Backstory: Getting Married
On Boxing Day (26 December) just passed Gary and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary.
In 1989 we had already been living 'together' for a few years - together being a trick term since with our air force postings we weren't actually often on the same base, nor were we generally even in the same island. About 1987 the air force brought in a new rule which made it possible for Gary and I to apply to be accepted as a de facto married couple despite not being able to get posted to the same base. My application (identical to his) was rejected out of hand; his was passed up and up and up the chain of command until it reached somebody who could approve it - and further, somebody who could say: "These two have to be at the same base. Make it happen."
And that's how we both got posted to the same air force base (in Christchurch), given an air force house, and told to get on with our married lives. (Never mind that we were later on different bases for another 9 years - that's an entirely different story.)
When we eventually decided to get married we chose a small wedding at my parents' home in Palmerston North. We would have it on Boxing Day since we would be travelling up for Christmas anyway. On Christmas Eve we missed our flight from Christchurch to Palmerston North and - not surprisingly - there weren't many other options. We could get a flight as far as Wellington, which was two hours from Palmerston North but at least it was in the right island. My brother, Blair, volunteered to drive down and pick us up from the last flight of the night into Wellington.
Blair was only a young chap, still living at home, and when he borrowed my parents' car (as he did that evening) he was notorious for returning it with an empty tank. Not long after we started on the journey to Palmerston North we noticed that the fuel warning light was on and tried to convince him to fill up before the petrol stations closed for the night. (Yeah, they used to do that!) But no! He knew exactly how far he could go on that warning light and so while Gary and I worried about running out of petrol Blair just ignored all our suggestions and offers to pay and kept driving through the night. That car trip turned out to be far more memorable than missing our flight - though my mum had quite a bit to say about our poor record with flights. (Hawaii - also another story.)
Wedding went off without a hitch. Present were: Mum & Dad, Aunty Irene (Mum's twin sister) & Uncle Ron, Blair, and Aunty Jos (neighbour all our lives). And Gary and myself. Plus the celebrant, briefly. The photos were taken by Mum and Dad on their camera - with the exception of one which the celebrant very kindly took of the entire wedding group.
What brought this to mind? Gary's been looking for some lost maps and has been going through the piles and piles of papers in the four four-drawer filing cabinets and came across two of our four or five wedding photos. And I've scanned one in:
The cakes are side-by-side heart shaped cakes that my dad made. (Somebody else iced.) They are based on the cakes my parents had at their wedding.
Awesome wedding. Twenty-five years ago. Doesn't seem like that long.
~ ~ ~
In 1989 we had already been living 'together' for a few years - together being a trick term since with our air force postings we weren't actually often on the same base, nor were we generally even in the same island. About 1987 the air force brought in a new rule which made it possible for Gary and I to apply to be accepted as a de facto married couple despite not being able to get posted to the same base. My application (identical to his) was rejected out of hand; his was passed up and up and up the chain of command until it reached somebody who could approve it - and further, somebody who could say: "These two have to be at the same base. Make it happen."
And that's how we both got posted to the same air force base (in Christchurch), given an air force house, and told to get on with our married lives. (Never mind that we were later on different bases for another 9 years - that's an entirely different story.)
When we eventually decided to get married we chose a small wedding at my parents' home in Palmerston North. We would have it on Boxing Day since we would be travelling up for Christmas anyway. On Christmas Eve we missed our flight from Christchurch to Palmerston North and - not surprisingly - there weren't many other options. We could get a flight as far as Wellington, which was two hours from Palmerston North but at least it was in the right island. My brother, Blair, volunteered to drive down and pick us up from the last flight of the night into Wellington.
Blair was only a young chap, still living at home, and when he borrowed my parents' car (as he did that evening) he was notorious for returning it with an empty tank. Not long after we started on the journey to Palmerston North we noticed that the fuel warning light was on and tried to convince him to fill up before the petrol stations closed for the night. (Yeah, they used to do that!) But no! He knew exactly how far he could go on that warning light and so while Gary and I worried about running out of petrol Blair just ignored all our suggestions and offers to pay and kept driving through the night. That car trip turned out to be far more memorable than missing our flight - though my mum had quite a bit to say about our poor record with flights. (Hawaii - also another story.)
Wedding went off without a hitch. Present were: Mum & Dad, Aunty Irene (Mum's twin sister) & Uncle Ron, Blair, and Aunty Jos (neighbour all our lives). And Gary and myself. Plus the celebrant, briefly. The photos were taken by Mum and Dad on their camera - with the exception of one which the celebrant very kindly took of the entire wedding group.
What brought this to mind? Gary's been looking for some lost maps and has been going through the piles and piles of papers in the four four-drawer filing cabinets and came across two of our four or five wedding photos. And I've scanned one in:
The cakes are side-by-side heart shaped cakes that my dad made. (Somebody else iced.) They are based on the cakes my parents had at their wedding.
Awesome wedding. Twenty-five years ago. Doesn't seem like that long.
~ ~ ~