I Followed The Yellow Brick Road

Some of those moments that you will ever forget and just enough pictures to spark the memories.

When we began to plan our wedding my Mom and Dad said we had a choice. We could have a very big affair like my sister’s the decade before, or we could have a modest wedding and use the extra money towards a down payment on our home. I guess we were pretty practical even back then because we chose modest and being able to buy our first home before we even walked down the aisle.

Our wedding was a beautiful church wedding with the reception in the local Holiday Inn banquet room. I remember the marquee sign out front had our names and I have a picture to prove that. I specifically remember that the price for the 3-tiered wedding cake and total price for the florals was the same $95. My gown was under $200 and of course the tuxedos were rented. I wanted the impossible to find burgundy for him but we settled on baby blue. I remember him telling me years later that he used a little mascara on the thin spot in his mustache but in my opinion we both looked perfect. Funny how you may not think it at the time but I am still amazed every time I look at those pictures. One picture that makes me laugh each time is of us in the church lobby. We have tears in our eyes as we are laughing. It seemed that although we did have a rehearsal for the ceremony, Wendell put the ring on the wrong hand. Something that went unnoticed by the Pastor who himself was never married.

Our ride to the wedding and reception was in my brothers beautiful car, then the mode of transportation to our first night home was a 66 Oldsmobile 442 Convertible. The convertible will come up in stories ahead but for now I will tell you it was very fast and Sweetie’s pride and joy. I’m sure there were some sort of noise makers hanging from the bumper, but what sticks in my mind is the way the exterior of the car was decorated. Shaving cream all over the car and I recall that one of his cousins tried to write something on the car but he didn’t know how to spell very well. Regardless we knew that the car needed to be cleaned off. I remember looking for a self service carwashes but don’ t remember if we even found one.