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.
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