9 Years Ago Today...(Long)

...I got married!

Let's see it's 11ish - so at this time I was at the hair dresser getting my hair done and veil attached, as well as having my makeup done. My wedding was at 2 p.m.

Because my husband was going to move from Pennsylvania to Miami when we got married I thought it was only fair that we get married up there. "Up there" is a suburb of Philadelphia called Warminster. So I figured if I'm going to get married in the Northeast, I'll do it in the fall because in Miami, we don't get the whole leaves turning show.

When I woke up that November morning it was POURING - not raining, no POURING! And it proceeded to pour till early evening.

The most wonderful day of my life - and it really was - turned out (because it is MY life after all) to be Murphy's Law to the *nth* degree. Let's reminisce - shall we?

OK, so as I said it was pouring. Fine - got to the hairdressers, got my hair done (it was up so the humidity wasn't an issue, that *and* the fact the amount of hair spray they put on me was IMO directly responsible for the fact that metropolitan Philadelphia hit 100 degrees F last Memorial Day). When I got back to the hotel, my father had lost the fancy buttons he was supposed to wear with the tuxedo and my mother had forgotten to pack pantyhose! Luckily before I left Miami I had my doctor prescribe Xanax for me.

So eventually the buttons were found - however in the pictures the photographer took of my father and me before we left to the church, he doesn't have them, he has regular buttons. And my aunt came to the rescue with the pantyhose - that wasn't a problem for the pictures because we didn't see my mom's legs.

Fine, so we're ready, my father and I get into the beautiful antique Rolls Royce (black and gray) and drive to the church - still pouring by the way. When we get there I'm very calmly (remember the Xanax) trying to figure out how to get into the church without getting my dress wet and my train ruined. All of a sudden 5 men I had never met appear by the car carrying a white shower curtain: four of them were each holding up a corner of the curtain over my head like a canopy and the fifth one hitches up my dress and train - scandalously half way up my legs! - and the little procession goes into the church. It turns out the men were part of the church choir which my parents-in-law direct. The dress didn't get a drop or stain on it!

The mass was beautiful, the choir sang for us accompanied by my uncle - a wonderful organist and piano player. My father-in-law, a music teacher and choir director, who has a beautiful voice, sang for us and my brother-in-law, a professional musician and also a music teacher, played a trumpet solo. We had friends and family do the various readings - it was everything I wanted.

Of course at the end of the mass we wanted to do the limo shtick with the champagne and everybody blowing bubbles at us and the pictures - alas the rain (yes, still raining) changed those plans. It also changed the plans we had to go to a nearby park for pictures. Since our reception wasn't till 6 p.m. my mother-in-law had already planned to have the out-of-towners to her house for a pre-reception reception while the wedding party had the pictures done. We figured OK, we'll do the pictures at the reception place. So my brand-spanking-new husband and I get into the limo to head for the hotel when we hear "RIIIIP" - I immediately looked at my dress, but it was fine. My husband's pants had ripped down the seam along his butt! I calmly (Xanax!) suggested we stop at his mom's house so she could sew it up in a jiffy - God bless her she did!

Great so now we're headed to the reception place, the rain was starting to slow down. We get there everything was perfect, we get great pictures done, fabulous! Guests start arriving, we have a wonderful cocktail hour prior to the dinner - open bar, roaming waiters, jumbo shrimp, pasta bar, lovely! Then when it's time for dinner our parents walk in, the wedding party walks in - everyone looks beautiful - we walk in, everyone claps - YAY US! The DJ's playing his music - perfect.

But, we had a surprise for our Cuban-American guests - my wonderful husband managed to find what has got to be the only Cuban DJ in the Philly suburbs (King of Prussia to be exact), but we hadn't told anyone. All of a sudden he slips in a 1940s Cuban dance classic - and all the Cubans flipped, it was the last thing they expected to hear. Disregarding all the wedding etiquette rules, one of my family's dearest friends since forever comes to the head table and insists I dance with him - mind you I hadn't danced with my father or my husband yet - this was just pre-party music, but Pipo insisted, so what the hell - it was my wedding and I could do what I wanted, so I danced. It was great!

OK, so now we get settled, a lovely dinner is served, of course I'm not eating a bit of it. All of a sudden I look to the table where my parents were sitting with all their friends, and all the men including my father are gone! Instantly I knew something was wrong, because my father would never abandon a good meal. I poked my husband and we went to find out what was happening. It turns out my father was having horrible pains in his side and the men had helped him to the restroom. My husband went to check it out - again thank God for Xanax - I maintained. My father suffered from kidney stones and apparently one of them decided to make an appearance on - of course - my wedding day!

So I go out to the lobby to see him and he was pale as a ghost, he had to leave. He tells me to absolutely not cancel the party, that we knew what it was, nothing to worry about, everything would be fine - but he wanted to dance his dance with me before he left. Those of you who know me or have been reading my Blog know that my father meant the world to me - I was definitely Daddy's girl. So he walked back into the party room and I told the DJ to cue up the father/daughter, mother/son song (Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World"). Of course as I'm dancing with my dad I am openly sobbing like the dork that I am and feel my contact lenses fall out. I catch one and give it to my sister-in-law so I could finish the dance. At this point I'm blind from tears and lack of contact lenses. We finish the dance, my parents leave and I put my one remaining contact lens back in. I figured I could at least see half-way, but I really couldn’t see anything, I thought it must be because my eyes were irritated from crying.

I went back out and we proceeded to have a fantastic party (YAY Xanax!) - I had never had such a good time at a party, it was fabulous. We left the party (that's when everyone blew bubbles at us) and headed for a nearby bed and breakfast before heading off to The Poconos the next morning. Throughout the reception everything remained blurry - I barely actually *saw* any of it. When we got to the B & B - it turns out both of my lenses had not fallen out, only one of them (the one I caught) had - so I wound up with two contacts in one eye, and none in the other.

What can I say? The mind wobbles!

Happy Anniversary Honey!

Wow! This is long!