In preparing for our wedding (in 1985) I had but one thing to do. Reserve a hotel the night of the wedding so leave for the honey moon from in the morning.
I had an fool proof plan. We'd get dropped at the hotel across from La Guardia air port, in the morning I'd go across the street and rent a car and off we'd go to the Modanock Mountains in New Hampshire.
A week before I walked in to the Pan American Hotel and asked to make a reservation. The lobby had marble tiles, a water fountain and it was decorated kind of Mediterranean. I asked for a room and he said, "Are you sure?" and I said "Well, yes..." he made the reservation and I let him run my credit card.
The whole day whizzed by me so fast I was amazed. I met people I'd never seen before and had to make associations from the neighborhood, from the music industry (her father's work) from the majong players and family and so on. The wedding was a blur. Which came into focus at the hotel afterwards. And for those leering, get your mind out of the gutter.
My friends drove us and helped with the bags. No bell hops at this hour and as you'll soon see, at all.
We got our key and opened the door to the hall and stopped dead. Every door on the 1000 foot hallway had a pad lock on it. I had checked us into a welfare hotel. It's where the city put up people who had nowhere to go and a situation requiring some aide.
Deb was mortified, to say the least. My friends didn't know what to say. It was very, very awkward.
And we had an envelope full of cash and checks.
In New York, if I might generalize, cash is a very normal gift. Deb used to say we had to "cover our plate" when we went to a wedding. We were spending the night in a hotel who's occupants felt it necessary to padlock their doors when they left.
We spent the night and did fine. What can you do about it at 1am, dead dog tired and about to loose your transportation and our own apartment was full of travelers? We lent our car to my parents. Our friends were going to Manhattan to visit the city that never sleeps. Or maybe that was her cousins. Like a said, it was mostly a blur for me.
How many women do you know who spent their wedding night in a welfare hotel and wasn't permanently mad at her husband? Or at least found opportunities to give him the business? Well, this was another episode that took her a while to fully own. Although she probably told it more like David Letterman's stupid human tricks episodes.
I've got to say, good sport doesn't do her justice.
I had an fool proof plan. We'd get dropped at the hotel across from La Guardia air port, in the morning I'd go across the street and rent a car and off we'd go to the Modanock Mountains in New Hampshire.
A week before I walked in to the Pan American Hotel and asked to make a reservation. The lobby had marble tiles, a water fountain and it was decorated kind of Mediterranean. I asked for a room and he said, "Are you sure?" and I said "Well, yes..." he made the reservation and I let him run my credit card.
The whole day whizzed by me so fast I was amazed. I met people I'd never seen before and had to make associations from the neighborhood, from the music industry (her father's work) from the majong players and family and so on. The wedding was a blur. Which came into focus at the hotel afterwards. And for those leering, get your mind out of the gutter.
My friends drove us and helped with the bags. No bell hops at this hour and as you'll soon see, at all.
We got our key and opened the door to the hall and stopped dead. Every door on the 1000 foot hallway had a pad lock on it. I had checked us into a welfare hotel. It's where the city put up people who had nowhere to go and a situation requiring some aide.
Deb was mortified, to say the least. My friends didn't know what to say. It was very, very awkward.
And we had an envelope full of cash and checks.
In New York, if I might generalize, cash is a very normal gift. Deb used to say we had to "cover our plate" when we went to a wedding. We were spending the night in a hotel who's occupants felt it necessary to padlock their doors when they left.
We spent the night and did fine. What can you do about it at 1am, dead dog tired and about to loose your transportation and our own apartment was full of travelers? We lent our car to my parents. Our friends were going to Manhattan to visit the city that never sleeps. Or maybe that was her cousins. Like a said, it was mostly a blur for me.
How many women do you know who spent their wedding night in a welfare hotel and wasn't permanently mad at her husband? Or at least found opportunities to give him the business? Well, this was another episode that took her a while to fully own. Although she probably told it more like David Letterman's stupid human tricks episodes.
I've got to say, good sport doesn't do her justice.
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