Our Wedding Day

     We were up at 3AM on the morning of March 22, 1975. That’s the day that we were to be married for as long as our time on this earth would last and throughout all of eternity beyond that. 

     In the pouring rain we drove the 40 miles from my new home in Anaheim to the Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Santa Monica. 

     This was the very first time in the Temple for both of us and someone had suggested that we do everything we needed to do in one day…both the Temple Ordinances and our Sealing Ceremony. Right after our Sealing, we drove out to a dear friend’s home where our Reception was to be held. It was a great start to what would be a very, very long and eventful day.

     Sherry was truly beautiful on that special day and I was beyond thrilled to now be married to this wonderfully precious girl. We hung around the Temple Grounds for a while to take some pictures. 

     The early-morning rain had stopped and the landscaping was spectacular. 

     We were deeply in love that day, and I want you to know that such a love continues to be deeper and deeper with each passing year. As I write this, we have been married now for 43 years, 6 months and 6 days…and, trust me, it keeps getting better.

     Our friends Glenn and Ethylnn Glancy had a spectacular home in the very upscale LA suburb of San Marino and they were gracious enough to allow us to use it for our reception. 

     Because of my special event work at Disney, I had some terrific and very creative contacts who helped me pull this party off well. Jacob Mars was the extremely talented florist that we used for every one of our special Disney dinners and he designed all of our floral displays.

     My good friends and creative collaborators, The JustUs Brothers, Dan, Bobby and Nick, set up outside and rocked the place for the entire afternoon.

 I also hired a String Quartet who played with the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra and had them set up indoors. So Classic inside and rock ‘n roll outside. 

     What a party.

     Our cake was spectacular and really delicious.

     Our reception line seemed to be unending as long-time friends, great co-workers and dear friends from church filed past with tender good wishes for us.

     It was a fabulous day.

     One particular thing I will never forget from that day was the moment in which I had a monumental paradigm shift. We were standing in the reception line greeting our guests.

     Little Debbie, 8-years old at the time, tugged on my coat, looked up lovingly and asked, “Daddy, can I have a drink of water?”

     Up to that moment in time, I was “Mike” to her…but in that next heartbeat, she gave me a new name…she called me “Daddy”.  I will never forget that moment because that’s when my world truly changed. Sherry, Todd, Debbie and I were now a forever family.

     At the end of the reception, we packed up the car, Todd and Debbie went with Karen and Dennis to their home in the mountains to spend a few days, while Sherry and I headed home to Anaheim to start our Honeymoon.

     With all of our hoity-toity reception, you would think that we would fly off to some exotic tropical paradise for our Honeymoon, right?

     Nope…we stayed in our new little house and re-did the kitchen. Boy, are we a couple of “romantics” or what?!?!?