My husband and I celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary on December 5th. Thirty years ago, I was taking final exams to finish up my undergraduate requirements at Goucher College. Finals and wedding plans made for a rather hectic time. I was stressed, but I had everything well-planned, as any great ruler would.
Tim was in flight school at Whiting Field in Florida and had just a few days of leave for the wedding, the rehearsal, and the honeymoon. He was due in to Baltimore Friday afternoon, just a few hours before the rehearsal. He knew he faced my wrath if he was late. The night before some of his flight school buddies had taken him out on the town for a bachelor party!
The rehearsal went well, but I don’t think the Naval Academy chaplain was happy with me. I had made several changes to the format of the standard chapel wedding. We had our rehearsal dinner at the Officer’s Club, and then I sent my husband-to-be, his friends, brother, and all the males in the wedding party to my grandfather’s house for a proper male shower. Tim had no idea that I had already arranged a well-supervised bachelor party for him!
We were up at 4am at my parents house. The photographer was coming to the house to get family pictures before we went to Annapolis. The wedding was scheduled for 1pm, and my bridal party was gathered at a B&B in Annapolis where they had stayed the night before, just to make sure there were no late arrivals. So the plan was to have pictures at the house first, drive to Annapolis, and have pictures with the bridal party at 11am.
It all went like clockwork. I had planned everything down to the most minute detail. What I hadn’t planned on was my husband’s late arrival to the alter. It’s a long aisle at the academy chapel, and when I told my father that I didn’t see Tim at the altar, he assured me that my eyes were bad!
But when we arrived at the end of the aisle, there was no groom, no best man, and no ministers. One of the groomsmen went to check, but came up empty-handed. The organist started playing again, and after what seemed like an eternity, the missing parties appeared! Tim later told me that the two ministers performing the ceremony were talking and missed the knock on the door to head to the sanctuary. Apparently a frantic woman came in moments later telling them that the bride was at the altar. They had to run through John Paul Jones’s crypt, and my husband said that he wasn’t sure what the tourists were thinking!
After the ceremony, we were picked up by a classic Rolls Royce. We drove through downtown Annapolis and watched as shopkeepers were putting up Christmas decorations. People waved to us and smiled. I felt like a princess, a princess who had found her handsome prince.
Little did this poor guy know that I was now queen, ruler supreme! It’s been a wonderful thirty years of reign.
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