It was a sunny warm May day, the first day of May, that a married the love of my life, Tricia. I awoke and prepared to get ready for the day. At 12:30 I went to my groomsmen Dave's house to meet my other groomsmen, Jon and best man, my grandfather.
At his house we got into our tuxedos and had a toast before heading off to the church. The groomsmen went to the church before us to seat guest, while my best man and I went to go pick up my Aunt from the hotel.
At the hotel we met up with my mom and grandmother who drove up from Baltimore with a stop over in Rochester the day before. We all went to the church, where we waited for the bride to arrive.
We arrived at the church and waited for Trish and the bridesmaids to show up. I had to wait in the pastor's office, because of course I couldn't see the bride until the wedding ceremony. I could hear her out in the lobby, getting her pictures taken and talking with some of the guests. Reverend Rose, the pastor of the church, came in and said we were just waiting for the mother of the bride. She had gotten held up waiting for some guests that were staying at her house. Soon enough everyone arrived and the ceremony began.
I walked into the sanctuary and saw all the guests who had arrived to be a part of this special day. I saw my mom and family sitting there and some friends from Rochester. I saw my soon to be mother in-law and family sitting. And many other guests. The organ played and the bridesmaids and groomsmen started coming down the aisle.
Last came Trish arm and arm with her father. Surprisingly she wasn't crying. She looked beautiful. Her gown, which she didn't let me see before the wedding, no matter how much I asked, was all white with lace around the bodice. We stood hand and hand as the minister, Rev. Dale Rose, started the ceremony.
The first thing in the ceremony was the introduction, welcoming all the guest and family and telling them why they were here. To read the words of the actuall ceremony from the Introduction to the Benediction click here.
My mother and a friend of Trish's read the scriptures. My mother who is a minister and a natural and trained speaker read the verses beautifully and with power. Unfortunately I can't provide that here, but believe me it was moving.
After the scriptures we said our vows. I was surprised that Trish made it through without crying. She kept saying before the wedding that she was, but she didn't. *S* We said our vows and put the rings on each other's fingers. The rest of the service went on and we were pronounced man and wife. All that was left was to sign the registry and pose for the pictures while we signed it.
After we signed the registry we walked down the aisle and out of the church. Outside the church the wedding party lined up and everybody took pictures and I mean nearly everybody took a picture. *L* We greeted our guest, thanking them for coming and saying the usual hellos and congratulations.
There was one small glitch, I don't even know if that's the word, in that we okay I forgot the bulletin for the ceremony. Which wouldn't have been that bad except it had the directions to the reception and a map printed on the back. Of course few people knew how to get to the reception so before we went to go get our pictures taken we had to scramble to get directions to everyone. Looking back it's kinda funny. Eventually we got everything taken care of and the whole wedding party climbed into the limo and we were off to the park to take some pictures. :^)
At the park our photographer Danny got us all together. We had out pictures taken at Gairloch Gardens here in Oakville. We took pictures of the bride and groom, just the bride, the bride and the groomsmen, the bride and the bride's maids, the groom and the groomsmen, the groom and the bride's maids, the bride's family, the groom's family. Needless to say there were a lot of pictures taken. We also had a friend of ours, who is a photographer , take some pictures in front of the lake.
By this time we're running a little late and the limo driver is getting a bit impatient because he has another job right after us so we all pile into the limo and the parade of cars winds its way to the reception.
The Reception
We had our reception at the Oakville Rod & Gun Club. It's a small place that fit all the guest rather snugly but it's a quaint place and it wasn't too expensive. In any event it worked for us. We arrived at the reception and waited for everyone to arrive. The DJ had to go back because some of the equipment wasn't working so by the time he got there and everyone else arrived we were ready to go. It wasn't too long a wait.
We were announced and entered the club to see our friends and family smiling and applauding. We went through and sat at the head table that was raised a little from the floor on a platform. We were served dinner while the rest of the guests went through the buffet. The food was excellent and we all ate our fill. A special thanks goes to George, who provided the food and prepared it.
After dinner we both went around and talked to the guests. We got the usual advice and jokes and well wishes. Everyone was enjoying themselves or if they weren't they hid it well. Then we did the speeches. Of course Trish cried at everyone's speech. Her dad and mom made speeches. My grandfather made one, the bridesmaids and groomsmen did one collectively, part comedy routine part tear jerker. After all the speeches were done it was time to party!
We moved the tables from the back of the club for the dance floor and the DJ played the song for the first dance. KC and Jojo's "All Our Lives". Trish and I went out on the dance floor for our first dance as husband and wife. I held her close to me as we moved on the floor and she cried. You'll notice a theme here with Trish and crying. We were soon joined by other couples and the fun began.
There were many wonderful moments during the reception. I remember it being a lot of fun. Which is what we wanted. That's the way we spent our time before being married and how we planned to after being married we wanted the wedding and reception to be the same. Some of the more memorable parts of the evening were our friend Steve wearing Trish's shoes on his ears, Dale and Steve bumping and grinding with Trish on the dance-floor at the same time and me shooing them out of the way to show them how its done, Trish sitting outside smoking a cigar, people being both inside and outside with the party spilling out on the club's porch and the side driveway, the laughter and tears and the general merriment of the entire event.
The Wedding Night
If you really want to know you'll have to buy the video because I ain't telling you about it here. *LOL* (Laugh Out Loud)
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