Monday, May 26, 2008

My VBFF

Mark and Francine

Twenty-nine years ago I married my Very Best Friend Forever! We had a large wedding -250 guests.

Oddly enough, that week was the beginning of The Energy Crisis and a few of our guests couldn't make the trip to Chicago for our wedding. Gas just went over $1/gallon and the cost was prohibitive. Oh, to have that problem these days

The church where we were married, St. Attracta's in Cicero, IL is no longer there. I wish I had more photos of the altar area, It was such a beautiful mosaic. I didn't want the ceremony disturbed and so instructed the photographer. I wish we had gone back in for photos. It was not possible, though, since our ceremony was at 3:30 PM and there was the five o'clock regular Mass right after.

Directly after the ceremony we headed back to my Mother's house for cold cuts and salads. All the cold cuts were donated by the butcher shop which was behind our house. Pat had known me since I was 6 and this was his gift to me. That was back in the days where you shopped locally and since we shared the alley with one of the main drags in town, it was REALLY local.

At 6 we headed to The Sabre Room in Hickory Hills IL. Ours was the first wedding held in the new addition. Just beautiful in there! At that time, many bridal couples left their reception early to start the Honeymoon. Not us! This was the biggest party we were ever going to throw and I was not going to miss one second of it. We didn;t have plans to go away, anyhow. We had decided to buy a stereo system instead. Had we gone away, I'd have only pictures. I still have that system!

Mark played 2/3 of the Reception with the Band and I circulated the room. This was not so different from what our lives were going to be anyway. It was the first time many of his relatives had heard him play.

The marriage is good and strong. To me, it's because of an old adage from my Father. One of the few he gave me:

Never lay your head on your pillow while angry. Stay up all night, if you must, but never sleep on anger! It seems to have worked


May 26,1979

My dress is still in a keepsake box, under my bed. Someday, it will be a Christening quilt for my first Grandchild. I'm fairly certain Robin will never wear it as I was considerably shorter than she is. I'm even shorter now (what's up with that anyway?)

4 comments:

Candi said...

You were a beautiful bride and your gown is goreous.
HUGZ:)

Unknown said...

Aaah, Frannie. Your pics and text brought a tear to my eye. You made a gorgeous bride and I'm so happy to hear that your marriage is a good one! Congratulations!

Natalie said...

I love a good walk down memory lane! And don't worry--I'm shrinking, too.

Susan said...

Love that dress! I can really see you in these pictures. Good to hear about the wedding - sounds like your dad's advice was the best thing he could have given you!