Saturday. Fifty years ago, also a Saturday. We got married.
Sister in law Diann knew someone who got us into a chapel at her church on one week notice. Sister in law Barbara helped Judy shop and pick out a wedding dress. There weren’t any ready-mades in Judy’s size; size 3. (I don’t think they make wedding dresses for kids anyway.) They settled on a white cocktail dress at the House of Nine, and made sure the ribbons on the wedding bouquet matched the pink sash on the dress. Judy’s brother Earl paid. I couldn’t get a tux on short notice either. No problem, I just wore my Army uniform. Judy and I found a photographer. Our wedding pictures now look elegant in black and white. Truth is, it wasn’t an artistic choice. Black and white cost fifty dollars. Color cost seventy-five. We went with black and white.
It was a small simple ceremony in a chapel with just family in attendance. I remember Judy walking down the aisle. A sight to behold. I’m a lucky guy. We exchanged “I do’s”. One of us promised to love, honor, and Obey. (We’re still working on one of those commitments.) There was rice-throwing, garter flipping, and bouquet tossing. We changed our clothes and left straight from the ceremony for our honeymoon. Brother Tom was kind enough to loan us his Ford Falcon for a week. Dad provided a gas card. The honeymoon was totally unplanned, except that we knew we were driving north up the coast.
It was a late-in-the-day start after the ceremony. We made it as far as Santa Barbara. With no reservations, we stopped at a fancy restaurant for a nice dinner. They asked us if we were out for prom. They found a table for us and it was a delightful dinner; prime rib as I recall.
After that we headed for a motel, again, no reservations. They smiled, rented us a room, and then upgraded us to the honeymoon suite. Sometimes nice things just happen.
We took a one week driving tour up the California coast to San Simeon, across through Yosemite National Park, and back south through Bishop down to Long Beach.
We had the wedding reception at Mom and Dad’s house in Carroll Park, with a sheet cake wedding cake. That next week, we bought a 59 Plymouth station wagon, piled our stuff into it, then drove off to Fort Campbell, Kentucky to finish off my Army tour.
Together.
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