The Wedding
David had to work until around 1-00pm on the Wednesday of our wedding. (Imagine that. Having to work on your wedding day! I hope that everyone who asked me a question that day and made me late feels really, really bad!) I tidied the apartment and put things out of reach of the cat and dog. They have become quite a team; the things Sam can't reach, Jackie will jump up and push down for him. I was packed and ready when David arrived home. He had picked up the rings and my flowers on his way. I had arranged for a pet sitter to come that evening and the following morning to feed, water and check on Sam and Jackie while we were away. I sincerely pitied the poor man for the task ahead of him. We love our "kids" but only as parents can! (Er, the dog had not at that point quite figured out that holding it is a virtue. The pet sitter later left a note wondering how so much er, stuff can come out of such a small dog.)
We got going around 2-00pm. It was a later start than we had planned (Man, am I a dedicated employee or what!) and David was quite anxious to get on the road. I am not sure whether it was nerves or just the fact that he didn't want to get there late! We made very good time all except for Austin (death to all motorists in Austin!), where the peak hour traffic held us up for close to half an hour. It took us just under five hours to reach San Antonio and only one tank of gas. (Who would have figured I could sail the barge all the way to San Antonio on just 20 gallons? Heck, who would have figured the barge would make it to San Antonio period?)
We stopped and called the Reverend along the way to confirm the ceremony and also to put the time back half an hour. (Dedicated employee.) At first he had forgotten all about it. He gave David quite a fright! (Fright? Fright nothing! You travel 5 hours to get married and have the preacher forget who you are!) But he soon remembered (with a bit of prompting) who we were (he was asleep when I called and apparently a bit groggy) and it was all arranged.
We arrived at the Victorian Lady Inn just after 7-00pm. It was an 1838 mansion that had been restored and turned into a bed and breakfast. It was so charming. They gave us a key to the front door and told us that there were complimentary sodas and wine (yeah!) in the dining room. Our room was on the very top floor and had been converted from a loft. It was just lovely. The bathroom was long and narrow and had a peaked ceiling. Right at the end of the bathroom was a huge double sized bathtub. As soon as David was dressed and readly I sent him downstairs to wait for me. I didn't want him to see me until I was completely into "bride" mode. Up until this point I had been fine; no nerves. But once I began getting dressed I couldn't stop shaking. I put on my stockings, dress, shoes and then put the flowers in my hair. I picked up my bouquet and began the walk down to David. (Now, I was all worried that I wouldn't be at the base of the stairs when she came down and would miss her big entrance. Luckily for me she was so nervous that she slammed the door and made a beautiful, if not somewhat noisy, descent down the stairs.) My legs were so shaky I was afraid I would fall down the three flights of stairs. Luckily I managed to keep them steady enough to reach the bottom where David was waiting. He suggested a glass of wine before we left. (Remember guys, liquoring 'em up makes 'em more agreeable to marryin') and considering my nerves, I thought that a good idea. As we were leaving, some of the other guests were on the porch waiting for us. They congratulated us and gave us their best wishes. (And commented profusely how beautiful a bride she made; pictures will be forthcoming.)
We were running a little late, (not my fault, not my fault!) but I tried to point out that it was tradition for the bride to be late. It just so happened that the groom had to be late too as he was driving the bride to the place where they were to be married! We drove downtown to the Marriott hotel and I went inside to find the Reverend while David parked the car. (God was on my side this time, I didn't get lost once driving to the hotel. I did however lock my keys in the car.) He had been waiting a little while and was starting to get worried about us. A lady who worked in the bar at the Marriott came over and asked me if I was getting married that night. I told her that I was. I must have been so obviously shaking because she gave me a hug and told me not to be so nervous. She also asked me if I needed a shot! (Which she turned down!?!)
When David arrived we all sat down at the table while the Reverend filled out the marriage certificate. His wife was there to capture everything on video. The Reverend told us that the reason he was sitting down while he waited for us was because getting out of the car when he arrived he had split his pants! He was a rather large fellow. Some guests of the hotel stopped and asked if we were getting married and when. When we told them, they asked if we would mind if they watched us from their balcony. We walked out to the spot by the riverwalk that the Reverend had chosen. It was perfect. It was up above the riverwalk under a big oak tree. The two couples we had spoken to a little while before decided to watch us at a closer distance than from their balcony. They asked if we needed witnesses, which of course, we did. They introduced themselves to us and the women showed me that they had found some coloured (*notice funny Australian way of spelling things) eggs from Easter displays which had confetti inside them. They would throw that over us at the end of the ceremony. (We were picking confetti out of our hair and clothes till the next day.)
The Reverend started with a surprise for us; he sang us a song. It was lovely, kind of funny and drew quite a crowd. (And here I thought I was going to have a small, quiet ceremony.) The ceremony was beautiful. I thought I was doing well, but close to the end I could feel a few tears welling up in my eyes. (I think I stepped on her toes.) My legs were still kind of weak, but I did manage to stay standing. David was the epitome of calm! Although, he did tell me later that his knees were shaking a little at one point. (Hey, so I'm not used to standing at attention!) When it came time for the Reverend to ask, "And who gives this woman...." our group of witnesses all called out, "We do!" One of the husbands took photos for us. While the Reverend was reading part of the ceremony, a small spider fell onto his jacket from the tree. (Which now my Mother tells me is good luck.) I tried not to focus on it as it scuttled across and down his jacket. (I thought about squashing it at one point, but figured it would appear rather odd for me to hit the Reverend during the ceremony.)
The ceremony was quite a good length. (No kidding! He told us earlier 10 minutes. 10 minutes my foot! The guy was the bloomin' Energizer Bunny of wedding preachers. When we finally got to the "I do's" I was thinkin' "All right! The kissin' part is just around the corner, but nooooo. It seemed like another 10 minutes till that part came around. Sheesh!) It wasn't as quick as I thought it was going to be. It couldn't have been more perfect or beautiful. Our witnesses threw the confetti over us and then came over to hug and congratulate us. There was also a young couple from Mexico who did the same. (Man, sure wish I had taken Spanish instead of Latin. Does anyone know what " Bete gringos cutre" means?) They gave us their business card and said for us to write to them and they would send us copies of the photos they had taken. We were so lucky to have had such lovely people there witnessing our marriage.
After it was all done, we went back to the car to put the bouquet and the camera there. When we got there, we discovered that in his haste, David had locked the keys in the car! Luckily he had a spare key in his wallet. (Burned once, twice shy!) We went back and walked around the riverwalk for awhile. Every now and then someone would pass us and give us congratulations. Apparently we had quite an audience! We were starting to get quite hungry, so we went back up to the Marriott and asked if there were any restaurants still open at that hour. The lady there said that we could sit out on their balcony and they would make us something from their restaurant. We sat overlooking the river. Everone had been so nice and so helpful. The Marriott gave us all our drinks on the house. (Yeah! In fact, since we got some free stuff and everyone was so nice because we got married, we've decided to go get married in Orlando next week and perhaps San Diego the week after that!)
We went back to the bed and breakfast. We sat in the dining room and enjoyed a glass of wine before retiring to our room. The whole place had such a warm, welcoming feeling about it. We were both so glad that we stayed there rather than some hotel. It was far more special. Once we got back up to our room, David insisted on carrying me over the threshold. After changing from our "wedding" clothes, we lay down and watched TV for awhile. After all, we don't have cable at home! On our way home the following day, we decided to visit the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. It was an African safari style park where the animals roam free and you drive through in your car. We bought an extra bag of food pellets and set off on our way. A familiar sight to me was the emus. They came up to the car and looked quite daunting. That is until we spotted the ostriches! Those guys make emus look like chickens!!! (Remember Jurassic Park? Think Velociraptor.)
We threw some food out the windows for them. At one point, I was looking over to David's side at the ostrich there, when I heard the clicking of a large beak on my side of the car. I turned to see this huge bird's head inside the car and reaching into the bag of food I had sitting in my lap. Apparently, he had grown tired of waiting for me to give him some, so he thought he would help himself. David was laughing hysterically and saying that I should get a photo. Taking photos at that very moment was the last thing on my mind! We managed to get the ostrich out of my lap and we drove further along. (Tip #1. When attacked by giant chickens, quickly roll up your window on their scrawny necks and hit the gas!) They seemed to be coming from everywhere! (Jurassic Park.) And to see a couple of those things running towards you is not something that fills the heart with delight! Eventually, we made it out alive of the ostrich area. There were a lot of deer, antelope and elk type creatures. (Had we bought the guide book I guess we would have known what they were.) One particularly large and friendly fellow came over to my side of the car and enjoyed the food and the patting. He did have one fault; he liked to lick the pellets out of my hand, leaving long, spindly trails of deer spit. Again David was laughing, that is until the animal came around to his side a little further along and did the same thing to him! (Yuck!)
We encountered some huge Buffalo. The first one came to David's window. He put his giant head into the car and then rolled out what must have been the longest tongue I have ever seen. David was trying to figure out how to give him a pellet. He ended up just placing it on the creature's tongue and then the Buffalo just pulled his tongue back in. (Very efficient and tidy, if not somewhat disgusting.) The next Buffalo had an entirely different way of taking food. Again he put his head into the car, (just a quick note here, but have you ever had a buffalo's head in your car? No? Well trust me, it's just a tad bit on the humongous side. And, try convincing him that its time to leave.) but this time he just opened his mouth and waited for the food to be thrown in. (Which was much more civilized than the previous chap, except...) Whilst doing this, he left masses of Buffalo dribble down the inside of the car door. (He had a slight salivation problem.)
All the animals, (with the exception of the attack of the killer ostriches!) were so gentle. Even ones as large as the Buffalo. As we were leaving we saw another animal which reminded me of home—Wallabies. (Think small Kangaroos.) We washed the remaining creature spit from our hands and then we started on our journey back home. And to tell the parents about our elopement!!!! (Ah, now we're talkin' fun!) It was a long drive home.
Angel and David Morton.