Pairs skate: W.Va. couple's wedding held at ice rink

Alexis Donahoe had cold feet as she walked down the aisle and approached her soon-to-be husband, James "J.D." Rappold, at their wedding on New Year's Eve.
Although they had no second thoughts, the couples' toes were chilly as they gathered with a hundred of their closest friends and family members at the South Charleston Memorial Ice Arena to join in holy matrimony. It was an end-of-the-year celebration unlike any other.
"We originally thought about getting married in a church and doing a reception in Huntington," said Donahoe, 20.
But those plans changed after Rappold, 26, jokingly suggested they get married on ice.
Donahoe originally laughed at the idea, Rappold said prior to the ceremony, as he overlooked the rink that had been converted into a provisional wedding hall.
When guests arrived at the arena, they discovered half of the ice covered with mats that weren't quite thick enough to fend off the chill from the frozen surface below their feet, dressed up aluminum chairs and music playing on a system normally used for calling out hockey players' names.
As Rappold suited up — into a tuxedo — inside the men's locker room, the smell of hockey, his favorite sport, was undeniable. He told a groomsman how cool the scene was. "The dream," a friend responded.
Rappold, who set aside his hockey pads to become a figure skater with Donahoe a few years ago, was well aware of the strangeness of the scene. "It's not a normal sport, so why have a normal wedding?"
"We thought it would be very fitting," Donahoe said.
And with that, the two set out to make their dream a reality. They brought in the Rev. Chris Perkins from Enslow Park Presbyterian Church in Huntington to officiate the ceremony. A relative of Donahoe, who served as their wedding planner, was tasked with figuring out the logistics of using half an ice rink as both the wedding site and reception hall. Rappold asked a college friend to sit in the announcer's booth — in between penalty boxes — and DJ the evening.
The couple first met four years ago when Rappold's mother, Heidi, suggested they become skating partners. Heidi Rappold had been Donahoe's figure skating coach since she was very young.
Although he was fearful of what his hockey friends might say, Rappold gave it a try. What began as a pair skating partnership blossomed into a relationship that was centered around their love for the ice. Since then, the skating pair has gone to nationals twice, finishing in the top 10 for the novice level.
While they no longer compete — Donahoe spends her time focused on earning her accounting degree at Marshall University while Rappold works as an exercise physiologist in Huntington — their love of skating remains strong.
Some gifts for the couple were decorated with a pair of skates and table assignments were denoted with purple signs containing ice hockey and skating terms, such as "death spiral" and "Zamboni."
The celebration even featured a display of the pair's talents on ice as they performed a first skate (their take on a first dance) to Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up."
The non-traditional wedding lasted into the new year, giving the couple an evening they would never forget.

"I never really thought of myself getting married on an ice rink," said Donahoe. "But it is a dream come true."