Sunday, April 24, 2011

On this day...

Today is not only Easter, but it is also Dale & my 18th anniversary.  Eighteen years.  It does not seem that long.  Until I look at the photos of those children getting married, and I realize I am not that person anymore...

Here we are freezing at Como Park, after the wedding.  Standing up on top of a hill, with all kinds of people driving or biking by, and waving at us.  While we are trying to keep looking at the photographer.  The downside of this photo is that you cannot see how stunningly beautiful my flowers are.

This one we've called "Little Bride on the Prairie."  I'm staring in at a whole bunch of people eating in a restaurant, but it sure looks like I'm in the middle of nowhere, doesn't it?  This one doesn't do the flowers justice either.  I wonder if I have a photo anywhere that does?

My secret to fabulous flowers?  I told the florist, "you are the professional."  The only parameters were that I wanted at least some yellow roses in my mother's flowers.  Because Dad always gave Mom yellow roses.  So I think we had yellow roses in all the bouquets.  I don't remember.  But I had no idea at all what my flowers would look like until I picked them up.  The florist had so much fun, she told me, as she rarely got the chance to have free rein like that.  I think we got more flowers than we paid for, just because she enjoyed it.


That's the whole wedding party.  Well, except the flower girl.  We didn't bring her over to Como Park with us after the ceremony.  She, actually, left the wedding to go to the hospital.

While we were waiting to go in at the conservatory, another wedding party was waiting as well.  The bridesmaids were oohing and aahing over our flowers, apparently.  I heard about it from my bridesmaids.  I only noticed that the other bride looked really upset.  Poor thing.  Happy anniversary to you too, whoever you are!

Is this not the most adorable flower girl ever?  And that flower basket, I found out after the ceremony, weighed a ton.  I think they put a brick in there.  Okay, so I know you want to hear the story of the hospital.

Well, I had asked this cutie's mom to be a bridesmaid, and she turned me down.  Because, well, she thought she'd ruin my photos as she'd be eight months pregnant.  I didn't care and I told her so, but I also told her that I totally understood if she wasn't comfortable with the idea of being in a wedding that close to her due date.

So, I got up around 7:00 on the day of the wedding.  I was staying at the hotel where I worked.  Went down to the front desk and was informed that Marianna had gone into labor and had left for the hospital.  She had a little girl that morning.  Reports are that her first words after they said, "It's a girl" were "Can I make a 2:00 wedding?"  By the time they had her cleaned up and all, she no longer cared.  Rightly so.

So grandma brought Malinda to the wedding.  And poor Malinda was surrounded by all these people she doesn't really know, and grandma hadn't been at the rehearsal. Malinda had instructions based around me (Aunty) and her mom, and she no longer knew what she was doing.

She wasn't supposed to be standing for the entire ceremony, but I totally forgot that her mom wasn't there to cue her to go sit in the front row.  She stood by me the whole time, holding that heavy basket, and not moving at all.

At the end, Dale & I walked down the aisle, and my matron of honor, Shereen, was urging Malinda to walk down to me.  Only she was telling her to "go to Deb."  Only she didn't know who this Deb person was at all.  Dale and I got to the back of the church, and fortunately I turned around.  Malinda was standing there, frozen and scared, with Shereen leaning over her looking a little frazzled.  I handed Dale my flowers, got down on my knees and held out my arms... and she came a-bookin' down the aisle and jumped into my arms.

Poor thing.

Anyway, so afterwards, she and her grandma headed to the hospital to meet her new baby sister.  And said baby sister is now an adult.  Happy Birthday, Olivia!

2 comments:

Rodna Allman said...

AW, 18 years. That's awesome. My husband and I have been married for 14 years.

I feel so sorry for that little girl. I know she is not little anymore though. lol

Michelle Smith said...

Love the photos and your story. I think Malinda probably has fond memories of you, since you were so sweet with her. :)