WEDDING & HONEYMOON 1980

David and I were married on June 21, 1980. To this day, I can't believe I could pull off a wedding in only 3 months. We didn't want a big wedding, not to mention the cost involved, but also that I was doing all this on my own. We did end up having about 100 people. With all my budgeting, it cost us under $5500, which included the reception, 1200$, rings 2100$, photos 800$, honeymoon 1000$, and all the other extras. I did save a lot of money because my mother made my wedding dress and the dresses for my maid of honour and bridesmaid. My sisters R and D made the dresses for my flower girls, who were my nieces. I think the total cost was about 100 dollars for the material. My headpiece cost me 50 dollars, which was more than my dress. My sister J had my bouquet, boutonnieres, and corsages made in Florida. They were all made out of seashells. I had an extra bouquet made for throwing at the reception. David had his brother as best man, and my brother was a groomsman. My brother-in-law G was to walk me down the aisle, and my mother's friend JP was also part of the wedding party. We rented all the tuxedoes for the men.

It rained in the morning but cleared up in time for the wedding. I had a tight budget, so I did my hair and makeup myself. My mother, bridesmaids, and flower girls came to our apartment for the photo session. Our photographer was David's brother-in-law. My brother-in-law P came to drive me to the church with the car our boss loaned us. That was another savings. It was a beautiful 1978 Lincoln Continental.

We arrived at the church on time, and everything went well. My younger niece, who was only three, was nervous to walk down the aisle, but her older cousin, who was six, held her hand, and they walked together. It was nice to have my brother-in-law walk me down the aisle because he was like a father figure. I didn't invite my father because he was still drinking, and I didn't want any trouble.

It was a very short ceremony, which is what we both wanted. We didn't want our guests sitting in a hot church for too long. I've had to do that too many times! Once the ceremony was over we went outside to take some pictures. It was hot and sunny, and it didn't take long before we headed to the restaurant. People had decorated their cars, and they all followed our car, beeping their horns all the way to the reception. My poor brother-in-law, P, could not find the horn button because he had never driven this car.  

The venue we chose was a little French restaurant in Pointe-Claire village, which was very quaint. They closed the place for our wedding. We chose wine with the meal but not an open bar because I feared someone would drink too much and fall down the stairs. Many of my family members liked to drink! A great time was had by all. Later in the evening, David and I changed into some comfortable clothes and we danced right to the end of the evening. We then returned to our apartment to pick up our luggage for our honeymoon in Florida.

Our boss, Jack, had a house in Palm Beach, Florida, and we made a deal with him. We would fly to Florida, stay at his house for free, and then drive his 1971 Ford Mustang convertible back to Montreal. It was a great deal! We did a lot of mileage and visited places we had never been to. There were some adventures, and I was surprised we were not divorced by the time we returned. My navigational skills could have been better, and we got lost a few times. There are also some other funny stories.                     

Once, while we were in Palm Beach, we went for a drive along the ocean and then went to get something to eat. We went to a drive-through, which we still didn't have in Canada. We drove to the window, and the cashier told us the amount. David gave her the money, she handed him the bag of food and drinks, and we drove off. We were going to drive to the ocean and eat there. I looked at David and asked him, "How did she know what we wanted to eat?" We were so young and innocent. We had a good laugh!  I felt bad for the car behind us. We then drove down to the ocean and had our surprise meal. I think someone up above had the last laugh because we missed gasoline on our way back. Here we were, in a convertible, on a scorching hot day, on the side of the ocean, with no sunscreen, water, or gasoline. We didn't know that the gas gauge was not working properly. These guys in an old truck stopped to ask us if we needed help. We told them what happened, and they offered to take David to get gas. We were very trusting. David went with them, and I was left alone guarding the car. As if I could do anything if someone wanted to steal it! David returned with the sketchy-looking guys with some gas. We thanked them and offered to pay them, but they were happy to help us.

On our way back home to Canada, we visited some great places. One of my favourites was Disney World. We could act like kids again, and we did! We were very excited to go to Washington, DC, to see the Whitehouse. It was a hot day when we got to Washington, and we got lost. It was like the movie National Lampoon's Vacation. We couldn't get off the roundabout and kept going around in circles. When we reached the Whitehouse, I looked at it and said, "Wow, it's big and beautiful; can we go to the hotel now?" David just looked at me like I was crazy and said, "SERIOUSLY?" There was nowhere to park, and we were so hot and tired that we just kept driving. We still laugh about it to this day!

I have another short, funny story. When crossing into Canada, the officer at the border asked us if we had anything to declare: gifts, food, or alcohol. We told him we only had souvenirs, which was true, and he let us continue home.  About a week later, David was cleaning the car, and while cleaning out the trunk, he found some very ripe and moldy bags of oranges. We were somewhere in the USA, and someone was giving away oranges along the side of the road. We stopped to get a bag. David threw them in the trunk for later. It was still very hot outside, and we had many more places to visit. It was a very innocent mistake, but we could have gotten into a lot of trouble. Someone was on our side, after all!

When David tells stories from our honeymoon, one of his favourites is that we drove 5000kms on a 2000kms trip and were not divorced before the honeymoon ended.  Let's just say I was not the best navigator!

I love this quote;

“A perfect marriage is just two imperfect people who refuse to give up on each other”.

That is what we have been doing for all these years!