Our Wedding (1978)
Terri and I married on a Saturday. There was a mandatory bachelor party the night before that required the “guys” to visit several topless bars on Telephone Road. Our behaviour was ugly enough to get us thrown out of one club!
The next morning, I elected to get up early and fix breakfast for everyone that stayed at the apartment. The sound of a beer being opened filled the room while I was scrambling eggs. Donald Wendler had reached into the cooler, without rising from the couch where he slept that night, and fished out a fresh beer. “Never eat on an empty stomach” is his slogan!
After breakfast, I decided to walk down the road to Al's Formal Wear to pick up a last minute adjustment to our wedding tuxedos. It was January and in the low 30's, but the pickling from the previous night provided a false sense of warmth. I returned to the apartment and we made a quick run to Beaumont to see some of Ray's friends. We barely returned in time to make the wedding service!
My groomsmen ushered guests down the aisle, breathing alcohol fumes on everyone in their path. The service and reception went well, but I was not feeling well. I thought it was a reaction to a 3 ring carnival wedding, but it was the beginning of the flu. The guys performed the traditional decoration of the car. Wendler even coated the headlights with a thick layer of shaving cream.
We exited the wedding and began our drive to Galveston for our honeymoon. The church was located on Sheldon Road, which is renown for chug holes. The shaving cream on the headlights was making driving hard. We were several blocks from the church when I hit a chug hole really hard. Hard enough to flatten one tire and partially flatten the second tire on the same side (bent rims). I jacked the car up and began changing the flat tire.
Guests were passing us without stopping (lighting on Sheldon Road is non existent). I installed the spare tire and, in my haste, drove off the jack with out lowering the car. I backed up and retrieved the jack. We could hear air escaping the tire with every revolution. We drove back to my in-laws house in Woodforest, stopping at every gas station to put more air in the tire.
I borrowed my brother-in-laws' car to continue the trip to Galveston. Unfortunately, his Ford LTD did not have a working heater. We stopped on the Gulf Freeway at a Pizza Hut of all places. I kissed Terri in the booth and a customer complained we were making out in the restaurant. The waitress told us to “knock it off”. Once she found out it was our wedding night, she gave us the pizza for free. I guess she figured anyone crazy enough to eat pizza on their wedding night deserved a break.
We arrived a little after midnight in Galveston. We awoke in the morning to find I was running a major fever with the flu. Of course, the guys at the office never believed I was at home for three days after my wedding "recovering".
-Wayland