Our Wedding Day

Posted On July 8, 2020

Our wedding day has always been pretty much a blur to me. I remember very random things without photos prompting the memory, like picking up the cake in someone’s station wagon. I had to sit in the back and hold the cake in place so that it didn’t topple.

I remember six of my college friends coming from out of town for lunch before the 7 p.m. ceremony — Sue, Jan, Joan, Sharon, Dianne and Jody. Mother fixed lunch for them (she was one busy mother of the bride!) I remember being so nervous that I ate nothing but olives from a relish tray (I know, a random memory).

The girls in the wedding wore ribbons in their hair to match their dresses. I remember my mom asking one of the ushers, Tom, if he’d like a ribbon for his hair. This was her unsubtle way of letting him know she thought his hair was too long!

The next true memory I have is walking down the aisle with my dad. As we were walking toward the altar, we met my brother-in-law, Dave, hurrying past us toward the exit. I thought that was odd. Then I remember my dad shaking the minister’s hand when he replied to the standard question of who give’s this woman away to be married. I thought that was odd too. By shaking his hand, it looked like he was super glad to be getting me married off!

Most weddings have some funny stories. It wasn’t until after the ceremony that I found out what had happened. It turns out that when all the wedding party was in place before I marched in, my mother saw the minister ask Jimmy if he had the wedding rings. Instantly she knew that he did not. They were in her purse in the basement of the church. Jimmy had no idea where they were but he kept smiling.

Being the quick thinker she was, she slid her foot back toward the pew behind her where Dave was and said, “See my shoes?” Dave explains that he thought she was “going crazy” thinking she wanted him to admire her shoes! She proceeded to then explain that there was a purse in the basement that matched her shoes and he needed to hurry and find it because the wedding rings were in that purse.

Dave hurried down the aisle past me, found the purse, retrieved the rings, returned to his seat and passed the rings up to my mother. She then got my dad’s attention and discretely handed him the rings. When the minister asked, “Who gives this woman away in holy matrimony?” my dad replied, “Her mother and I,” leaned forward and handed the rings to the minister.

The rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch. It wasn’t until we were taking pictures that I learned that the candlelighters nearly knocked over the candelabras because they were almost too short to light the top candles and that some of the wedding party thought the groom was going to be a “no show!”

In those days, it was common to have cars line up and “chase” the bride and groom out of town after the reception. The groom’s car would be decorated with shaving cream messages on the windows and tin cans tied to the bumper. Away they would go, sometimes rather fast, with the cans rattling and car horns blaring.

Jimmy remembered this tradition when he had almost reached the church. He looked down at his gas gauge and decided he might run out of gas if the chase went too far. So, he turned around and sped away from the church to go back to town to the gas station. As he sped back to town, he drove past the best man and bridesmaid heading to the wedding. Because he was driving so fast in the wrong direction, they thought he was skipping out on the wedding. They were a nervous wreck when they got to the church and could hardly stand to be around me, not knowing how to act and if they were going to have to break the news that the groom had fled. Evidently, they had breathed a huge sigh of relief when Jimmy did finally arrive to the church.

I don’t really remember anything else about the day, so it’s a good thing we have some pictures to capture other memories. Unfortunately, the photographer sent a trainee in his stead and the pictures left something to be desired. There were six proofs of my college friends from which to select our favorite but only one of my family–and Peggy, my sister, is cut out of the shot except for her arm! There were no full length pictures showing my dress or of the two of us. Thankfully, a cousin, G.H., took quite a few pictures which he gave us. (A couple of years later, I was in my maid of honor’s wedding. Her professional photographer took all her pictures without any film in the camera!!! After that, I complained less about mine.)

We had a cake and punch reception in the basement of the church and then we were off to the honeymoon.

What funny stories do you keep telling about your wedding day? How many details do you think you’d remember without the photos to remind you? What traditions were there when you married? Please feel free to share with a comment.

Stay tuned for my last post about our wedding — the romantic honeymoon!