The Golden Day

Forty six years seems like a long time to be married.  Yet the years have flown by and I'm not sure if I would have changed much.  I was a young twenty year old bride, but the timing was right.  Except for one grouchy day while painting our first apartment in married housing at MSU, I never looked back.

I was finishing up my senior year at MSU and Hack was starting his teaching career in Lansing.  Our wedding was a simple one with the reception at the church and presents opened for everyone to see.  My mother made my dress with fabric of dotted swiss.  The bridesmaids wore sleeveless green dotted swiss dresses that were also handmade.

June 24, 1967

It rained on our wedding day and I had gone to Muskegon to get my hair done.  By the time I got home it was drooping so I combed it out and knew I would have been just as happy doing it myself.


We drove to the east coast on our honeymoon and that was the beginning of our years of traveling together.


Throughout our travels I have witnessed other brides.  It is always a delight to see a wedding in a foreign country.  This past year we saw a wedding party coming out of a church in Senica, Slovakia. 


There were several men pouring small glasses of vodka for guests and anyone standing outside the church.  People were coming off the street to get a shot.  I was tempted to take a drink, but everyone was drinking out of the same few glasses.


The wedding party walked through town with a three piece band and the guests followed behind.  Weddings, no matter where they are, have similar characteristics, but each culture brings out a different flavor.  There is a feeling of shared experience no matter what the country. 


Slovakian Bride

    




     Brides in Prague,

    Czech Republic