Pretty much everything has happened at Pepe's Pizzeria in New Haven. Everything except a wedding. That is, until this past Monday, when Gus DaSilva pledged his burning love for his new wife Pamela in front of the burning hot brick oven's that cook the other love of Gus' life: Pepe's famous pizza.
“We wanted to get married; we wanted to put two and two together, but to me, just being at Pepe’s means a lot, a lot of memories,” DaSilva told the New Haven Register.
The couple said their "I do's" right under the Pepe's "The Original Tomato Pies" sign, according to the Register.
DaSilva's love for Pepe's pies started while he lived in Waterbury about 5 years ago.
Gus and Pamela now live in Richmond, Ind., but were in Connecticut to visit Gus's son, who is about to be deployed to Iraq. They were enjoying a pie at Pepe's the day after Christmas when DaSilva got the idea to tie the knot at the Wooster Street pizzeria, so DaSilva asked his waitress.
When the question was put to General Manager Steve Adkins, he said, “Why not?” — considering a wedding would be another first for the historic pizzeria.
“The more I thought about it, the funnier it was,” Adkins told the Register. “Everything has happened here. We’ve had a woman go into labor, (wedding) proposals, anniversaries and honeymoon visits. I thought, why not a wedding?”
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The wedding was a low-key affair, which Pepe's opened early for on Monday.
Gus DaSilva’s son Rui, and Rui’s girlfriend and son were the only invited guests. But several of Pepe’s staff took a break from stoking the coal-fired ovens to look on and snap pictures of the newlyweds with camera phones, according to the Register.
So, how did the bride feel about getting married near a pizza oven?
“It’s different, very different, but neat,” she told the Register after the ceremony.
You may also recall Pepe's won the honor of the first ever NBC Connecticut Golden Local.
