Our wedding ceremony was scheduled for 6pm so we had the whole day to get ready.
First thing in the morning Vati and I went down to the laundry to check out the piglet. It was still in it's crate and when we turned up it grunted up at us happily. It was even happier when we brought it a bottle of milk and a bowl of semolina porridge. Vati and I decided it was cruel to keep it in the crate so we thought of other options. Finally we decided that we would tie it by the hind leg to the Hill's Hoist clothes line with a long piece of rope. It squealed loudly when I lifted it out of the crate but then settled down with the rope around it's leg and started to explore the backyard as far as the rope would allow.
Members of the bridal party were getting ready at their own homes and arriving at my and T's place in time for photos later in the afternoon. Mutti and I set off to 'Raymond's' to have our hair done while Vati was going to read the Saturday papers and have another cup of tea. Everything was going along nice and calmly.
Thanks to my practice sessions, my hairstyle looked fine and Mutti, who had her hair done every week, looked lovely as usual. We went home only to discover my father sitting slumped in the family room pale and dripping with sweat. We were shocked and asked what was wrong.
He had been drinking his tea and reading the paper when he heard the neighbour call out to her husband, "Arthur, there's a pig looking at me through the fence!" his reply, "don't be stupid Gwen. Where would a pig come from?". Gwen insisted that there WAS a pig looking at her when Vati realised that the pig shouldn't be able to be looking through the fence from where it had been tethered.
He went out and saw the rope with no pig attached. He then raced around the yard trying to rugby tackle an extremely fast squealing piglet. Finally he caught it, put it back in the crate and built a sturdy enclosure.
At this stage T was not one of his favourite people.
The afternoon progressed. Two German ladies who were friends but who hadn't been invited to the wedding came to our place to housesit. There had been a spate of robberies where wedding presents had been stolen while the family was at the wedding. Mutti had prepared platters of smoked salmon open sandwiches and cakes for them as well as a bottle of nicely chilled champagne. They fluttered around getting in the way and having a good time admiring all the proceedings.
The bridesmaids and flower girl, already in their finery, arrived just as the wedding bouquets, buttonholes and Mutti's corsage turned up. We oohed and aahed - they were lovely.
I suddenly thought I'd better get ready and put on a bit of makeup, my nice new undies and stockings and Mutti zipped me up in my wedding gown and helped put on my headdress. She threw on her outfit and Vati dressed in his hired dinner suit. We all thought we looked pretty good. The photographer turned up and snapped a few pictures.
The flower girl was peering out of the window excitedly waiting for the wedding cars to arrive. Three maroon Mercedes Benz cars turned up and the wedding party swept down to the cars. I was surprised at the crowd that had gathered to see us off. Getting into a car, in a long gown with a train and a long veil is not an easy thing. Luckily the chauffeur was adept and managed to seat me so that there would be minimal crushing of the outfit. People always like looking at brides so I had a wonderful time waving (like the queen) as we drove across the harbour bridge on the way to the church.
Mrs Mikalauskas had done her best to clean the church. She had thought 8 pews each side of the church would be enough. Everyone was able to be seated but it was a mighty squash. The floor was still crunchy with dirt and bits of plaster but the pews were polished to within an inch of their life and the carpet down the aisle was vacuumed clean. It gave our guests something to talk about while they waited for the ceremony to begin.
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