Crist to wed Dec. 12 in St. Petersburg

By JOSH HAFENBRACK | Tallahassee Bureau Chief

August 9, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Wedding bells are ringing: Florida's first bachelor governor in four decades, Charlie Crist, has set a year-end wedding date in St. Petersburg.

Crist, 52, and fiancee Carole Rome plan to tie the knot Dec. 12 in Crist's hometown, the governor announced Friday during a stop in Miami Beach.

"Oh, very excited," Crist's mother, Nancy, said in a telephone interview from her home in St. Petersburg. The wedding will be at First United Methodist Church, where Crist attended services when he was growing up, she said.

Crist's wedding will be the first for a sitting Florida governor since 1967, when Claude Kirk was married a month after being sworn into office.

It will be the second wedding for both Crist and Rome. In 1979, Crist got married after graduating from college, but divorced after six months.

Rome, 38, is president of her family's century-old costume business, Franco American Novelty Co. She is a New York City native and graduate of Georgetown University.

She has two daughters, 11 and 9, from her previous marriage to Blue Star Jets chief executive Todd Rome, which ended two years ago.

Crist proposed to Rome, then his girlfriend of nine months, last month. He'd been mum about the wedding date, hinting he might wait until spring. Crist could have a busy fall if he's chosen as Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain's running mate. Crist and Rome visited McCain's Arizona ranch over Memorial Day in what was widely perceived as a vice-presidential vetting trip.

Crist said Friday he and Rome had not talked about the possibility of moving to Washington, D.C., if he's on the ticket and the Republicans win.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Crist's chances

Will Gov. Charlie Crist be selected as John McCain's running mate? See what our 'Crist-O-Meter' has to say about his chances at Sun-Sentinel.com/crist