Musings on 30 Years of Marriage--6

As is true for most weddings, it was an exciting, hectic time for us as we got ready for the big day. Jan finished up her final year of her nursing program and took the state boards while planning the wedding. I finished up another quarter of school, and because of summer school the previous year was able to take the summer and the following fall off. So I left my part time janitorial job to work full time as a janitor at a local hotel. The hours were not great. I had to be to work at 5 or 6 in the morning. The job wasn't great, either. So I quit and went to work for my dad. To be honest, he paid us, but we didn't have to work all that hard.

Jan did a fantastic job of putting the wedding together. She bought her wedding dress off of a sale rack. We were married at Jan's church and the reception was put on by the women's circle of the church, consisting of cake, pillow mints, punch, coffee, and some pasta type salads.

For my bachelor party we went bowling. We did the usual rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. And finally, it was time for the main event.

Our wedding was to take place at 7 pm on Saturday, August 25, 1979. Plenty of time for me to be nervous! In the morning I went to my hair sculpture-er to have her nice up my hair (I used to have a full--too full--head of hair). I ended up looking like a goof-ball! We took most of our pictures before the wedding, which was fun and a bit grueling at the same time.

My Grandfather assisted our pastor in the ceremony. My brother Jeff's band provided the wedding music. My college room mate shared a few thoughts.

Jan looked absolutely fantastic. The music was awesome. The whole ceremony was great fun. (Looking back at some of the pics, years later, especially the candids, we noticed some of the signs of Alzheimer's that my Grandpa developed later in life!)

Even though Jan's mom had been hesitant about her daughter marrying a pastor, she and her husband were totally supportive of the wedding, the marriage, and made much in our early married life happen financially.

Video technology was new back then. But we tried it anyway. A huge big video deck and camera. But when we saw the tape, it was all blank!

After the ceremony we did the receiving line. All I wanted to do was go to the bathroom, and then sit down! But it was not to be.

After the reception we headed to Jan's house with friends and family to open gifts. We finally got to the hotel about 1 or 2 in the morning!

We stayed in Minneapolis on Sunday as we attended a concert that night featuring Andrae' Crouch. One memorable moment: Andrae announced at one point: We understand Bob Dylan is in the audience tonight. Welcome to the family! This was right after Dylan announced he was a Christian.

We spent Sunday night in our house (more on that later) and on Monday headed up to Northern Minnesota to stay at a condo owned by Jan's dad's company--a resort called, Quadna. The thing was, it was after season so everything at the resort was closed. There was nothing to do. The big event turned out to be our drive over to Duluth and the boat ride around the harbor looking at Ore boats! We were so bored we went home early. Not the honeymoon we hoped for, so we've been doing a honeymoon every year since then.

With the wedding and honeymoon over, it was time to be a married couple.