Allow me a moment of personal privilege through my blog! This year is a milestone year for my husband and me as we celebrate our 30th anniversary today, July 21.
How time flies!! Now planning our daughter’s wedding, I’m remembering all we did to plan our wedding back then! However, it wasn’t quite as involved as it is now!! (No internet, Pinterest, etc., either!) In any event, David and I were each living in Northern Virginia, met at the church I was attending in Arlington, VA, and were married in that same church, which was also the church my mom and grandparents attended when they lived there in the 1940’s.
Our ceremony was filled with lots of support, strength, and love by over 375 family members and friends (when you marry the Assistant Pastor, everyone comes!). David and I wrote our own vows and memorized them!!! Whew!! Our wedding party stood as couples around us with my matron of honor on my left and David’s best man to his right. The bridesmaids each wore a different color – blue, light green, peach, pink, lavender, and mauve, and the guys wore black/grey morning tuxes. Rather than a bouquet of flowers, the girls carried fans decorated with silk flowers that incorporated all of the colors of the dresses. I carried a small, 100+-year-old family Bible that was carried by my mom, grandmother and some cousins when they each got married; it had ribbons draping from it in the colors of the bridesmaids’ dresses. Our flower girl wore pink and the ring bearer matched the fellas; they were members of our church and are well into their mid-30’s now!
Following the wedding, was a traditional cake and punch reception in the church basement for all who attended. Later, we had dinner and the reception at a hotel in Alexandria, VA, for 125 people. I still remember we had chicken for dinner, and I’m fairly sure it was $12.95 per person for everything except the beer and wine!!
After dancing the night away, we spent our wedding night at another hotel nearby and left early the next morning (around 6-7am) to catch our flight to Hawaii for our 2-week honeymoon! The one thing I would definitely change about our wedding weekend would be to not leave for the honeymoon until Monday!
Both sets of our parents, pictured here, were married for many years — 56 for my parents (standing next to me) and 59 for David’s parents (standing next to him) before our dad’s each died. With that longevity in our history, I guess we had a good foundation on which to start our married life, and I look forward to another 30 years together!
I guess that’s how my interest in wedding planning started! Now, many years later, I love to work with each of my couples as they bring their personalities and interests to their wedding day, ready to share the day with friends and family!
Best wishes to all of you couples out there embarking on this thing called marriage! It’s fun, it’s hard, it requires compromises, and it’s so worth it! And, it goes by so quickly – so cherish every moment!
PS: The chocolate cake pictured was the “groom’s cake” at the dinner reception — all chocolate and it was amazing!!!
