SHEFFIELD — Arno Pinsonnault and Kathy Silliker, of Springfield, were supposed to be married at the Thom Reed UFO Monument Park in Sheffield on June 20, 2020.

They postponed their wedding for a year, choosing instead to visit the park on their original wedding date and snap photos of themselves in wearing shirts that read “bride” and “groom."

The couple finally had their day — complete with an alien/UFO-themed wedding and reception— at the UFO Park on June 19, 2021. The bride walked through the Sheffield Covered Bridge — the site where Thom Reed, his mother, brother and grandmother allegedly had an encounter with aliens on Sept. 1, 1969 — at noon. Before her, ring bearers Sebastian Leon, 5, and Eithyn Burge, 10, were dressed as "Men In Black," each wearing a black suit and sunglasses and carrying a briefcase. Among the guests was Thom Reed, the park's namesake, and Ava Grove, a paranormal investigator from the television show "Paranormal After Party."

"Arno and I have always had an interest in all things paranormal — UFOs, haunted places," Kathy (Silliker) Pinsonnault said in an email following the wedding. "When we heard about a park that was [the site] of a significantly and historical true sighting of a UFO, we had to visit! That visit was in 2016 and the park just keeps getting more beautiful.

"We are very happy to be a part of that beautification! We were there helping to put in the benches, the UFO Park sign, and planted all the flowering Rose of Sharon bushes. We hold the park very dear to us not only because we helped make it pretty but what it stands for, which is a non-judgemental place where people interested in the UFO topic are welcome. A chance to be where an 'off world incident"' had occurred and made history."

The reception, which included a wedding cake featuring a flying saucer and other alien-themed items, was held at Dewey Hall in Sheffield, a few doors down from where the Reed family once owned a restaurant.

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