Dorothy “Dottie” Fideli, 77, celebrated her love for herself with a unique wedding ceremony at her retirement community, O’Bannon Terrace in Goshen, on Saturday, according to NBC affiliate WLWT and Today.
“This is something new for me,” she told the outlet. “It’s emotional for me, because this is something I have always wanted.”
Dorothy Fideli was once married in a brief courthouse ceremony in 1965, but they divorced nine years later.
“I wore a black dress, so I was doomed before I got started,” she told Today.
Although she told the outlet she worried it might be “too late” to have the wedding of her dreams, one day she had a change of heart.
“I have been with myself for 40 years,” she said according to KCEN, adding that while she was at church she realized she wanted to “do something special” for herself.
The mother of three eventually got the idea to marry herself from her neighbors, who saw a woman do something similar on a talk show, WLWT reported.
“Now I have a second chance in doing something that’ll make me happy,” she told the outlet.
And after spending much of her life taking care of her children and grandchildren, Fideli is excited that life is “about me now,” according to Today. “It’s my turn to do what I want to do.”
Fideli’s daughter, Donna Pennington, helped her mother find a dress, cooked food for the event and even decorated the retirement home’s community room with a balloon arch and other items.
“I told my daughter, ‘This is the best thing that I’ve ever had, outside of having you kids,'” Fideli told Today. “This is what I have always wanted and I’m so happy that you (gave) it to me.”