Monday, August 6, 2018


Going to the Chapel

Bill and I decided to get married while at Annual Training for  the Army National Guard in June of 1981. We picked July 18th giving us about one month to plan. My parents were probably thrilled I was getting married but I’m sure my mom was a little disappointed that it would not be the wedding she would have like. My parents were married in the home of my dad’s sister, Caroline. It was a simple affair with just a few friends.

We planned a church wedding at the First Methodist Church in Gloucester City, NJ – my home town. We only planned for a matron of honor and a best man. My matron was Letitia Sarracino. We were both teachers at the same high school where we were students just one year apart. My friend Irma Zank was the soloist and we three were active in that church. Jimmy Ridge, a distant cousin played the organ. Bill’s best man was his uncle, Joe Baker.

I had picked a gown that I easily got off the bridal rack at Penney’s. No alterations necessary. The day of the wedding came, and it was a sunny, hot July day. The photographer was someone my dad knew who took the Little League pictures. Our neighbor loaned us his nice car and one of the students from school asked if he could be the driver. We arrived at church, but Bill’s mom wasn’t there. After about a half hour delay she arrived with her sister-in-law and nephew Bill and his family. Nephew Bill couldn’t find his shoes and that held them up. Meanwhile my Bill was the room at the rear of the church not knowing what was happening. He worried I might have changed my mind. The ceremony continued without any other delays.

The reception was in my parents’ back yard. Me, my mom, her friends and mine all helped to make the food. My friend Judy made sure the food was ready to eat and her husband served drinks at a home bar set up in the yard. My mom wanted music and so she got some sheets of plywood laid down in the yard and my brother’s boom box provided the music. Friends, neighbors and relatives were invited. The high school softball team I coached all came too as did some of our army friends. Everyone seemed to have a good time. I had chosen my cake with several pastel colors. Letitia ‘Tish’ was pregnant, and I had told her to pick a dress she like in whatever color she wanted. She chose a peachy, melon color so the cake was planned to go with what ever she picked. Bill and I cut the cake and left the rest to be cut by Judy. When our first anniversary came around I asked if we were supposed to eat a piece of wedding cake. That’s when I found out that the top layers of the cake had slid off and onto the floor due to the high heat. No air conditioning at my mom’s house.

Eventually the day came to an end and Bill and I left for a trip out west. We stayed in a nearby motel that first night and then headed to New Mexico and Arizona for a two-week honeymoon. My mother-in-law took care of Bill’s 4 kids at her home in Cape May until our return.
#52 Ancestors, #52 Ancestors 2018, #Weddings, #Arlene Baker

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