(Pictures below!) For those of you who are not aware, my mom has memory loss. She lives in a memory care facility, and my dad pays for everything. My mom forgot that she was married to my dad, and was getting increasingly worried about her lack of financial security and the lack of official commitment between her and my dad. So I suggested they get married.
When I brought it up, I suggested that we pull over to the side of one of their favorite hiking trails and have me marry them with Brad as the only witness. Just a small, informal ceremony to mark the occasion.
However, as my dad says, “When Suzanne lights up, whatever it is, I get it for her”. So they went to a historical village that happened to have an old church in it, and my mom said that was where she wanted to get married. She lit up, so my dad said yes and reserved the church. He also decided to reserve a reception hall on the grounds, and get an organist. My mom’s friend offered to sing, and family started wanting to come. So we ended up with a moderately big wedding—at least as far as the things done during it.
Brad came with me to be the photographer (and see my parents), so we drove up over the course of two days. The drive was relatively uneventful.
We arrived on Sunday around 1PM, and met my parents at the hotel. We hung out until it was time to go to the rehearsal. Unfortunately family and friends were unable to come in from out of town that early, so it was just the four of us plus the organist and the lead vocalist. I was the officiant.
The location was Heritage Village, which is a town made up of historic houses and other buildings from all over the Cincinnati area that were saved and moved to one location. Luckily the church and reception hall have been made wheelchair accessible!
We had a lot of fun at the rehearsal. My parents made lots of comments about the vows and the things I was saying indicating they thought what was being said and done was powerful and impactful. The organ and singing were amazing!
Below are Brad’s pictures from the rehearsal.
After the rehearsal, the four of us went back to mom’s place and had dinner there in their dining room. Their dining room layout is amazing for wheelchair users, since so many of the residents use wheelchairs. They didn’t have too many options for Brad to eat, but he was able to find something, and we all had a good meal.
The next morning, Brad was too tired so he slept in. Felix and I joined my mom for breakfast, then hung out in her room all morning chatting. It was so fun!
We met Brad for lunch and went to a place called Jugo, which serves açai bowls and other fruit, granola, and yogurt bowls and smoothies and things. It was so tasty, and just Brad’s and my kind of place!!! We were able to get yummy healthy food!
After lunch, we went back to the hotel, and eventually we were joined by my mom’s brother and his family, and my mom’s college friend whom my dad had picked up from the airport. We had fun talking and reminiscing until it was time to head to dinner.
We went to the Bonefish Grill for the official rehearsal dinner. We had good food and good conversation. Brad took a few pictures, but it was pretty dark in there, so it was difficult to get a lot of them.
After dinner, we all headed home to go to bed early, since the wedding was at 9AM the next morning! In my next post, you’ll get to find out whether we were all able to get up early enough to pull it all off. Place your bets! LOL