Best wedding ever

This is our wedding anniversary - 14 years. Really, it's more the anniversary of that really nice party we had where we signed those papers, because we had already lived together for about 6 years. In my mind, our real anniversary happened 20 years ago on June 4.

Our wedding is still regarded by the 20 or so people in attendance as the best wedding they ever attended. We rented out the "Presidential Suite" at the Ritz-Carlton in Clayton (St. Louis) MO. It was regarded as the best hotel room in town. Bill and Hillary Clinton had already stayed there (before and during their reign), Paul and Linda McCartney stayed there right before and right after we did. The Emperor & Empress of Japan were guests, Elton John, and every major political or entertainment superstar you can think of has likely stayed there. The service people are tight-lipped, but one did say that Robert Goulet had lived there for some months... with his cat(s)... but we were already pretty star-struck by the rest of the known list. We rented the place for the day and night (ceremony, reception and honeymoon... low-rent when you think of it that way), and they catered the food, including the BEST cake I ever had or will again (white cake layered with white chocolate and raspberry).

To describe the place: It occupied the eastern half of the top floor of the hotel. It was the size of a house, included a full kitchen, formal dining room, living room, foyer, bedroom, 2 full baths, and multiple balconies with skyline views. All the rooms were spacious. In the living room there was a fireplace, entertainment center including stereo system, and a grand piano (I couldn't help but think about Paul McCartney possibly having recently played it). One bathroom was equipped with a nice-sized hot tub big enough for about 6 friendly people. The other one had a dry sauna in it.

My new brother-in-law did the walk-around video task including narration, so one of the toilets gets the introduction of being the place where "Bill Clinton did his business."

I didn't want a church wedding or to be married by a preacher. I was (and still am) hiding my heretical status from my relatives. They think I'm still a Christian and I see no reason to EVER discuss that topic with any of them, those conversations would serve absolutely no purpose. Anyway, one of MrB's old family friends was a Judge, so he was a perfect choice as far as everyone was concerned. I played some beautiful classical music on CD during the actual ceremony, then after the deed was done, we put on something more fun. Not for dancing, just loud enough to hear without conversation being drowned out. MrB picked out most of it. NO Proud Mary. NO Donna Summer "Last Dance". My wedding dress was a nice, burgundy wine colored evening dress that I got at a closeout sale at a mall store for less than $20. No sparklies, I wore my parents' gold wedding bands around my neck like Frodo, and our exchanged rings were also plain gold bands. I can't stand diamonds. Never could. We left out a lot of traditional stuff (I'm not too big on traditions that don't make sense to me), like somebody giving me away. Please! I was 40 years old and my parents were deceased (in fact, I had no blood relations there), so I was making the ceremonial decisions and did not yield to pressures.

I would recommend that tactic for anyone getting married. Have the celebration that YOU want to have. Also, save your money. You'll need it later.