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July 7, 1998 A Wedding!Denise called me up and said they bought the rings!! It was a one week notice, and they were going to be married at the court house by a JP. Simple enough. My husband, Dave and my other daughter, Chrissy, told their bosses they would need a day off. Then Denise heard about a minister who does weddings in a beautiful park, so she paid for that on Thursday, bought a wedding dress at a resale shop on Friday and asked me to take pictures all for a wedding on Tuesday! Ed rented a tux for himself, and his brother, and Denise asked her sister, Chrissy, to be the maid of honor, in any dress she had---that was OK.Chrissy and I drove out to Denise's house (in her car because the brakes were going out fast in my mini van) to see the dress---beautiful dress!! We also went to see the park. Beautiful gazebo, but it needs a vase of flowers for each side of the steps. Chrissy suggests we pick up 2 bunches of glads the morning of the wedding. This was Sunday---July 4th weekend. Came back here (home)---Chrissy tried on her best dress for a summer wedding and didn't like it. No time to shop. She planned to get off work early Monday. Monday morning---6:45AM, the phone rings. It's Chrissy, her driver-side window has been smashed. Nothing was stolen. A mystery in the quiet apartment complex she lives in. I tell her to call for a police report and then she goes to work. The wedding is the next day. My brakes are almost out, Chrissy needs a dress, Ed's sister needs to know what color dress will be so she can have decorations put on a cake, I need to call around to rent a mini van and call the insurance about Chrissy's car. On top of that, after we get Chrissy's dress we need to do the flowers. Denise said silk is fine. And I need film, you name it, I haven't done it yet. None of the car rental places will reserve a vehicle on one day's notice except one, and they want a $50 deposit today, and I have to do it. While I'm on the phone I loose track of the time. I need to take my dress to the cleaners. I look up---9:55am!! Oh no! I grab the dress and drive. I miss the pick-up time by minutes. Oh well. I'll toss it in the drier on low with a drier sheet. It will be OK. I get home and then, unexpectedly, Dave came home. He figured I needed help. Did I ever!! I sent him with the $50. On top of all this, it's Monday, so I have to take my mom shopping. Fortunately I can take side streets and drive slow. In the mean time, Ed's sisters are planning a barbecue in Denise and Ed's back yard. Tables, chairs and awnings are rented. Food is prepared. I'm a nervous wreck trying to figure out how I'm going to take wedding pictures. Denise tells me not to worry. Dave got back from the rental place and called around about Chrissy's car window. When she got home, she and I took her car in and, in my poor van with grinding brakes, went on our mission to find a dress. After hours of shopping she finds a dress---we're outta there! On to pick up her car---just 20 minutes before the place closes. I drop her off and drive home---all the way thinking to myself, I should have waited. get home. The first thing Dave says is, "Chrissy's car won't start." He drives the limping van back to help Chrissy and I call Ed's sister, "Pink! Chrissy's dress is pink." Dave and Chrissy return. The car won't start. She can leave it there---it will be OK. It's now 5pm. Dave will do dinner. Chrissy and I take off again in my weary van for the craft store. After two hours we are as weary as the van, but head home with some beautiful flowers. After dinner (thank you Dave), Chrissy and I start to assemble bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres. At midnight we are done and she goes home. The day of the wedding, morning is so dark, rainy and gloomy it looks like 4am. By 9am it is pouring rain so furiously that sidewalks and everything fills up with water. Over an inch of rain falls in a few minutes. Denise calls, crying. The basement is flooding and everything is planned for outside. I spend and hour trying to get an accurate weather forecast. I can't wait for the noontime news. Ed is thinking of canceling. We don't know what to do. People have called off from work, things are rented, it's getting expensive. Ed calls back. They're doing it anyway. Dave goes to get the rented van. The sky starts to clear. I find out later that Ed went out in the downpour and prayed. Then he went in and mopped. Last minute preparations drag on. We have to pick up my mom and Chrissy. The store doesn't have glads. I have to grab other flowers. It's 2:10 before we're on the way. The wedding is at 3:00. Dave makes the half hour trip in record time. It's 90 degrees and as drippy humid as the tropics but the sun shines brightly and I took 72 pictures of my beautiful daughter and my new son-in-law. Everything went great. It didn't rain for the rest of the day. Whew! by Candy 1998 |