17 Years Ago Today...

I married the man of my dreams.

Awww.....isn't that sweet!

On August 3rd, 1991 Frank and I were married. I woke up that morning in my dad's house that he bought only weeks before because he thought it would look good in wedding pictures. And it did. I remember getting up really early and sitting in the living room watching an old episode of "Tennessee Tuxedo". I went to get my hair done and then came home and took a relaxing bath in their mansion-sized sunk-in tub. My sister showed up - she was my maid-of-honor - and then my uncle (who was the photographer) was there and all of the picture taking began. Thank God for air-conditioning and the fact that dad's new house was so nice on the inside because August heat was rough. I had to use all silk flowers because we didn't want them to lilt!

My best friend Lori was my only other bridesmaid. Lori and I had an odd relationship - we went out to eat a LOT. I mean, we hung out and could make eachother laugh like nobody's business, but somewhere, somehow, no matter what was going on, we'd end up going someplace to eat. So when I had to give her directions to my dad's house, it was done using food places instead of street names. It went something like, "Okay, you know the deli by the Carvel? You use the left fork. When you get to the hot dog truck where we went that day for lunch? Turn right. Then go down until you hit that traffic light with the other hot dog truck, you know, the one we didn't like as much? Yeah, turn left there. When you get to the Dunkin Donuts, turn right." And the funny thing is, she knew EXACTLY how to get there! Frank and I still laugh about that one to this day.

We had a lovely, short church ceremony where we really lucked out. The church was pretty booked that day and there was another wedding coming in almost immediately after ours and so all of that brides flowers were set up and so I did not have to do any decorating of my own! Sweet! We had a long break between the church and our reception so we went back to dad's for more pictures and he, deli owner that he is, had out a full spread of food. At one point, I stripped down to just my slip because it was so hot, but that lasted for all of 10 minutes before it was time for more pictures.

At the hotel for the reception, we hung out with our bridal party in the bridal suite and ate a bit. Frank's shoe broke somehow, and by this point I was exhausted. But FINALLY it was time to got down to the reception and it was the BEST! Our music was great, the food was great and I have to say, out of all of the weddings that I've ever been to, I loved mine the most. The most memorable moment was when we sat down to eat our main course, the DJ started playing "American Pie" and the entire room sang! That was really cool. That song makes us smile every time we hear it and that moment always comes to mind.

So here's to 17 years of marriage to the man that I love and to at least another 17 more. I love you, baby!