I was catching up on my Mom's blog today and found this story about their wedding day in 1967. I wanted to make sure to show our kids, so I just copied it here. It was entertaining and I didn't know any of these details! I decided I should post about our wedding soon so the kids enjoy ours as much as I enjoyed reading about my parent's big day! Thanks, Mom!
It's seems like only yesterday that we were headed for the Salt Lake Temple to be married on March 17, 1967. It was kind of cloudy and cold, but we were excited and a bit tired from all the preparation and activity that preceded this day. But we made it and were pronounced husband and wife at 9:07 (I think) on that Friday morning. Butch's brother Jack, wrote down the time on our marriage certificate; however, it got cut off to fit into my scrapbook.
We were reminiscing about that morning as we went to dinner at the Market Street Grill at Cottonwood and tried to remember who sat next to Butch on the couch before we knelt at the altar. His mom and dad weren't in the temple with us and the only person we could think of was Caroline. She and Jack came up for the wedding and she was to logical choice. Jack and my father were the witnesses and my mom sat next to me. My grandmother Hook was still alive, but it was too difficult to get her to the temple as she couldn't walk on her own.
After the ceremony, I don't remember thinking about taking pictures on the temple grounds in my wedding dress. I did take it to the temple and because it was short sleeved and scoop necked, had to wear some "sleeves and and insert" for the sealing. We changed into our street clothes and met my parents outside. Because we weren't having a wedding breakfast, all the family except Don and Karen went home. (Butch opted to take the money his parents offered). We did take a few pictures with my parents and Don and Karen on the Temple grounds.
Kay and Bud were here from New York - Jack and Caroline were here from Tempe, so we met the Gibsons at a photographer's studio for a family picture. Much to our surprise, Mother Gibson only wanted her children in the picture. Sorry, it still seems a bit odd to me, but what can you do?
After the photo session, we went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. All I remember is being so tired, I didn't want to eat. I think at one time, I even laid down on the bench and closed my eyes for a minute. Butch had been up the night before finishing a "final exam" for one of his classes, and I'd been up sewing one of my bridesmaid's dresses. We were exhausted. After lunch we headed for our apartment for a nap. I found out later, that my sister was kind of mad at me because the rest of the family went to the church to decorate for the reception and she thought I should have been there, too.
We had a few 'missteps' a long the way. The first - we borrowed Gibson's drapes to put up in the Relief Society room because the ones in there were very "bold and flowery". When we arrived before the reception, we were knocked over by the smell. When you are around cigarette smoke a lot, you get somewhat used to it and we didn't realize that the drapes would smell like smoke. We made a wild dash for some air freshener and sprayed them several times hoping my father wouldn't notice.
The second - Mom forgot to give more specific instructions to the sisters helping in the kitchen about the refreshments. She had made three kinds of fruit breads. For weeks she planned how many to make and one of the breads was supposed to be cut in half diagonally. Well, Virginia Johnson came into the Relief Society room about half way through the reception and said they had run out of that bread - because they had not cut it in half. Poor mom, she was kind of upset - but what can you do.
We gathered for pictures which John Rasmussen, a friend from Symphonic, was going to take for us. He did a good job, except he took longer that my dad thought he should. People were lining up clear out the door when he finally put his foot down and announced that there would be no more pictures. The line was steady right up to the ending time of 9 o'clock. We had lots of great support including Butch's Aunt -----. She said she came "even though she didn't get an invitation." We felt so bad and knew we had sent her one. We were glad she came anyway.
Just after we finished up the line and went in to have some refreshments, one of the candles used by our decorator, Mel Wilkey, burned down to the end. It caught the flowers on fire. Luckily, my sister, Karen was right there and beat it out with her bouquet. The only damage was to the table cloth.
The sixth and final funny thing that happened was that Butch's brother, sister, spouses and friends got together and because they couldn't decorate our car (Butch had hid it up the street), they decided to drive up to Park City and finish up the party there. Well, Butch wanted to go with them. That prompted someone to shout out that we had already had our honeymoon - Everyone thought that was pretty funny and kept teasing us. I was glad to get away to the motel Butch had reserved and so we could get some "sleep."
It was a fun evening and I just remember thinking toward the end that my feet didn't hurt even though I had on a new pair of shoes. I guess I was just so happy that it translated to my feet.
We left the next morning for our "working" honeymoon in Tempe. I was required to "teach" at an out-of-town school before graduating so we worked it out to do that in Mesa and stay at Jack and Caroline's house. They were staying in Salt Lake for the week and it was a perfect "free" place to stay. Every morning during the week, I got up and went to observe at the school. Butch worked on the car. He had bought at 1962 Thunderbird earlier; and it kept blowing the power steering pump hose. I only worked until three, so we had plenty of time to travel around to see the beautiful flower orchards just outside Tempe.
Wow that was really a walk down memory lane. These are the things that make life interesting. Now, here we are 45 years, 5 children and 17 grandchildren later, still together and looking forward to at least a few more wonderful years together.
