BigPat hep C - the Wedding ReDo

I had much pride over the longevitity of this marriage, but sadly now, it's OVER. I was informed on 12 Apr 2006: "We need to separate. A time out to regroup." All justification for this explained to me was nothing more than fabrication and LIE. In reality, it was a 2.5+ year relarionship with a Russ/Julie she had and mega-LIES to me for the same duration. The TRAMP in action! So much for love, truthfulness and honesty in this relationship. There is no 'regroup' in process.

As the Martin family is somewhat unconventional... We were preparing for a 25th wedding anniversary - amazing stuff that Nanette could tolerate me that long!!!

We were originally married in Dec. '74. We had planned it prior from early that previous summer, but in announcing to family, we had all sorts of family telling us when they were and were not available for this glorious occasion...

Sooo, we scrapped the idea for a while. However, as we were both working for the old Borg-Warner back in those days, a day or two before Chirstmas the company shut down for holiday time off, til a day or two after new years.

We were somewhat determined to foil all our family's special planning. Late that winter mariage license was obtained here in Van Nuys, CA - somewhat secretly - no family was aware of this.

We got anxious, and zoomed up into northern California, Carmel area, the day after Christmas that year - during the period we were on holiday leave from work.

In September '99 it was time to REDO our vows... Or so I was told, and as always, agreed to...

We zooted around, called around, talked around - the guys in this re-wedding party wore '20s style 'zoot suits'. The women in this re-wedding party wore '30s style gowns/dresses created by my wife Nanette.

Nanette wore a '30s style wedding gown redesigned/reconstructed by her and my wonderful mother, Maxine. You see, back in the '30s and '40s custom built dresses or store bought dresses weren't built for ladies with hooters. Needless to say, Nanette and my mom had a lot of work to do to this dress. This 'gown' was originally purchased up in Santa Barbara, CA the previous summer at a 2nd hand store.

This gown was a classic when made back in the '30s, it was once more a classic when remade in '99 - maybe more so!

Her dress did go through several dry cleaning sessions, getting it properly prepared for this event.

Come the morning of Sept. 27th, 1999, things started getting pretty hectic all over again! I had chairs, walkway markers, outdoor carpet to load up, deliver and setup at the top of a flat hill in part of O'Melvany Park, in Granada Hills, CA (and yes, we had previously obtained a permit for this event).

By noon or so friends and family started arriving here at our home. By 2:00PM or so it was time to relocate over to the park.

The ceremonies were ministered by a good friend of the family, Dr. Harry S. Butman. We had 120-150 friends and family in attendance...

After we completed the ceremony we returned back to our house for a bit of a feast that went on for a few hours. The following day we were off to Catalina Island for a few more days of celebration.

Many of the photos, keeping in the '30s to '40s style of things, were shot in black-n-white film.

We also have some sacreligious photos that were shot with color ASA 100, but not all that many.

Oh! Before I neglect proper credit - photos were shot by, and the gift photo album we received created by Nanette's aunt Barbara Cordoza. Thank you Barbara! It seems regardless of what I had planned for photo shoots, you just can't be the photographer when you are part of the ceremonies! Barbara did a very fine job with all photos! And Barb: next time were up by Monterey we'll do a dinner bash on us in thanks for the photos!!!

My only problem with this whole afair is that I now have one more date I'm responsible for remembering... Maybe one of these days I'll get ambisious and mark my day runner with all pertinent dates - but wait a minute: why the heck should I go to that extreme? It would take all the fun aware from the guessing game I do several times a year!

NOTE: You'll only want to click on my photo page links below *if* you're connect to the net is over DSL, cable-modem, T1 or faster.