Planning The Perfect Wedding (Continuation Of This Is Us Story)
The Place
We decided we wanted to get married outside. We chose a beautiful garden owned by The University of Kentucky. It was called The Landscape Garden.
(Sadly it no longer exists. Without even consulting us, UK chopped down our tree and others and put a big building there some years later!)
We asked the groundskeeper if it was ok to get married in the garden. He said he didn’t care, but he would have to ask his boss.
His boss said he didn’t care, but he’d have to ask his boss … and so it went until our request reached the desk of The President of The University Of Kentucky.
He said he didn’t care, but they probably should have a policy.
It’s a good thing we started working on this in the spring, because it took them awhile to gather a committee to write and get a policy approved for events in the garden.
Basically it came down to we could not exclude anyone from visiting the garden. We didn’t care. The more the merrier!
Seating
I was very certain I wanted chairs for each guest. Jay said it would be too expensive to rent chairs and everyone could stand.
The minister tried to broker a compromise by suggesting chairs for only the family. I was horrified. That sounded like a funeral. All we needed was a tent! 😱.
The minister noted a tent might be good in case of rain! 😱😱.
Since Jay already had witnessed my “delicate emotional side” at the jewelry store, he countered with we could have all the chairs I wanted.
Jay went to the garden the morning of the wedding and received and set up all the chairs. This was a reassurance I really did pick the right sweetheart!
Aw-w-w, but stay tuned for the wedding finale … where the chairs figured prominently!
Historical Event
My parents were in their early 70s at the time. They had never flown on an airplane. My brother talked them into flying.
My uncle said when he heard that I was getting married, he wasn’t surprised. But when he heard my parents were going to fly, he said it was epic news!
They were determined to contribute to the reception, so my mother baked cookies, which they brought with them in carry on luggage. The only problem was that the handle broke on the bag.
Somewhere we have a picture of my parents getting off the plane with my father carrying the precious cargo in his arms!
My brother traveled frequently by air, but says he had never experienced what they experienced on the way home. The plane was struck by lightening.
He said it was as if the plane had slammed into a wall! My father slept through it and my mother said she thought that might just be the way planes worked. She had no frame of reference!
Music
It was outside. We considered a “boom box.” But back then battery life was limited and of course outside, there was nowhere to plug in.
Jay said he didn’t know why we really needed music anyway. (Remember this is the guy who didn’t want chairs!).
But somewhere in the music discussion, someone told us about a wonderful harpist (Elaine Humphries). She agreed to play and it was beautiful!
However, stay tuned to hear about her challenge the day of the wedding. (Hint: Think wind and its effect on delicate strings!)
Besides the harpist’s challenges, there were other issues.
To give you a hint, there was
a circling helicopter (think opening scene of the tv show, MASH),
an ambulance siren,
a screaming minister,
a minister who reversed the words in a sentence,
two groomsmen so overcome with laughter they could hardly stand up
and for the grand finale … a fast paced game of not so musical chairs!
