1981

Married

Julie and I had been planning to get married on November 7th for some time and we had talked about where to get married and had decided on Gainesville.  This was mostly out of consideration for me and my family which for the most part lived in Gainesville.  Julie’s parents were retired and living in Rehoboth Beach Delaware and she had a couple of aunts that lived in the DC area but otherwise didn’t have much family. Her sister Louise still lived in Coca beach after Julie moved in with me.  We had a few fairly good friends that we new from work, but for the most part the wedding was a show for my family, so Gainesville it was.  We wanted to keep the wedding small, a dozen people or so, and then invite more to the reception afterwards. Cost was a prime factor as I paid for the whole wedding and reception.  I don’t think it even came up about Julie’s parents paying for it, after all this was her second wedding, and I sure wasn’t going to ask my parents to pay for it.   

Initially the plan was to get married on Saturday, November 7th but the Florida Gators were playing Georgia on that day in Jacksonville, a game that Dad and Mom always went to with Betty and Billy.  Then the Gators had games every weekend in November, with the last game on Thanksgiving weekend so weekends in November were out so we decided to get married on Friday the 6th.  Football games were clearly more important than my wedding.

Minister giving me and my brother David last minute instrutions

While both my sisters got married at Westside Baptist Church which Mom and Dad still attended, neither Julie nor I were church goers, Julie was raised Catholic, but neither her nor I could be called religious, so Uncle Gary suggested we have the wedding at his and Diane’s house and we graciously accepted.  Not being at a church meant we had to find a minister for the ceremony and Uncle Gary came through again and asked his good friend Reverend Bill Shea, the minister at the Presbyterian Church that Gary attend, to do the ceremony.  Rev. Shea had Julie and I meet with him they day before and he asked us a few questions, but he was fine performing the wedding.

The problem with a large family is once you start inviting one, it quickly leads to having to ask others. Grandma Junior and Grandma Mixson were a must.  Being at Uncle Gary’s house meant then inviting all the aunts and uncles: Cork and Connie, Sue and Jim, Carol and Dick, and Dixie. Of course, there was my parents and Julie’s parents. Julie’s sister was made of honor and my brother David was best man.  Julie’s daughter was a flower girl.  Throw a couple of cousins in and we managed to keep it under 20. 

Singer with Uncle Gary in back

It was a simple ceremony, a guitar player played “The Wedding Song” as people gathered in Gary’s living room.   I took my place at the front next to Rev. Shea, and the guitar player played “Here Comes The Bride” as Julie walked across the living room looking absolutely beautiful in her wedding dress.  Rev. Shea had us pretty much say standard vows which Julie and I repeated, we were wed, kissed and it was over.   The only mishap was that when Julie was getting ready in Gary and Diane’s bedroom she spilt some fingernail polish remover on Diane’s dresser which took off the finish in the spot.  Julie felt terrible about it for years afterwards.

After the wedding, we all moved to the reception that was at the club house of the Forest of the Unicorn condominiums where Grandma Junior lived. A dozen or so more people came to the reception where we had hors d'oeuvres, punch and lots of champagne while the guitar player played and sang.   After the cake cutting and pictures taken, Julie and I got into my white chariot (my Chevy van) and drove to The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach for our wedding night. Having only seen the Breakers from the ocean side while diving for lobster, I was quite impressed with it. Having told them it was our honeymoon, they had flowers and a bottle of champagne waiting for us in our room.   Julie’s sister stayed at out house and took care of Anne while we were gone.

The following day we drove to Miami where we boarded the Sun Viking cruise ship for a five day cruise with stops in Jamacia, Grand Caymen and Cozumel.  At dinner on the ship we sat at the Honeymooners table with four other newlywed couples. In Jamaica we went on a bamboo raft trip down a river which was quite scenic.  In Grand Caymen we just walked around town and did some shopping.  In Cozumel we went snorkeling off the beach then after returning to the ship to change, we walked into the town only to find most everything was closed as it was siesta time when, in the middle of the afternoon heat, most shops closed for a couple of hours.  We still had a good time looking around. 

Florida lost to Georgia 21 to 26 that Saturday after our wedding.  Mom said that Dad wasn’t all that happy about it but said they had a good time going to Jacksonville for the game with Betty and Billy.  The Gators made up for it on Thanksgiving weekend when they put a womping on Florida State beating them 35 to 3.

After our honeymoon we returned back to Melbourne and work at Harris.  Julie and Anne were already living with me, having moved in several weeks before we got married after Julie’s lease expired on the house she and her sister rented together.  

Click to see more pictures of wedding and honeymoon

Christmas