Monday, January 28, 2008

Happy 30th Anniversary!



30 Years ago today... The our wedding day actually started the night before. Ron Williams and I were up until about 1:00am putting brakes on my Mustang in preparation for our (Jane and I) 5-day honeymoon trip from LA to San Francisco. Ron and I spent the night at my apartment sleeping on the floor, then we got up about four hours later and got ready to go to the temple. The plan was for Ron Williams (my best friend/best man) to drive Jane and I to the temple. When we got to Jane's house, she was not ready, in fact, she was throwing up sick. I remember the ride to the temple, Ron was driving my Mustang, I sat on Jane's left in the back seat, Jane sat in the middle with a bucket in her lap, and her mom (Pearl) sat on the right. I don't remember who was in the front seat with Ron; probably it was Jane's cousin Iris. Once we arrived at the temple Jane calmed down a little (it turned out to be nerves). In 1978 women that were going to the temple because they were getting married generally did all of the preparatory ordinance work on the day they were married, so we had to be there early. I don't really recall much of the stuff prior to the marriage. There are many sealing rooms in the Los Angeles temple; we had the largest, and it was totally packed. My mission president, Royden G. Derrick, who at that time was a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, sealed us. Because he had a Stake Conference he was presiding over in Long Beach, he offered to seal us (actually his wife, Sister Allie O. Derrick made the offer and then asked him...). But because it was going to be a rush job in between conference sessions, he didn't change into whites (he didn't have them with him on this trip). I know that bothered Jane for years that he ruined her dreams of an all white wedding.

After we were married and took pictures outside, we went home to Jane's and I think we had some kind of lunch and then took a nap on Jane's bed. The reception was at 6:00pm at the Crescent Avenue building in the gym. We (mostly Jane and Pearl) sent out 920 announcements. We guess that we had over 600 people at the reception. Compared to most people's receptions today, ours was pretty modest. I think we served cake, nuts, and red party punch. The reception line extended out into the parking lot; we had no idea this many people would come! I think we greeted guests the entire time. I'm sure we had music, but there was no dancing. I think we left around 9:00pm.

We spent our wedding night at a local motel near Disneyland that was owned by Earl Garr, a fairly well-to-do church acquaintance, who gave us our wedding night for free. I recall getting to sleep before midnight, and waking up around noon with the maid knocking. We had slept in much longer than we thought. When we went to check out, we discovered that we had left our room key stuck in the outside of the door all night! Because Jane insisted that I carry her over the threshold, the door closed behind us and I forgot the key. I'll write about the first day of our honeymoon tomorrow, and add pictures once I get Jane to tell me where they are.
Pictured left to right in back: Larry Williams, Brad Carey, Jason Guthrie, Ron Williams, Randy Guthrie, Jane (Peters) Guthrie, Iris Baadsgaard, Annette Peters, Holly Guthrie, Lorna Nakumaru, Pam Peters. In front: Amy Guthrie, Rachel Guthrie, Paul Peters

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVED this. I loved the part about leaving the key in the hotel door all night- I've never heard that! It would be fun to get mom's memories too. It was awesome. Thanks!

Jarom and Melissa said...

I remember you telling me about the key. Totally funny. Just reading about wedding stuff makes me stressed. Congrats on the anniversary. Love you both.

Jarom

Anonymous said...

Well happy anniversary you guys!

Anonymous said...

My favorite thing I've ever seen: Aprons on the bridesmaid dresses. Just in case anyone wanted to spontaneously start baking. Seriously. Aprons.

Anonymous said...

That's great Randy. I love remembering all of that. I had forgotten about Jane throwing up on the way to the temple.Haha! And I love how you were in the trunk of the car looking to rewind film that wasn't in the camera. Hahahaha! Thanks for the memories!
Leah

Jarom and Melissa said...

I swear my mom and dad have the exact same wedding party photo. . . only my mom's bridesmaids were in peach and his groomsmen were in blue. What the obsession with white tuxes was, I'll never know. Happy 30th anniversary! Can you believe it's been that long?

-- Melissa