Celebrating Marriage - A Tale of Two Dresses by Fern Ronay

I've invited some authors to share the memories (and photos!) of their special days with us. 

Today it's Fern Ronay and her tale of two wedding dresses...


Tale of Two Dresses

The groom - my now husband of almost four fabulous years - had never been surprised.  Never.  Not once.  A surprise party, a secret, whatever it was, someone always spilled the beans.

Oh well.  What's it like to be surprised?  He never knew.  Until our wedding day.

Dah-dah-dah-dahhhhhh

The day unfolded liked this -

Wake up next to my mom in the hotel suite, eat practically nothing,  get my hair and makeup done.

H (the groom, now husband whose name begins with H - yes, it's perfect) wakes up alone in another room at the hotel - (we were already living together in Chicago by then so the jig was up but you play along on your wedding day.  It's part of the fun) - and goes out to breakfast with his out of town friends.

Around 3PM, the photographer arrives and both families congregate on the lawn by the gazebo, waiting for La Bride.

The arrangements are made for the "First Look Picture."

H closes his eyes and faces away from the hotel, as I walk up to him and follow the photographer's instructions.

Tap him on the shoulder.  H turns around and opens his eyes.  Surprise! (not really)

There I was in Dress #1.  A $500 BCBG white tiered lace dress with black sash (I added the flower) from Bloomingdales.

We took pictures. With both families. With my family.  With his family.  With the nieces and nephews. And then just us.

We laughed, posed, played in the grass.

When H noticed grass stains on the bottom of my dress, he wondered if we should go inside and try to clean it off.

"Nah, no one will notice," I replied calmly.

"She's really calm today," H thought.

Then, after all the pre-ceremony pics were taken, I went back to the suite to freshen up and H hit the bar.

5:30PM - Ceremony time.

Cue the music.

H is waiting for me at the end of the aisle.

As Etta James' "At Last" began and so did my walk down the aisle, H couldn't believe it.  He was - for once, truly - surprised.  "That little stinker."

Dress #2. Ines DiSanto.  Backless.  Trumpet.  Train.  Voila!

I wanted to take pictures before the ceremony so we could be at the cocktail party to greet everyone and spend as much of the reception as possible dancing and actually eating. Mission accomplished.

And, happily ever after.  No surprise there.

Author Bio - 

Fern Ronay authors the ChicagoNow.com blog Stop and Blog the Roses, which was a finalist for CBS Chicago's Most Valuable Blogger Award and a Babble 100 nominee. She has contributed to other sites such as The Chicago Reporter, ChiTownDailyNews.org, Zootoo.com, ChicksInTheHuddle.com, and ChickLitShorties.com, where she won the August 2010 Extra Shorty Contest and also served as a judge for the October 2010 contest.  Her fiction has appeared in the literary magazine Killing the Angel (Issue 1 – 2012). Fern is also an on-camera reporter for the online news website Chicago3Media.com and co-hosts a local legal talk show titled Ms. Esquire as well as a show titled Behind the Book that serves as an homage to Oprah's book club. She holds a B.S. in Accounting from Lehigh University and a J.D. from Boston College Law School.  She has finished her first novel and is currently working on her second. Fern describes herself as a Manhattanite, originally from the great state of New Jersey, now living in Chicago with her husband and fat cat, Magoo, and is an avid reader, eater and runner. See more at www.FernRonay.com.