by Buddy Netter

Created on: February 03, 2009

Can Marriage Last Forever?

On March 10, 1968, my beloved husband and I tied the knot in the Silver Bells Wedding Chapel in Reno, Nevada. We vowed to love, honor and cherish each other for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, through sickness and health until death do we part.

My wedding dress was an off the rack number from one of the more expensive dress shops in my Northern California hometown. It was supposed to be a cocktail dress and was ivory in color. It had a lace panel that overlaid a sleeveless frock that fell a few inches above my knees in length. The empire waste line of my dress was accentuated by a wide satin band just below the bust line. I splurged and bought myself a short veil and also a blue garter for luck. I had a bouquet of red and white carnations, gifted to me by my future mother-in-law. My husband wore his high school graduation suit which was brown and kind of shiny. As he didn't know how to tie a necktie, he wore a clip-on.

My father was there to give me away, which was a surprise, as I hadn't even told him I was getting married. I didn't think he would be interested. My future mother-in-law had called him and told him what his daughter was up to on the coming Sunday. She didn't tell me she had called him, probably because she wasn't certain he would come. My only other family member in attendance was my little sister, who was 14. My husband's parents were there to sign for us both when we got our marriage license and, of course to see their youngest child get married. We had to pay an additional fee for our license, as it was Sunday. Our guests were the owner of the hair salon where I worked and her boyfriend, one of our stylists and his wife, and a guy my husband knew and his fianc (I had not met either of them before) .

Hardly the kind of wedding dreams are made of, right? Yet, I look back on that day every bit as fondly as if it were a platinum wedding. That is because I had the good fortune to marry my soul mate. I knew it then and I know it now. Our Reno wedding was all we could afford, as in those days, the girl's family was supposed to pay for the wedding. My mother had passed away and my father and I were not close. I think that my future in-laws probably would have been willing to help, but I was too proud to even think of asking. I just wanted to marry the man I loved. To me, the ceremony wasn't all that significant, although I tried to make it as pretty and nice as I could; it was our life together that I based importance

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