Hey! I Could Do That. Of Course, I Could. And I SHOULD!

The glimmer of an idea always seems so possible. So doable. Soooo easy. But, it rarely is. Not that the idea wasn’t a good one. It probably was. However, most good ideas don’t often end up being easy to bring to fruition. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t worthwhile; it probably was. And, when it’s all completed, we’re thrilled it’s done.

And that’s how I feel.

The first good idea-Ten years ago, I had this notion. We’d been married for 40 years. Kevin and April had been married for 10 years. And Jeremy and Sarah had been married for 5 years. I thought we should document these milestones.

One afternoon, when both sons and both daughters-in-law were with us at our house,  I said: “We should all put on our wedding duds and have photos made. Don’t you think?” Both girls, as well as I, still had our wedding dresses.

“And,” I said, “we can probably find the same kind of tuxes that you guys wore. And,” I went on, “I’ll pay for the tuxes and I’ll pay to have the wedding dresses cleaned when we’re done.”

The Before Photos:

It took a little bit of explaining, and encouragement, but, at last, everyone agreed. The guys’ measurements were taken, and I took them, as well as several photos of each of them, in their wedding garb, to the tuxedo rental place. A couple of adjustments needed to happen, but, for the most part, the tuxedo people made everything work.  We went to our church on a Saturday morning, where, dressed in our wedding best, we posed. The Welcome Center is a lovely space, and I had asked a church friend, who was a photographer, to please come to take the pictures. We posed, in pairs, in a big group, just girls, just guys, girls with guys.

One of the After Photos

I used some of the photos for our Christmas card the next year. And that’s how the next part happened.

A friend of mine, who had gotten our card that Christmas, thought it was a nice idea, and she put it aside, thinking that she might make a similar plan in a few years.

When she and her husband were celebrating their 50th anniversary, she made cards that had a photo from their own wedding day and a present-day picture of them. She sent them to the people who were in their wedding party, and some additional friends. I got one.

And I had another idea.

I am my mother’s daughter. I, like her, don’t really like a big fuss or a big to-do. When my parents’ 50th anniversary approached, she very specifically said, “No big party.” So, we all (our family, my sister’s family, and a couple of Mother’s sisters and a brother-in-law) went to Salado, Texas, for a nice lunch. Very low key. Very much what my mother felt comfortable with.

This was my 50th wedding anniversary idea: I would find photos from our wedding that included a variety of people. And, I would send the people who were part of the planning, the showers, the luncheon, and the reception, and just being there that day, a photo that included them, along with a note that said, “Thanks for being part of our special day!” I made sure to include our names and the date, in case our friends and family members had lost track of what had happened, and, for some, maybe who we were.

You can send 4×6 inch photos in the mail, like a post card. Write a message on the left side of the photo’s back, write the address on the right side, put a postcard stamp on it, and off it goes. I was able to put the photos on the Walgreen’s site, where I could crop the photos and adapt the older 3×3 inch photos into 4×6 ones.

Amazingly, I was able to locate the man who was the officiant at the wedding. He lives in a nearby town, and is a retired pastor. We’re Facebook friends now.

If I couldn’t find a photo of someone who was present, I’d send this photo to them.I was careful to put my return address on each card, and sure enough, one photo postcard got returned. I’d had the wrong address. So, I’m guessing all the rest of the cards got sent to the proper people.

One of my favorite photos was the one of my dad walking me down the aisle. (That photo is in the group of photos above.) As I was looking through all the photos, I realized that the woman who is to the right of my dad is a neighbor. When I was about eleven, she and her husband and toddler daughter moved in two houses down from our house. The house where David and I now live. They had three more kids. She’s a widow now, but family lives close enough that she sees them often. I walked a copy of that photo down to her a couple of weeks ago. She’s still quite spry, and we had a great visit.

I’ve enjoyed all the parts of all the plans. I loved the anniversary dress-up photo shoot. I liked going through my wedding book and finding the photos of people who were involved in the wedding plans and preparations, and the people who came to one, or more, of the weddings.  I read through all the names of folks who signed the guest book, so very many who are gone now. I got a few responses from people, which was nice. And, re-remembering.

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

John 2:1-11 (New International Version)

Now, there’s a wedding.

This was our first apartment. We lived here for the first two years we were married, while David was in the Air Force. I’ve Googled this place recently; it’s not pink any more. And there’s an air conditioner in one of the windows! What luxury!

We found this postcard at a drug store, I think, and we purchased all the copies. It was meant to showcase the new, fabulous, indoor mall, which had scores of stores. Our interest was in the small residential area off to the left. This was an older card, as, since it’s printing,  a very large hotel had been built, which would have blocked the sightline of that residential area. But, it didn’t, at the time the photo was shot, so, if you looked hard, you could see our pink apartment.