Woman renews marriage vows with doll groom

GROVE CITY, Ohio, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- An Ohio woman whose husband was on a business trip got a surprise chance to renew her wedding vows with a silent partner -- a life-size blow-up doll.

Sheila Smith was invited to serve as matron of honor to four couples participating in a Valentine's Day ceremony at the Grove City United Methodist Church, the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reported. When she arrived, she discovered that her friends had purchased the doll, dressed it appropriately and pasted a photo of Bob Smith over the face.

She called her husband in Pittsburgh immediately and their friends wanted to know immediately what he had said about the substitute.

"Nothing," she replied. "He was laughing so hard he couldn't say anything, and he had to hang up."

The Rev. Tom Wilson conducted the ceremony for 19 couples, most of them people who had celebrated a few anniversaries. He told them that they now know the meaning of the vow they took to remain together "in sickness and in health."