Tonight while going thru some pictures I came across one of the only two pictures of our wedding that took place almost 25 years ago. While I have blogged about my husband painting in the buff at my new house shortly after we met, I don't know that I've ever told the rest of the story. (If I were tech savvy I would include a link here to that particular buff blog. Alas, I am not tech savvy.)
Anyway, as the story goes, back almost 25 years ago I had just purchased my first house. The realtor had introduced me to the cute guy who worked at the convenience store at the corner and 75 days, yes 75 days later we were married. It wasn't your typical wedding. At a time when most people were having huge weddings with 8 bridesmaids wearing poofy pink dresses, big hats and carrying parasols, we chose to elope.
Backing up to day 70 was the proposal. My boyfriend had already declared his love for me and of course I admitted I felt the same. We had talked about getting married. And he talked about proposing at just the right moment. I had expected it the previous week when we walked together across a swinging bridge at an amusement park. Or while we rode the roller coasters. But it didn't happen. After a long Sunday of driving, meeting part of his family and returning to my new little house, I was tired. I lay on the sofa, dreading having to get up for work the next morning. And it actually already was the next morning. My boyfriend still had so much energy! He was in the kitchen making himself something to eat while I rested. Suddenly there he was. Kneeling beside me. And proposing. While it wasn't in a romantic setting, I couldn't say yes quickly enough.
We decided to not tell anyone until we could get a ring. So we kept the secret. The hardest secret I had had to keep to date. We shopped almost every evening after I got off work and before he went to work. No ring seemed to be the right one. A date couldn't be decided on either. I wanted to wait 6 months. He didn't want to wait 6 days! By the time Friday arrived, I was getting a little frustrated about an engagement ring and being able to finally say fiance' instead of boyfriend. Then I suddenly remembered. We had passed a wedding chapel on our way to that amusement park the week before. Miracle Mansion Wedding Chapel. I wondered......
When I came home for lunch that day, my now fiance' was there. I told him my idea and of course he loved it. He called the chapel and made arrangements for us to be there around midnight. (He hadn't met my family yet and there was no way I could marry him without him meeting them first.) I was able to leave work a little early that day and we headed for the courthouse for a license. At every step I kept expecting a road block that would stop all our plans. Courthouse would be closed. We wouldn't have the right IDs. Anything. Instead, all systems were go. We even found the perfect rings at the very first place we looked that day.
After a quick trip to meet my family, we found the most weddingish attire we had and took off for Miracle Mansion Wedding Chapel. No one even knew we were engaged and here we were on our way to be married! We made a few stops along the way. Don't know if it was the Mountain Dew and Chili Cheese Fritos or just a case of nerves, but I seemed to need to find a restroom every 30 -45 minutes.
When we finally arrived at Miracle Mansion Wedding Chapel it was after 1 AM. I just knew there would be no one available to marry us. Our headlights shown on what appeared to be a black hearse. Out stepped a man clothed completely in white. What had we gotten ourselves in to!?!? My fiance' told me not to get out of the car just yet and I gladly practiced submitting to his instructions. Then we realized it was not a hearse but a limo. And the man in white was the minister who had apparently been sleeping in the car so as not to miss us!
Because it was a very hot sticky summer night and the air conditioning wasn't the best in our dressing areas, it was not an easy task getting dressed. I had to use the restroom one more time only to find that it didn't flush. Make up was too hot and runny and the curling iron was useless in the humidity. Alas, we had met no obstacles and were about to become husband and wife.
We walked into the chapel together. No bouquet. No music....at least not that I remember. Just a sleepy minister and two love struck kids thinking they had all the answers. The ceremony was simple. And the only person there to take pictures was the minster. I had thought to grab my camera before we left knowing it only had two pictures available on the roll of film. (Yes we had film back all those years ago.) There were only two chances to take a picture so we had to make it count. The first one the minister took was of us standing looking at the camera. Unfortunately he had asked how it worked and I was pointing to the button he needed to push when he snapped the picture. The second one, however, that second one was priceless. The shadow on my husband's hair made it look like he had a huge poof on top of his head and a ponytail tied up with a bow. Unfortunately not enough shadow covered my nose and it looked huge! But our eyes. Oh our eyes. Even now as I look at that picture I can see the love we had for each other.
Skipping the honeymoon and going to later in the day when we told everyone, oh boy. Were they ever shocked. The responses were mixed. My mom flipped out. A co-worker asked me to babysit (YES SHE DID!) on my wedding day. Some had already kinda guessed it. And the real estate agent who introduced us. Well the next time he showed a house to a single lady he told her our story. And he told her she just never knew. She might buy a house and get a spouse.
