It's A Wonder This Wedding Wasn't Cancelled

He had already asked her to marry him while slow dancing at a company Christmas party and she, with all of her 17 year old heart, had said yes.

It was a LONG engagement while we went to college. We each lived at home and commuted
to school. There were no "sleepovers". It was 1974 and every night Dad would be sitting in his chair, watching Johnny Carson, waiting for me to come in before the MIDNIGHT CURFEW!
Mom would be in bed, but not sleeping until she heard me climb the stairs.

We worked and saved money from our paychecks every week in a joint savings account. We managed to save enough to pay for some of the wedding expenses, a Honeymoon to Florida (So far away! I had never been on a plane!) and a house full of furniture.

FAST FORWARD... to 8 weeks before the wedding. My Dad had a stroke at age 49. He was expected to recover, but we didn't know if he would be able to come to the wedding. I considered canceling, but the therapist said they would use it to motivate him to learn to walk again. He was released about 12 days before the wedding, walking slowly, with a quad cane.

In the meantime, our Best Man had bowed out (You can't choose your relatives) and my cousin THE PRIEST ended up in the hospital with diabetic/kidney issues. Luckily we had another sympathetic Priest step in, my brother got bumped up to Best Man status and a friend filled the empty Usher slot.

My wedding dress arrived at the shop, I tried it on, and I guess I had lost a little weight (I was on the Stress Diet). The top was falling off my non-existent bosom and would have to be taken in. The seamstress was not happy.

It POURED for 48 hours before the wedding day. The rehearsal dinner at our post-wedding rental house was lovely. Tom had already moved in, I was still living with Mom and Dad. My Dad brought the slide projector and slides from my growing-up years.
Tom and I sat and talked until 11:45....because, REMEMBER THE MIDNIGHT CURFEW?
I said goodnight to him and crept out to the backyard to hang my Rosary Beads on the clothesline. It was apparently an old Catholic Wives Tale that it would bring sunshine on my wedding day.

Sept. 15, 1975 was a beautiful, sunny New England day.(UPDATE ALERT!!-We got married in 1979! Thanks for catching it, Jen!) The ceremony was exactly as I planned. My piano teacher played the organ. My uncles did the readings. I carried daisies and carnations.
The bridesmaids wore peach with crowns of flowers in their hair. I smiled a lot. At the reception there was no Father-Daughter dance and Dad cried. We boarded a plane to Florida. Everyone knew we were newlyweds because Tom's 10 yr old sister, my Jr Bridesmaid, pulled a flower from her basket and put it in my hair.

Here we are 29 years later. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HONEY!! Celebrating tomorrow with lunch and a trip to the beach sounds perfect. I still love you forever and always.