Welcome to my Adirondack wedding. Hope you enjoyed your pre-wedding glass of champagne. (It was a vintage Krug, by the way.) Prior to the ceremony, my meeting with Mike’s folks had gone well. His mom was a darling- jolly but outspoken. Luckily she liked me. Ditto.
And his dad? A riotous combination of William Demarest from the Preston Sturges’s road company of great character actors and Marty Crane on “Frasier.” I got a real kick out of him.
And Killarney, Mike’s bossy Siberian Husky, broke with precedent and actually adopted Andy, our darling Scottie. He was now her little buddy. She didn’t eat him.
He was the ONLY thing she hadn’t eaten, however. When we first saw her, she resembled a silver, steely-eyed, beached whale. Mike’s father had been put in charge of her for a couple of months, and his kind heart- coupled with her omnivorous appetite- had been a deadly combination.
Instead of the lean, mean killing machine that he had left behind, Mike was now greeted by the sight of a candidate for “Biggest (Dog) Loser.” We put her on a diet pronto.
We stayed a couple of days, gathered Killarney- who gazed longily back at her soft-touch meal ticket as we pulled out of their driveway- and drove on to Lake Placid. We would see them both again at the wedding.
The couple of weeks in between flew by. True, I was a trout out of water up there in the woods, but I enjoyed touring the spectacular Adirondack great camps and taking in all the beautiful scenery. And before I knew it, Nick and Natasha had arrived and the big day was upon us.
Because Mike was Irish and proud of it, and because it was springtime, I had decided that my wedding color would be green. Not Kelly or emerald. More like sea foam or pistachio.
This was a gorgeous choice and my ensemble, inspired by Jackie O’s second time around, was a lace dress, covered by a silk, tunic-like coat. The orchids in my bouquet were green, Natasha’s flowers were lilies of the valley and even the wedding cake was to be frosted in the faintest of pale green icing with green candy buttons. It all would look beautiful.
Natasha, (who had completely fallen under Mike’s spell during her stay with us) wore a mint-colored dress in her role of maid of honor. Mike had bought a handsome anthracite-colored suit from Polo before we left Aspen. And I’m pretty sure he had a pale greenish lavender tie. Nick- who would walk me down the aisle- had a dark suit, too.
The day finally dawned and the four of us packed up all our wedding finery and checked in to the Lake Placid Lodge to change. Then we would head for the boat and meet our guests there.
(One thing that was different this marry-go-round. The last time I had gotten spliced I had no children. This outing Natasha wanted to look her best, so I spent so much time on her hair and makeup that I had about ten minutes total to fix myself up before our ETD.)
Nick got ready with his usual amount of no fuss and looked great from head to toe. And I was very impressed that he had actually put on a pair of black, handsome, shiny dress shoes. In the past year I had only seen him in snowboard boots or sneakers. In fact, I didn’t even know that he owned such a great-looking pair and I commented on them.
“Nice shoes, Nick. Did you buy them special for the wedding?”
“Hell, no, Dude. These are Dad’s.”
Oh.
I had an uncomfortable feeling about Bill being at the wedding- if only in bootery. But it was way too late to do anything about it now. We had to get to the boat pronto.
We all jumped into the car and took off. The rest is kind of a blur to me. We greeted everyone and then it was time to take the big plunge. We boarded the boat, Nick walked me down the aisle amidst the friends and relations, I saw Mike waiting for me by the boat rail. He was smiling, I was happy, and we got hitched without a hitch.
As we were celebrating at the after-party, Mike leaned over and said, “You didn’t notice, did you?”
“Notice what?”
“My shoes,” he replied.
I glanced down. Black leather dress loafers. They looked fine to me.
“What about them?” I asked. “They’re perfect.”
“When I got to the hotel room, I couldn’t find my dress shoes anywhere. I must have left them back at my place. I was in a panic. Until I had an idea. A real lifesaver.”
“What did you do?” I asked my intrepid and resourceful new husband of ten minutes.
“You never noticed that when he walked you down the aisle, he was wearing gym shoes. I borrowed Nick’s. I got married in them.”
How do you say “OMG” in Gaelic?
You may all kiss the bride.
Although my kids say OMG all the time here in Connemara (as do their cousins who live down in Killarney), I’m not aware if it has a commonly used translation in Irish. But for your wonderful remembrance, I believe the often-heard “A Thiarna déan trócaire” (Lord have mercy) would suit quite well!
I want all my readers to take note that this comment came all the way from my wonderful subscriber in Ireland! Thank you for answering this question, Ellen. And it’s fun to know that Irish kids use OMG, too. Bless you. You made my day.
Thanks for your insight on your second marriage with kids involved from your first. My journey into my second (of 29 years) was a bit different. My second wife had a daughter about 4 years old and my daughter was living with my parents in England but approved of #2 since she met her before crossing the pond. My new step-daughter was a handful the whole day soon to be known as LMC (Little Miss Crabass). As much drama as there was, the wedding went off without a real hitch until the next day. Tucked away in the Hyatt out by O’Hare with #2, the phone rang about 7 am the next day. Only 1 person knew our location which was my cousin John since he made all the arrangements for us. Of course this was because I didn’t any of my bonehead buddies to pull any pranks at the hotel. (There was a rumor that I was involved in previous occassions…none which I will admit.) The bad news was that my Great Grandmother of 96 had passed away the very time of our wedding the day before. This caused us to ditch our plans, head home for different clothes and head to the family farm in Indiana. This ended up being a bittersweet occassion for my new wife to meet the rest of the family. Even though this ended up a happy time and a sad time, the best part after all these years is that I was blessed with a great daughter to this day.
I love this, Steve. So nice to know that weddings don’t always go off exactly as planned. Something first time brides and grooms don’t want to contemplate. You have a great perspective on this thing. Thanks for sharing. As always.
Great memories as only you can relate them. Thinking that those were Nick’s shoes, I was disturbed by the greasiness when I slid into them; point taken when I was told who wore them previously. I could only live with it knowing I filled them better as a husband than KP ever did. Ellen Nee may be less confused knowing that odd-named husky was born soon after I returned from Killarney, and the dog had the same mix of beauty, resilience and independence. And she would appreciate the Irish priest’s rejection of our 10 o’clock wedding: “Ah, thar’ll be difficoolties; if the weddin’s at tin, it’s over by ‘leven, and the poob doesn’t open ’til noon… that’ll never dooo.” I forgot about that drive to Chicago, because I only glimpsed you and Nick in the front seat. You knowingly used the giardiniera at Mr. Beef and then Frontera Grill to snap me out of a 1000-mile “Thank You for Smoking” prequel. True to form, you got right on pace in the Adirondacks, going from Rebecca Boone in the log cabin, to Great Camp Sagamore (speaking of Gloria), to the wedding night post-game (after Bill finished off everyone at the pub, the bridal party regrouped at 03:30 to repair Nephew’s car). Kenny, ever the athlete, was more captured by the Olympic spirit. As he commented on the way to the top of the ski jump, “There better be one kick-ass buffet at the end of this.” Nick and Natasha were great, prepped by their times at camp; Nick’s “Stripes” and Natasha’s “Private Benjamin”.
Thanks for this, Mike. I loved hearing about it from your perspective. (BTW, a brand-new reader JUST wished me “Congratulations” on my Adirondack wedding!) Many, many happy memories for me- despite the shoes.