String quartet? Check.

Minister? Check.

Caterer, wedding cake and champagne? Check.

Lace, satin and veils? Check.

Garden venue with mansion? Double check.

Fret and sweat, months-long planning and five-figure cost? Forgetaboutit!

With all the wonderful, upscale nuptial trimmings, more than 100 couples walked down the garden aisle at the lush Villa at Montalvo on Sunday to renew their marriage vows before friends and family.

They also helped Montalvo celebrate its centennial.

Billed as the "Wedding of the Century," the celebration featured couples ranging from the recently hitched to those beyond their golden anniversary.

Henry and Betty Haggland, of Napa, led a joyful garden procession as the longest-married couple. "I had been in the Navy and still had a crew cut," said Haggland, a frisky 93-year-old, recalled. The former vice president and general manager of the long-gone Hart's department store in downtown San Jose doesn't remember much else about the ceremony. Regardless of age, details disappear amid the stress of the big day.

Holly Daniel-Sanghvi, of San Jose, had her own set of stresses when she got married 17 years ago. "I was an hour late. The men were panicking," recalled Daniel-Sanghvi. She remembers asking her mother to drive faster, and wisely her mother answered, "We aren't going to arrive any sooner if we arrive dead."

Second is better

On

Sunday, couples relaxed, enjoyed the garden and relived their memories. "I remember being at the door with my father" waiting to walk down the aisle, said Minji Wong, 32, who was married to Wayne Jin at Montalvo just two years ago. Then, the guitarist was playing John Lennon's "Imagine."

"Your heart is beating so fast," she said, "and you don't notice all the details that you put so much work into."

For Mojgan Sahbari, of Saratoga, just walking into the Grand Hall brought back bittersweet memories of family members who attended her wedding 17 years ago but have passed on since she married Shahram Sahbari there.

Rick Noodleman, of Saratoga, said the Sunday mega-ceremony reminded him "how wonderful it is to be married."

"I didn't know that someone would actually stay with me for 33 years," he said, gazing over at his wife, Arlene. They married in 1979.

Better than a replay, in some cases Sunday's celebration improved on some wedding details. Rain forced Sherri and Arthur Douville to move their garden ceremony indoors in 2009; this time, the Los Gatos couple got to renew their vows in a sunlit oval garden.

Doug Yorke, of San Jose, said the renewal ceremony was more fun than his wedding in 1980, when he was a bundle of nerves and the couple's photographer took pictures of the wrong wedding -- one happening elsewhere at Montalvo. This time, he was happy about being able to wear whatever he wanted. "I looked up 'garden party' on the Internet and I saw a guy looking like this," he said, pointing to his Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts.

Did his wife, Fran, approve? Sure, said Yorke: "She picked out the shirt."

Love and patience

But there was also plenty of lace, satin, sequins and embroidery Sunday, on the vintage dresses exhibited from the collection of Lorraine Blackburn, of Los Gatos, and on dozens of former brides. Naomi Parker, of Campbell, re-borrowed the same long-train dress she wore when she married David Parker in 1990 and had to choose between a new dress and live music. They chose the band.

And the day -- which cost $50 per person -- reminded many of why they're married. "I love my American husband," said Yuliya Voroninskaya, a Russian who now lives in Portola Valley. She was stylishly dressed in an Oscar de la Renta sarafan-style dress. And what has seven years of marriage taught her husband, Chris Compton? "I've learned to say 'yes' in Russian," he said, "and to be patient."

Although he didn't mention forbearance, the right Rev. William E. Swing, who officiated over couples reaffirming their vows all at the same time, noted that the ceremony was a great compliment to marriage and to the ability of people to stay married.

When Swing, former Episcopal bishop of California, spoke of love and comfort, in sickness and health, forsaking all others from this day forward, for many the solemn moment felt as moving as it did on the first day of their marriage.

"I was scared to death," said Ken Keegan, of Los Gatos, recalling when he married his wife, Gretchen, 46 years ago. "But it was the best day of my life."

What made it the best day?

"My wife."

Contact Sharon Noguchi at 408-271-3775. Follow her at Twitter.com/noguchionk12.