Our Wedding

This is a story that needs to be told, for laughs especially.

Jay and I had become engaged on the 3rd of July and set our Wedding for the 1st of August, 1947. It was a Friday night. Both of us had to work that day, which made for a crowded time to get so many things done. I left work after lunch and went straight to town to get gifts for the girls who were part of the Wedding Party. Namely Betty Peacock who took care of the Brides Book, Teresa Lessa (who a year later became Mrs. Robert Hildebrand) and Betty Powers (who later became Mrs. Chet Schuster.) Teresa was the maid of honor and Betty sang "Because" before the ceremony.

I believe I have told about why we were married in the Huntington Park Stake Center, so I won't cover that part of it again. Just those things that happened before and following the Wedding.

We had hired a friend of someone we worked with named "Cass" to take the wedding pictures.
She came early, as did I, and we got some great pictures of me getting ready in the Brides Room.
She got some swell pictures of the guest arriving, and at the Gift Table.

Jay had been hosted at a Bachelor Party the night before and had a "hang over" like you wouldn't believe. Though he denied it, I was told on good authority, he was willing to give anyone $20.00 to "hijack" him. No one took him up on his offer however. All the fellas he had gone to school with were there. Paul Minnic, Doug Hazelton, Chuck Reeder to name a few. Clyde Ropp was to be there, but he and his girl friend "Cokie" Roberts took advantage of the opportunity by driving to Las Vegas and getting married a few hours after Jay and I tied the knot.

Before the Wedding, the organizers at the Church kept dragging Doug Hazelton into the Church to take his place as the groom. Apparently the close resemblence of Jay and Doug was troublesome, at least to Doug. Bob Hildebrand was Jays Best Man, no one could have confused Bob with anyone else. Teresa kept too close an eye on Bob for that I suppose.

It wasn't that big a Wedding. We didn't want too big a group. I believe most attending were friends from work and Jays family. We didn't have much of a family in California to come. When
the ceremony was over everyone retired to the Patio where the cake was cut. One of the pictures show Jay and I confused. Neither one of us had the slightest idea how to go about cutting a Wedding Cake. We were finally instructed what was proper and did a fare job at it I guess.

As we left the Church Mother handed me her "overnight case". She had a few things she thought I might need. (As mentioned before we had an Apartment a month before the Wedding
that we had hosted a number of "Poker Parties" and "Hen Fests".) The sight of that Case put a damper on the fun that had been planned. Friends had planned a "Shiveree". Jay and I were so broke we couldn't have planned a honeymoon any place but our Apartment, which neither of us had stayed in that whole month. We had moved our things in, but that was the extent of it. Our Wedding Presents had been placed there, at least the ones we received before the Wedding. Mom and Dad took those from the Wedding home for us picked up later.

The Wedding Party went to the "Hilltop" night club on Signal Hill in Long Beach. As the group got out of their cars, ours of course had "Just Married" on it - some drunk leaving the Club shouted out: "that's O.K. Honey - you got him today, but he'll get you tonight". It was evident we had become the momentary butt of a joke. Young as I was my color surely changed, but in the dark no one noticed. Everyone laughed and we entered the Club in a good humor.

The Wedding Party took up a collection to pay for our dinners. We danced and ate and a toast was made for our happiness. We didn't get home until very early the next morning. Thankfully the gang hadn't been to the Apartment. If they had, I am sure the Land Lady would have joined in the fun. They had cowbells to tie to the springs of the bed, and whipped cream to smear on the sheets. I have no idea what else they had planned, but knowing them, it would have been a real mess to clean up.

The next day Clyde and "Cokie" came by to announce their marriage. We celebrated together on a no budget pocket book. We enjoyed many fun times with the group. They all got married within a year and a half of our Wedding. It appears we had set a precedence. Time has marched along since then.

Written this 11 day of May 2009
by: Eileen Rosenberg