So what makes February 18th so special? It is MY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! Yes, I live in Buffalo. Who, you might ask, schedules a wedding in February in Buffalo???? I will tell you who… someone who got engaged on Christmas Eve 1999, bought a dress the perfect size with cash on January 3rd 2000, sets a June wedding date on January 10th, and sees two double lines on the pregnancy test on January 15th. Of course the bridal shop won't let me exchange my dress for a bigger one. Of course the deposit on the June banquet hall was non-refundable. And so the tale of my wedding begins.... What are the chances it would snow on February 18th in Buffalo? Everything would be fine. What could go wrong? Well... thanks to my mother and my two sisters, planning a wedding in 4 weeks really wasn't that hard! Well, if you don't count the new job that had me working 11-8 every night, the morning sickness (Which by the way, is all day, not just mornings), and handling RSVP's via phone, since there wasn't enough time to mail out and wait for mail back responses.
So all went smooth. We scheduled our wedding for a Friday, February 18th, because it was open (of course it was open, it is February in Buffalo!) and because everything was half price. With no time to plan and save, we were on a tight budget. Thursday February 17th, the night of the rehearsal, was lovely. It was actually 55 degrees outside and sunny! Things were looking up! Until we walked into the church... I was lucky enough to be a lifetime parishioner at Our Lady of Victory Basilica, a National Shrine built by Father Baker, who is now a candidate for Sainthood. Arguably one of the most beautiful and ornate churches in North America. But even national monuments strike a leak sometime.... like in February in Buffalo. What a better time to fix a leak? Nothing happens in February.... It is not first communion or wedding season..... And nobody will notice the HUGE SCAFFOLDING over the alter. What's the worse that can happen? I start thinking I should trade in my veil for a hard hat. But you know what.... I have a good sense of humor. It's just my wedding. And the ceremony only lasts an hour. It's beautiful outside, and all my friends will be at the reception. I will spend the whole day with friends and family!
8am - Friday February 18th. My wedding day. A blizzard strikes. The girl who was supposed to come to my house get's stuck in her driveway and is 2 hours late. My maid of honor is an hour late. Its all good. My wedding isn't until 4:00 (Friday night wedding), I have plenty of time, and the snow has hours to clear. Around noon the calls started coming in from semi-out of town guests saying they could not make it because the interstate is impassable, and then the calls from local relatives whose husbands just got called into work as snowplow drivers. That's okay. 160 people, a few missing is okay.
Everything could go wrong, as long as I look beautiful. The limo FINALLY gets to my house at 3:30 for my 4:00 wedding. My two bridesmaids, mother, and sisters file in. On my way to the limo, I slip in my white shoes and fall into a puddle of gray-ish brown slush. NOW I AM MAD. I spend the hour long limo ride with ice cubes trying to blot out the mud stain on my dress. Gosh, a hard drink would be great right now, but OH YEAH - I am 3 months pregnant and can't drink! The limo ride took an hour because we slid off the side of the road and had to be winched out. Thank goodness for men with 4 wheel drive SUV's with stupid toys on them!
Once I got to my 4:00 wedding at 4:40, everything went off without a hitch! The scaffolding covered alter was beautiful, the darkness masked the blizzard still going on outside, and the church was surprisinly full of poor fools who risked life and limb for a 5 hour open bar. After we said our "I do's" and shuffled down the aisle to create a receiving line, we were ushered out of the church for a 50th anniversary mass that was supposed to start at 5:30... our 40 minute late arrival had messed up the church's plans..... no problem, off to Romanello's we go for a BEAUTIFUL reception! And it was beautiful.... except for our photo nazi who wouldn't let us talk to any of our guests until he took all his pictures.... the roads were bad and he wanted to get out of there. He finally left us alone to socialize as the DJ started introducing the wedding party.
Luckily I made it to the head table unscathed, which is more than I can say for my Matron of Honor. You see, her dress had a beautiful train on it like mine... the perfect place for the Best Man to stand. As she was called to walk to the head table, her train and hence the whole rear end of her dress ripped off and stayed there beneath the foot of the best man..... What can I say, I spared no expense in entertaining my guests! Then of course the dancing began. One woman who came with my husband's friend, was missing half her top exposing more than I planned on exposing at the hotel that night, and went home with another one of my husband's friend provided the entertainment for the rest of the night.
Overall, it was a wonderful wedding! And so far the marriage has lasted 9 years, which is more than many of my friends who had picturesque weddings. Of course, then we have the story of the honeymoon…… the day after the wedding, which was once again, 60 degrees and sunny, and our terrible car crash on our way to Toronto, but that was another blog.....
