PROVINCETOWN — Laurie and Edgar Miranda were married on Oct. 8, 2022 at the Provincetown United Methodist Church, where Edgar serves as pastor. Their good friend Clarence Stukes of Arlington, Va. officiated.
The two did not meet at church, however. “You might say our getting together was a minor miracle,” Laurie says. “We met on match.com. Believe me, I know that doesn’t always work out.”
It was also 2020, and while the pandemic had made for loneliness, it also made finding companionship complicated. Laurie and Edgar’s first date was at Brewster Scoop. She ordered coconut, and he ordered butter pecan.
This summer, party in mind, they collected driftwood for a chuppah that Edgar built. And they knew they’d found their song when they heard Judy Collins sing “Since You’ve Asked” at Payomet.
The wedding — and the party afterwards at the Harbor Hotel — brought together friends and a big family including Laurie’s three children and three of Edgar’s five. Laurie’s son, Emmett Lynn, walked her down the aisle. Her brother, Gary Moss, and Edgar’s sister, Miriam Miranda-Jurado, lit two candles that would feed one flame. The couple’s grandchildren had roles, too: Avery and Quentin Cohen were ushers, Nicole and Natalie Quintana were bridesmaids, Elinor Lynn was ring bearer, and Penelope Lynn was the flower girl. Nicole, who is 16, sang “Since You’ve Asked.”
Neither bride nor groom was nervous about the fact that many of their respective children and grandchildren would be meeting each other for the first time at this celebration. “We knew they would mesh,” says Laurie, “and most of all, we could feel they were happy for us.”
Laurie’s late husband, commercial fisherman Jean Frottier, was lost with his boat, F/V Twin Lights, off Race Point in 2012. “I know he would be happy that I’m OK and the kids are OK,” says Laurie, “and love and life continue.”
Laurie changed her last name to Miranda when she and Edgar first exchanged vows at Eastham Town Hall last March. “We knew then we wanted to have a celebration,” she says. “But we were doing paperwork for Social Security.” Edgar is 70 and Laurie is 66, “loud and proud,” she says.
Laurie grew up in Woodbridge, Conn. She came for a visit in 1976, “fell in love with Provincetown,” and has lived on Cape Cod ever since. She works as a medical office receptionist at Orleans Dermatology. Edgar arrived four years ago to lead the Provincetown Schools’ Early Learning Center, until the pandemic inspired his new direction. He was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in New York City’s East Harlem.
After a two-week honeymoon trip to Spain, Laurie and Edgar are now back home in Eastham, where they live with their dog, Dulce.