The first was the family wedding, but for those long-story-short reasons, suffice it to say we needed to be married again to make it legal. So we were. On our honeymoon. 33 years ago today. With my mother and siblings present.
The third was actually in the Catholic Church-- the sacrament of marriage, 13 years after the original ceremony. Our son and my mother were our picks for best man and matron of honor, but since one was 7 and the other not a Christian, our pastor asked us to pick witnesses who were both adult and Catholic. So we did, but in my heart, I treasure my mother standing (well, sitting in her wheelchair) for me, and our son by his dad's side, as I wed my sweetheart, once again, though this time with the Church's blessing.
We were telling the story of our weddings to our daughter, and she decided we needed to renew our vows. After all, it had been over 20 years since we did so. It would be easy, she told us. She could perform the ceremony herself, since she is a Notary Public. So, with our daughter as officiant, and granddaughters as maid of honor and best girl, with me clutching my iPhone with a picture of flowers I'd drawn, with the man I gave my heart to all those years ago, she said the words, and we replied "sure, why not?" and "you bettcha". We sealed the deal, once again. He's stuck for good.
Life is nothing if not contradictory. The Ides of March isn't always a date to beware. And the Bard can be wrong. The course of True Love sometimes does run smooth, 33 years and counting.
Pictures below:
March 11, 1984 At the Calvert Collection, in Washington DC, because if you can get married in an antiques and art gallery, why wouldn't you? (We call this our fake-aversary, because the marriage wasn't legal)
March 15, 1984, St. Michael's, Maryland, by the courthouse, where we'd just gotten hitched by a judge. (That's my kin gathered round us.) This is the one we recognize as our true marriage date.
March 15, 1997 Cathedral of St John the Baptist, 2 pictures
March 11, 2017 South Carolina Lowcountry
Love your story! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteOldest son has a somewhat similar story: He and the love of his life were in St. Petersburg (Russia) when the USSR was coming apart. They realized that no matter what happened, they always wanted to be together. They went to the Palace of Weddings, both in jeans, and got married. Then, as soon as they could arrange it, they left St. Petersburg and came here. They got married by a justice of the peace to make sure they were "legal", then a few weeks later, we had a beautiful "Blessing of their marriage", performed by a minister (beautiful dress, flowers, etc at First (Scots) followed by a reception at my mother's house across the street. I asked my lovely d-in-l when their anniversary was, and she said, "Which one?".
We were smart. We kept them to two dates, either March 11 or March 15. (Plus, we met on an 11th, so that works, too. We call the first, our fake-aversary, and celebrate, for real, the 15th.
ReplyDelete