Green Bay fanatic marries woman named Marie Packer in team-themed wedding
"We’re the Packer family now,” he proudly told ABC News.
— -- This diehard Packers-loving groom said “I do” to the love of his life, Marie Packer, in a Green Bay-themed wedding on June 17.
Ryan Holtan-Murphy said it was a “no brainer” to take his wife’s last name.
“We’re the Packer family now,” he proudly told ABC News.
The couple tied the knot at Willis Tower in Chicago with elaborate Packers decorations, mostly arranged by the groom.
“I kept most things a surprise form her, but she knew about the mailbox because we ordered that together,” Holtan-Murphy, 41, said.
The groom even surprised his bride with a Green Bay-themed suit after the ceremony.
“I ordered it three months ago and have been hiding it under the bed in our guest room. She was a lot harder to find on the dance floor once I showed up in the suit,” he said with a laugh. “She’s a great sport. She’s a lot of fun.”
Packer, 38, said she was “surprised, but not surprised” when her husband came out in the suit, which she now knows was his pièce de résistance from the wedding.
“I was waiting for something,” she recalled. “I was thinking, ‘This is a lot more toned down than I was expecting.’ Everyone was in black tuxedos and everything and I was like, ‘Where is the green and gold? I know it’s around here somewhere and he just hasn’t busted it out yet.’ I just stood with my head down laughing easily for two or three minutes. He looked amazing. I thought he looked hilarious.”
Holtan-Murphy first made headlines when he announced he was going to be taking his wife’s football-themed last name upon marriage.
“I grew up in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, where the Packers are the unofficial state religion,” he told ABC News in January. “Everyone from grandmothers to little kids are diehard fans and we live and die with the team.”
When the lovebirds first met at a karaoke bar in Madison, Wisconsin, he thought Packer was too good to be true.
“Marie is beautiful, strong, hilarious. And then she told me her last name,” he recalled. “I didn't believe her and made her show two forms of ID and a credit card.”
Holtan-Murphy even proposed while wearing a Green Bay jersey.
“I was wearing my favorite Aaron Rodgers jersey and we were in a water tank at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and I had arranged it with them to have a baby beluga whale bring over the ring in a waterproof box,” he said. “I was relieved he didn't try to eat it!”
Now the two Cheeseheads are honeymooning in Turks and Caicos, still sporting their Packers gear. And Holtan-Murphy has already begun paperwork to officially take his wife’s last name.
“I've already started the paperwork for after the wedding,” he wrote in an email. “I have my completed application for a new Social Security card, new passport and new driver's license ready to mail! My new full name will be Ryan Holtanmurphy Packer. I can't wait!”