Nashville Predators and not hold your San Jose Sharks against you,” Glenn Porter said of their two favorite hockey teams. “From this day forward, I will listen to all of your complaints about fantasy hockey, if you say them during the off-season.”

“I will love you in sickness and in health, from this day forward, until death parts us or you become a Yankees fan,” Porter said.

Duprey, laughing, read her vow.

“I promise to love you as much as I love my San Jose Sharks, and not hold your Nashville Predators against you,” she said. “I will only show you my new stats during commercial breaks, and promise to keep you in the latest sports fashions.”

“From this day forward, I will make sure to cheer for the same team as you in public,” she said. “I will love you for richer or poorer, as long as you don’t cheer for the Yankees.”

Hotham then pronounced them man and wife and a kiss — followed by several requested instant replays from the crowd  — sealed the deal.

Both bride and groom wore powder-blue Pittsburgh Penguin Winter Classic jerseys. Best man Tabb wore a New England Patriots jersey while his wife and maid-of-honor, Paulette Tabb, wore the Boston Red Sox jersey of “Big Papi” Ortiz.

Their wedding bands were inside the hockey trophy beside an official hockey puck.

“We’re having a lot of fun with this,” said Pam (Duprey) Porter, who works at Towles Corner Store on Route 2 in Dixfield. Her new husband is employed by Irving Wood Products at its Dixfield sawmill.

The couple, who got engaged during a Lewiston Maineiacs hockey game on Dec. 11, 2007, in front of more than 2,200 people, said they’ve been working on the elaborate production for more than a year.

Glenn Porter and friends built the Green Monster and the 12- by 20-foot hockey rink.

“It was a unique opportunity to unite two people in marriage and take a different slant,” Hotham said. “It’s fun, and it should be fun.”

As for the honeymoon, the happy couple, who are bluegrass performers, will attend the upcoming annual bluegrass festival in Sidney.

As the party got under way, Scott Tabb donned a large tray and walked through the crowd, acrobatically flipping small packages from it to raised hands, yelling, “Peanuts! Get your peanuts!”

tkarkos@sunjournal.com