Twenty five years ago today, I was a blushing bride dressed in pink with flowers in her hair, waiting for her dashing groom dressed in tails and black leather pants to start our lives together. With our family and friends surrounding us in the Kamikaze Room Bar at the Red Onion restaurant in Marina Del Rey, we joined hands in matrimony. We were married by a priest that was a friend of the grooms who had never done a wedding before. The photographs were taken by a friend of the bride's. The 2 bridesmaids dressed in white chose their own dresses, but coincidentally the fabric matched. Me and the 2 bridesmaids secretly went to a jewelry store to get a wedding ring for the groom before the wedding as a surprise. It was quite a sight to see, me in my wedding dress, running down the street. It seemed that everything fit that day, except the piano.
I really wanted to have my sister sing at the wedding, but they never brought up the piano. This was really the only thing that upset me but the surprise wedding ring for my husband evened it out. The Best Man knew we only had one ring, but when the preacher kept saying, "With these rings, he was trying to send him signals and looked very irritated". Finally when we took out the ring, he understood.
We paid for our own wedding. I bought my dresses with my employee discount at the dress store where I worked. We had Mexican food catered by the restaurant. We got a sheet cake instead of a fancy wedding cake. I hand wrote the invitations and the thank you cards. We were our own DJ's, playing a mix tape that we made. And the Groom even sang a song. Everyone had a good time until they kicked us out because a pay per view fight was happening that evening. The things we do for love. Love that has lasted us over 25 years.
A lot of things in the wedding paralleled our marriage. There were fun times, disappointment, surprises, lots of Mexican food, frugal times and irritation. But it is all a journey and the journey continues. We are not the exact same people we were back then, but we are still husband and wife. With a child and mother-in-law and a new house husband, everyday is an adventure. And hopefully our adventure will continue until our 50th Anniversary!
