Couple receives sentimental wedding gift from strangers

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - How often do we get something personal in the mail like a letter, or a love note? That gesture seems to be almost extinct.

A couple, living hundreds of miles away, sent mailed sentimental items to an Evansville couple, just days before their wedding. Chuck Neese and Mary Hall of Evansville are to be married later this month on Jan. 20.

"I got off work and I came home and the package was on the table," Mary explained. "Chuck was in the living room, and I asked, what was in the box? We opened it, and he started reading that letter, and as he started reading, I just got chills and goosebumps all over. He kept reading... and I was just shocked."

Inside the box was a letter from complete strangers, first congratulating them. A couple in northern Illinois sent the package after finding Chuck and Mary's wedding registry online through a Google search.

The stranger's parents had the same name as their late parents from La Crosse, Wisconsin.

"We kindly wish that you will accept these engraved champagne glasses that had once belonged to our late parents," the letter read, "Chuck and Mary Felker of La Crosse, Wisconsin...married for 62 years."

"Chuck opens it up, and pulls out the glasses, and it says, "let me dance with you forever, Mary & Chuck," Mary pointed to the pair of engraved glasses they received.

The Evansville couple is now planning to use the glasses for their big day.

Here's where things get even more strange: Mary said the glasses were carefully packaged in a Converse-labeled shoe box.

"I'm like, no way," she smiled.  Mary says she and her bridesmaids have been planning to wear Converse Chuck Taylor shoes under their dresses for a while.

"It was just all very much a bunch of coincidences all together. It's all really cool," Mary said. "Eventually one day I will meet them. I sent them an invitation to the wedding. So, we'll see if we get a response from them. I just want them to know that we have them, and they're not broken. They're definitely going to be a part of our wedding."

The engaged couple tell us they're going to start a tradition. Their daughter, Lily, plans to eventually send those glasses to another couple by the same name, wherever they are in the world.

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