The bride was breathtaking and I have the pictures to prove it!

Yesterday my daughter's wedding day finally arrived!  I have a few photos that someone took and posted to Facebook, so I'm going to post them here.


The rehearsal on Friday night went smoothly.  A funny moment was when the parents had to go up on the altar and each light tapered candles.  So Gene and Jane (parents of the groom) and Greg (my ex) and I walk up the steps to the altar.  The priest tells Greg and me that we should be showing love and affection as we do this.  I turn to the nun who is helping with rehearsal and say, "Doesn't Father know that we're divorced??"  Later on, Father tells us to act like we know each other!  LOL!!  Too funny!


Rehearsal dinner was good!  Hot roast beef sandwiches and baked ziti with meatballs and salad.  Fresh fruit, cheese and pepperoni  and crostini as appetizers.  One of Gina's friends made a really fun cake out of Tastycake tandytakes! (if you're from the greater Philadelphia area, you'll "get" this!)   What fun!


We woke up early on Wedding Day because all the bridesmaids, the bride, the flower girl and mother of the groom had appointments to get their hair done.  My daughter, Dani, just finished hairdressing school, so she did Gina's hair.  The salon owner was kind enough to give Dani a station to work while the others were getting their hair done. I did my own hair since it's so short.  


We got back to the house for lunch and to get ready for the wedding.  I kept my cool all the while Gina was getting her makeup done and getting dressed.  Her Dad showed up around 2 pm, took one look at her in  her gown and started crying.  YES!!  He cried before I did!  Gina asked me to get a box out of the closet and bring it down, and THAT'S when I lost it!  When Gina was Christened, someone gave her a hankie, sewn into the shape of a bonnet, with a poem attached.  She was supposed to wear the bonnet at her Baptism, and then, when she was getting married, to carry it on her wedding day (ok, I'm getting all filled up just typing this!).  I saved the hankie for Gina all these years, and when she got engaged last year, I gave it to her, in the original box!  Then I forgot all about it.  So, when I got the box out of the closet, I just lost it!  So silly to be affected by something silly like that!


An amusing incident.  I bought my shoes and bag at DSW.  On Saturday morning, I showed the shoes to Jane (mother of the groom).  She informs me that she has the exact shoes in silver!  A few hours later, when Greg and Pam are at the house and I'm putting my shoes on, Pam tells me that she was going to buy those exact shoes in silver but chose another pair instead! And all of our dresses coordinated too.  I wore light blue, Jane wore dove gray and Pam wore dark blue and it was a complete coincidence!

Click on the pictures to enlarge them

 My son is escorting me down the aisle.  

The ceremony went off without a hitch.  The church is just lovely and Gina's good friend, Morgan cantored the wedding and she did a magnificent job!  Morgan has a gorgeous voice!  I guess Greg and I showed enough love and affection because Father seemed pleased with our performance at the candle lighting ceremony.  Hahaha!!!

 Here comes the bride!

 Gina with her dad, going down the aisle

 my daughter, Dani, a bridesmaid

the bridesmaids

I did get a little tickle from something.  At rehearsal, only people directly involved in the wedding ceremony were permitted to be there, so Greg's wife wasn't there.  Greg was sitting with me in the pew.  On the day of the wedding, she sat in the row behind us and he went into a bit of a panic because he didn't know whether to sit with me or sit with her.  He sat with me.  Hehehehe  I think if John was there, sitting in my pew with me, Greg would have sat with her.  But John chose not to go to the wedding (the jerk).

 saying their vows

 the deal is done, and sealed with a kiss!

lighting the Unity Candle

The reception was held at the Clarion Hotel (Greg worked there as the food and beverage director when Gina was a baby, so we got some extra special treatment.)  Open bar for 5 hours, sit down dinner, good food, drinks were flowing.  The featured drink of the bride and groom was a Lemon Drop Martini.  I think I had 6 of them!  They were yummy!!  They must have been weak ones because I never got even close to being drunk!  I felt fine all night, although I would not have gotten behind the wheel of a car.


The DJ was AWESOME!!  Her name is Jenny Z and she sometimes works at the radio station where Gina and Gene work.  Jenny mostly works at a sister station in Maryland since it's closer to her home than Wilmington, but she has a DJ business on the side.  I was very happy when Gina told me that Jenny was working her wedding!  Some of the other DJs were there as guests.  


A friend of Gina's made the cake.  The cake topper was the bride and groom high-5-ing each other.  My daughter, Dani spied the cake in the corner and realized the bride and groom were standing side by side on top of the cake, in what looks like a Nazi salute (Heil Hitler!)!!!  She quickly found a server and asked her to fix it!  I wonder if anyone got a "before" shot?  By the way, the cake was scrumptious!!!  Bibi did a fantastic job!

 this wedding cake was yummy!

 a close-up of the topper

she got him good!

When it came time to throw the bouquet and garter,  not sure how it happened, but the ring bearer and the flower girl were the big winners!!!  Hahaha!!!  Patrick put the garter on Leah's arm! 

the bouquet and the garter

The reception lasted until 11 pm.   We had 17 rooms booked for overnight guests.  The bar was scheduled to close at 9 pm (apparently Saturday is the slowest night of the week).  Greg slipped the general manager some dough and asked her to open the bar for the overnight guests, and they did!  We had that place filled and hopping until the wee hours of the morning!  The father of the bride got rather drunk, and I'm happy to say I never did!  He had to go to bed, which was disappointing because he was paying for my drinks!  I still did my fair share of drinking (Captain Morgan and Diet Coke) and even did 2 shots (I NEVER do shots!)!  My son bought me a Mind Eraser (kahlua, vodka and club soda), and my niece's fiance (and our wedding photographer) bought me a Dirty Girl Scout (vodka, Kahlua, Baileys and white creme de menthe)  It tasted like a thin mint!  I finally went to my room around 2:30 am. 

 these were taken with my cell phone.

Gina and me!

my favorite son-in-law and me!  

 my daughter, Dani and me!

my son, Tim and me!

Gina and Gene had the Bridal Suite for the night.  This morning she messaged me to come downstairs for breakfast.   And Gene called me Mom.  It made my day!   And on Monday, they leave for a week-long honeymoon in Aruba!

Six Word Saturday

Family Christmas Party at Peggy's house!

Today is our annual Family Christmas Party.  We always have it at my sister's house, since she has the most room and we have a BIG family!  If everyone showed up, there would be 49 of us there!  This is just my siblings, their spouses, kids and, in some cases, grandkids!  As it is, I think there will be about 10 people missing.  However, my 4 brothers and 3 sisters are all supposed to be in attendance!  It's our kids who are busy getting lives and are unable to attend.  They will be missed, but we'll still have a great time! 


Want to try your own Six Word Saturday? Go see Cate at Show My Face and link up!

And I thought Saturday night was going to be dull

I worked hard on Saturday. Santa came to our mall on Saturday, so we were busy!!  Yahoo!   No time to even sit down for a few minutes, never mind getting something to eat.  Such is life in the restaurant biz, and I'd much rather be too busy to eat than have time to sit down and enjoy a meal.  Being able to sit down to eat means I'm not making money.  So I made good money on Saturday.  Lucky for me, I'm in the habit of taking my tip money out each night and putting it in a jar until I take it to the bank.


I was really looking forward to going home, taking off my shoes, putting my feet up and having something delivered for dinner.  Tim (my son) had ordered Ironman 2 on Netflix and it was sitting there, on my TV, waiting for John and me to watch it.  It was going to be a nice, lazy Saturday night.


Then I remembered I had a prescription for Metformin waiting for me to pick up at Walmart, and I was out of Metformin.  So we decided a little road trip was in order and a stop at Boston Market for dinner. 


We weren't in Walmart very long.  No line at the Pharmacy counter.  Got my Rx and a few other things and headed out.  I saw a couple I wait on at Fridays all the time and was chatting with them on the way out the door, so I was distracted.


A woman with a little girl asked me if I dropped my wallet (it was in my hoodie pocket that wasn't very deep).  I check.  Oh shit!  I did!!  She says well, that man (and she's pointing to a man and woman, pushing a stroller and the man is wearing a yellow sweatshirt) picked it up and put it in his pocket. 


"Excuse me, sir, did you pick up a wallet?"  


"No, ma'am, I didn't."


"Well, I dropped my wallet and that lady said you picked it up and put it in your pocket."


He shows me his wallet and says, "I have no other pockets."


John says,  "get his license number and call the police."  I asked John to get the license while I call the police.


A few minutes later, a very nice (and cute) policeman arrived.  I tell him what happened and let him know that John (aka My Hero)  went after them to get their license number.  But they didn't go to a car.  They were walking.  So I called John to find out where he is.  He says he's still following them, all the way  across the shopping center, they went into a Wendy's, stayed for a minute and then left.  Now he's following them across the road and they are heading into town.


The policeman called for another car to stop these folks and as luck would have it, there's a car right by the park and they are walking right by the park!!  Policeman #2 stops them and questions them.   They don't know what he's talking about!!  My policeman says, "They are black, right?"  "No", I say, "they're white."  He says, "Well, Police #2 is talking to a black couple."  (huh??)  Turns out, they have their hoods up and it's dark outside and they look dark-skinned in the night, but they're definitely white.  AND John's had eyes on them the entire time!


So, Police #1 goes to where they are (I'm waiting at Walmart) and tells them he's going to retrieve security footage from outside of Walmart and if he's lying, he's going to be arrested.  He says he never picked up a wallet.  He picked up what looked like a cell phone case but he threw it away.   Police get their info and sends them on their way, telling them they'll be in touch.


In the meantime, John (still carrying our Walmart bags!) is heading back to me.  He stopped in at Wendy's and, lo and behold, there is my wallet, on the counter!!  Someone (gee!  I wonder who??) turned it in, said she found it in the parking lot!  So the Police #1 and #2 (this is starting to sound like Dr. Seuss!) and me all drive over to Wendy's.  


Police #1 asked me if I want to press charges.  I'm  happy to get my wallet back, with my license and my check card and my one credit card.  I was going to let it go.  Police man says, "Well, this isn't the first time this guy is in trouble.  He's on probation."  and John says, "If you don't press charges, the next time, it might be a little old lady who just cashed her social security check."   That did it for me.


Ok, let's press charges!  So, nice cute Policeman #1 is going to contact Walmart today, get a copy of their surveillance tape, review it and arrest this creep who saw me drop my wallet, pick it up, deny to me that he had it, lie to the police that he had it and in a month or so, we're going to court.


And I thought I'd have nothing to write about on Sunday morning!