10 on the 10th: June 2023-Wedding Edition

The months are just rolling by at the speed of something much faster than time! We are 10 days into June which means Marsha has some questions for us all. In her 10 on the 10th series, Marsha presents us with 10 questions about a common theme and asks us to share our answers in blog post form or in the comments. This series is a wonderful way to share more information about ourselves and to learn interesting new things about others. Anyone is invited to join and answer the questions. It is a great way to start new conversations and make meaningful connections with new people.

June is wedding season, so Marsha got curious about our wedding experiences and crafted a fun set of queries for us to answer. Play along if you’d like! Here are the questions…

Since many of these questions are about our own weddings, I must clarify that I have had three weddings so I will have three answers for some questions. I have not had three marriages, however, just two. But Jeff and I are both Geminis so that’s really like there are four people in our marriage so we needed two separate weddings to accommodate all those personalities! Ha. Actually, we had a small intimate ceremony on January 23, 2010, followed by our reception which included a vow renewal ceremony for our guests to witness during Memorial Day weekend that same year.

1. What is the most amazing thing you remember about your wedding?

Wedding 1: It was the first day of spring in 1998 and the weather forecast was warm with a spattering of spring showers. I knew it was wrong from the moment I woke up on that fateful morning, but I proceeded anyway. Vows were taken, we moved from the church to the reception, and then a crazy ice storm moved in that trapped people there who didn’t have plans for spending the night. I still believe the abrupt turn of weather was a sign of the impending marital doom!

Wedding 2: It was the middle of winter in 2010 and we planned an outdoor ceremony like people who don’t understand the seasons. And then we had the most beautiful springlike temperatures with copious amounts of brilliant sunshine. Perhaps another weather sign predicting the future of my union.

Wedding 3: The reception to wedding 2. I was super amazed in a negative way that a private investigator secretly took photos of our wedding because my father-in-law had an open worker’s compensation claim due to a back injury from a fall at work. Apparently, they were trying to catch him dancing or something. Which is super funny because in 15 years I have never seen that man dance…except for the time all the ground bees flew up his shorts. He was really dancing then!

2. Tell us about your wedding dress.

Wedding 1: I can’t remember the designer but I do remember getting a huge discount because the sample dress fit me perfectly. It needed some minor repairs which brought the price down from well over $1000 to $800, which was still way too expensive for my mother to afford but she bought it anyway because it was “the dress.” I only have this one surviving photo from that day and you can’t see the whole dress. It was floor length with a full A-line skirt and a beaded bodice in ivory satin. The mesh covered my arms, shoulders, and entire back right to the top of my bottom. There was a satin band around the neck, satin French cuffs on the sleeves, and dozens of tiny satin buttons from my butt to my neck. It had a long train that bustled in the back and was secured by three large satin rosettes. My veil went to the floor and I wore traditional leather ballet shoes in ivory and I glued little blue roses to the straps. I didn’t have a coat because the weather said spring! I am sandwiched between my mom and her mom.

Wedding 2: I wanted to wear combat boots and I wanted a dress similar to what my mother wore when she married my father in 1968. It was a Jackie Kennedy style dress with a long windowpane print coat. I can’t find the picture of it right now, but it was similar to the one she is wearing in the photo below next to me in my wedding dress. I bought it at TJMaxx for $40. Much more to my taste than $800 (which is like $1500 now. Eek.).

I wore a vintage black velvet half hat with a separate vintage black veil all covered in flower adornments. I also attached the old daisy brooch that my mom wore on her wedding day. My coat is from Old Navy and I think it was on clearance for $25. My boots were the most expensive part of the outfit at $200. But I still wear them frequently 13 years later so that was money well spent. Jeff wore his dress uniform.

I have only ever worn this dress one more time but I have to keep it for sentimental purposes.

Wedding 3: I bought a cute little sundress at Target that I wore with gladiator sandals. It was super comfortable and practical for a beautiful spring day at a lake. Jeff wore cargo shorts, a button down, and sneakers because that’s how we do things.

3. Did you include all three things (they start with b) at your wedding? Care to share more?

At first, I thought Marsha was going for “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” but then I realized that’s only two Bs and the question asked for three. And I know that Marsha likes to include at least one confusing question! So I am kinda stumped here. I Googled “what are the 3 Bs of weddings” and I got “the bridal party, the bouquets, and the boutonnieres” from a photography website, and “Be sincere. Be brief. Be seated.” from a wedding consulting site. Yeah. I don’t know how to answer this one except I surely incorporated all sorts of Bs into three weddings including barbecue, blunders, beer, and blasphemes.

4. Where was your wedding held…church, park, neighborhood bar?

Wedding 1: The ceremony was in a Catholic church and was co-officiated by a priest and my childhood minister from my family’s Lutheran church. The reception was at the groom’s family’s country club.

Wedding 2: The ceremony was in my mother-in-law’s back yard and we had dinner at a local family restaurant right after. Jeff and I attended a Philadelphia Flyers hockey game the next day.

Wedding 3: Everything was held at the lake pavilion in Jeff’s aunt’s housing community.

5. What is the worst thing you have seen at a wedding?

I don’t know if this is the worst but it is definitely funny. My ex-husband may have thought it was the worst though because he got really embarrased for some reaosn. I still don’t get it because it really is funny. We walked into the restaurant where my sister’s wedding reception was being held and we immediately noticed that the carpeting throughout the entire venue was the exact same floral print as my ex-husband’s necktie.

6. Do you think less of a bride who doesn’t wear white?

It takes a lot more than the color of a wedding dress to make me think less of a person! Wear whatever color makes you happy! I wore combat boots and a black veil so who I am to judge?

7. If you got married tomorrow, or sometime soon, what would be in your bouquet?

I think I’d like a lollipop bouquet!

8. Have you ever attended a celebrities wedding? (Yes,Marsha is looking for name droppers!)

Sorry, Marsha, I got nothing. But I did watch Princess Diana marry Prince Charles live on television at like 3:00 in the morning when I was 7 years old. Does that count as being in attendance? If it does, I actually have dragged my sleepy butt out of bed at ungodly hours for most of the royal weddings since then!

9. What wedding tradition means the most to you?

Oh, for sure, the father-daughter dance. Because I never got to have one. My father died when I was in college so three weddings and no daddy dance for this bride. It chokes me up at every single wedding I have ever attended since his death.

Before the daddy-daughter dance made me cry, it made me smile like when my sister had her dance. Isn’t she a beautiful bride?

10. Describe your perfect wedding.

Oh, the perfect wedding is one that celebrates the individual personalities of the two people coming together, one that is filled with joy and laughter, one where everywhere can put negativity aside for a night to celebrate love and all the power that it holds. I don’t care where it is or what anyone is wearing…the perfection is in the authenticity of the people involved.

If you enjoyed reading my answers, be sure to check out Marsha’s post and her link party for more fun responses. And feel free to share your own answers in the comments. I would love to read them!

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee

Joining these Fabulous Link Parties.