And within 20 minutes, I was obsessed with it.
And, soooo ….. because you asked — well, someone, somewhere, once, that I remember, asked for pictures of me, other than the ones with me in the throes of a messy drunken rage.
All right. So here ya go. Pictures — yes! — of me and My Beloved on our wedding day, circa: a dozen years ago. Why did I scan these? They were nearby in a box and I’m lazy.
(Oh, I cannot BELIEVE I’m doing this because, ugh — my HAIR! my DRESS! LORD!! I would change many, man-n-n-nny things about that day if I could. But first — my HAIR! my DRESS! OH, WHY GOD?? WHY??? HORRIFYING!!!!)
But — I’m sorry — My Beloved looks amazing! Commentary under photos.
I’m posing by my parents’ front door. There’s too much light behind me, so I look rather ghostly. I know you’re probably thinking, Huh. Seems to me like that giant HAIR HAT of hers coulda blocked out more of that light. Good thought. You know, really good thought.
My parents and me in the back yard. It looks like I’m talking. Yup, I’m probably talking. I always chatter nervously when my picture’s being taken. I do not like it — the chattering OR the picture-taking. Oh, and there’s my dad, being all hubba-hubba again. And mom looks so lovely.
The long-suffering man who married me in spite of my giant HAIR HAT. He is beautiful.
Oh, man. I choke up at this picture. Two of my most beloved faces in the world. This is one of my little flower girls. She’s 4 in this picture. I lived with her family — theatre friends of mine — for two years while MB and I were dating, so we all became like one big family, her parents, older sister, younger brother, and me. I LOVED those kids as if they were my own; we were all just so hopelessly devoted to each other. And those girls just LOVED My Beloved, too. Look at the expression on her face. They’re ‘dancing,’ but he’s just swept her up in his arms and she’s just holding him so so close. She looked at us like that the whole night, that look of total love and trust on her face. She was so excited when she found out we were getting married because she thought it meant that he was moving in with all of us. Oh, I can’t write about it anymore. Starting to choke. Just look at her. And him.
Staring at the floor?? My shoes?? A bug?? Head bowed from the weight of my giant HAIR HAT??
Hilarity ensuing. (Because of my giant HAIR HAT??) I just love that man.
You are stunning, tracey. You’re like an old-fashioned glamour girl. Beautiful face!! My main image of you has been, oh, a pouting 5 year old because that’s the only picture I had!!
And your Beloved is so handsome – what a smile.
Thanks so much for sharing these!!
You are a classic beauty!
My wife and I will be married 12 years this September — Woo Hoo for the (sometimes dirty) dozen!
I LOVE your wedding pictures! But I can relate to the dated hair/dress/thing. Although, my hair is so straight that it will never be big hair. ha.
Happy Birthday! Happy 12 years! (We just celebrated 13) Happy Big Hair! Lovely.
Oh, so beautiful – thank you! You look like a Bride – that’s the important thing. Your mom and dad, so handsome and lovely and so proud of you.
Are those enormous poufty sleeves we’re just glimpsing? Did you have a big butt-bow as well?
Fabulous.
Don’t get me started on your husband – those have always been my favorite kind of looks. In fact, he bears a more-than-glancing resemblance to Mr. Sal. Good taste, us.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! There’s Tracey! 🙂
I now have a (way fun) mental picture of you, you know, other than the screaming, mean ol’ drunk baby one.
Hee hee.
Gorgeous!
MB looks very sweet and funny and (what’s the word I’m looking for?) sneakily devious; as if he likes to play pranks and chase you around the house.
Very nice.
Hahaha, you guys! SO many explanations needed!!
First — My hair had never looked like that before. It’s never looked like that since. It was uh, *permed and highlighted* within an inch of its life. It’s the Madonna from “Dick Tracy” hair and at the time I liked it, but now I cringe. My hair is normally verrry straight and darker blonde.
Second — The dress. Uhhh, yes. It did have the dread poofy sleeves, but there was no — I tell you — NO butt bow. There were no beads. There was no lace. As a matter of fact, I had a costume designer friend rip all the beads off the bodice and replace it with velvet (winter wedding). She then took some of the velvet and kind of ruched it around the neckline with some added — get ready — white and gold paper roses. Yup.
Um, clearly, I was possessed by paper and poof.
The headpiece — AKA The Thing — well, let’s just say it was actually really hard to find something to go with my giant Hair Hat. The Thing also has white and gold paper flower accents.
My dress had PAPER on it, people! PAPER! I mean, I LOVE paper, but GOOD. LORD.
The shape of the dress was actually really flattering on me. The poof counterbalances the big boobins. Can I just go with that?
I’ll have to scan one where you can see the whole thing. I plead insanity, basically. I was under a wee bit of maternal pressure to have a certain kind of dress. THIS was actually a compromise. Coulda been so much worse. If you’d seen what I tried on for her that SHE wanted — coulda been SOOOOO much worse.
But would I wear this dress again? NO.
Would I have “Dick Tracy” Madonna hair again? NO.
Seriously, our engagement was a year — a YEAR — which I’d never recommend to anyone. The planning GETS to you, starts to wear down your relationship, especially when it’s that long and there are major inter-family tensions.
Now we always say if we could do it again, we’d elope and have a big party later.
Seriously. Very seriously.
Things were so tense between the families during our engagement (huge looong story) that we nearly did anyway. In a way, it was good because I began to care less and less for all the trappings. It crystalized things for me and I realized I wanted to be married to this man more than I wanted my dream dress or my dream this or my dream that.
I wanted that man. I wanted to be his wife. That was the only thing that ultimately mattered.
//I wanted that man. I wanted to be his wife. That was the only thing that ultimately mattered. //
sniff, sniff. You’re so lucky!
I have always dreamt of having a runaway elopement (especially now, as I am basically a spinster – and would NEVER submit to a long engagement, for fear that he would go up in a puff of smoke!! Nope: do it NOW before he de-materializes onto another plane!!). A spontaneous city-hall marriage sounds so cool to me – Almost did it once but then – the whole “spontaneous” thing and the whole “Uhm – you haven’t even met my parents” thing made us have second thoughts. I still kind of regret we didn’t just go for it.
Oh – and do NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED on the “butt bow” travesty. The “butt bow” is designed to widen the appearance of the derriere – and I just don’t get it!!
And I think a lot of brides get caught up in “dream this” or “dream that” and forget to – uhm – have fun?? On their own wedding day? It’s a blessing that the long=ness of your engagement allowed you to kind of get perspective on that stuff – I see so many brides (and I’ve been a bridesmaid for a few of ’em) completely lose touch with reality! HA!!
Oh – and awesome news about the scanner!!
The long engagement — NEVER do it, chippies!
We sorta “had” to because MB’s only sibling — a brother — lives overseas and we needed to give him enough warning so he could save those pennies and fly on over.
It was more necessity than choice.
And, red, you know, I imagine that everyone who knows you and loves you and reads you has sometimes wondered if there’s a man out there GOOD enough for you.
I see you like a giant treasure chest: you find it, open it, can’t believe your luck, your riches, and then you start to DIG deeper …. only to find that what’s underneath is even more rare and more radiant. And there are so many layers, so much mystery to explore! You are rich beyond your wildest imaginings.
That’s what you are to me. You need a man whose treasure matches yours. (If that doesn’t sound too cheesy.)
Years ago, right after Fiance #2 had broken my heart, a dear friend took me out to dinner. I was in total despair. I will never forgot what she said — so young and so wise, she was. She said to me:
“Tracey, if you thought S was THE one, your dream come true, and he’s not …. can you just IMAGINE the one God truly intends for you to have?”
She was so right. So so right.
tracey – thanks for saying all of that. 🙂 Time will tell, I suppose!
Love the pictures! It is so nice to put a face with the words.
Lovely and funny and gifted. Some people have all the luck!
And, Red, I always enjoy your blog and comments, too. I think Tracey is right on the money!
Yea Tracey!!! It’s you! Or at least you 12 years ago. Close enough! Better than the previous version in my mind! You are beautiful. The picture of your Beloved and the little girl is priceless.
My parents are wedding photographers and I distinctly documented the change in wedding dresses over the decades. Mine – perfect. And it cost $100. Perfect!
A year long engagement to the day. We share the same b-day. Kindred Spirits. Happy Birthday my California Twin!
But ASM, would you do that year-long thing again? Me, never.
I would SO elope. Definitely.
And everyone, thanks for all the wonderful comments. Too kind.
yeah. you’re right. We were saving for a house, so that part was good, but my mother sought to squelch any joy towards planning the big day, so it took away ALOT.
Yeah, I’m with ya.
Tracey I love the picture of you looking down; actually I love all of them, but that is a really lovely, striking photo. (On hair hat: I have curly hair that WILL NOT be straightened. I’m so ready for big hair to make a come back so I can be ‘in’ again.)