Gia and Gregs Wedding

Gia & Greg's Wedding

October 29, 2011

Waveland, Hancock County, Mississippi

Garfield Memorial Pier

(Right on the BEACH!!!!)

Greg and Gia exchanged vows with their family and friends to witness the event right on the Gulf of Mexico, with the breeze ruffling Gia's veil. The wedding was done "hippy style" in the Spirit of Universal Love and Peace. Everyone had fun and no one needed to dress up to celebrate something that was filled with fun, laughter, joy and love either!

Rev. Linda Giardelli performed the services. We were fortunate in finding her--she was perfect! Our original minister, our friend Susan, was called away and couldn't be there that day, as she had a serious illness in her family. Since such an event can't be planned for, we were frantically searching for someone suitable, and on Friday morning, were nearly resigned to having a civil marriage ceremony on Monday after having our "hippy" version on Saturday. Instead, the Cosmos lead us to find Rev. Linda.

If you are planning a wedding anywhere on the Gulf Coast, finding someone suitable for the "New Age" crowd can be difficult--I highly recommend getting in touch with Rev. Linda. She can be found at her website. She does both Christian and secular services (even New Age hippy ones!), and is an absolute dear! Just don't forget that in Mississippi, getting your wedding license is NOT a quick process. We started ours in August just to make sure that nothing went wrong! (There is a blood test requirement still, ala 1940s, for syphillis, of all things, as well as a waiting period after THAT waiting period!)

The guys had gotten inventive with a pair of tarps to help block the "breeze" on our big day--Mother Nature was in a very playful mood with the bright sunny day...and a stiff breeze (aka "wind") dancing around us. Inside the veil, the light coming through created amazing rainbows of color--it was quite the natural psychedilic experience too!

Our little "ring bearer" decided she did NOT want to stand up with all of this interesting stuff and people around--it would be much more efficient to crawl, ala "Sweet Pea".

The rings were firmly attached to the pillow, and a wrist strap kept her from tossing it over the railing too. Once again, the beautiful pillow was a creation of my daughter's, and quite impressive since she just started sewing about a month ago! The fabric was also perfect, very "retro".

Seriousness is optional--Greg's "sneezing" from the bouquet.

Greg during the ceremony. For that part, we were serious.

The veil from the back.

I couldn't help but grin every time I saw it--it was wildly colorful, along with the bandana. (Thanks again, MaryMartha!)

One time in my life, I was planning on my hair being wild.

What does it do?

It opts for tame and well behaved!

Go figure!

Isn't that bandana perfect though?

(Thanks, Mom, for the find!)

Red Dog wasn't impressed by the ceremony.

She lounged on a moving blanket beside Nemo's crate.

Joe Montaldo and Greg Miller discuss something...probably something serious? Notice that Joe has his "cockroach" perched on his ear. He never leaves home without it, but he did silence it for the ceremony.

What wedding is complete without a wedding cake?

This creation featured a different flavor in each layer, with the bottom layer being a gourmet cheese cake. I have to thank my daughter for the beautiful cake--she's a dear who worked very hard to make sure she brought a beautiful wedding cake 100 miles from her house to the wedding location. (That was a very brave endeavor, I had visions of some catastrophe requiring quick braking action and cake everywhere!)

Here, we are cutting the cake. It was a minor detail, but I hadn't even thought about a knife. It was a plastic knife or pocket knife...I opted for plastic!

I'll confess--I had help from behind in mashing frosting into Greg's beard. However, our granddaughter was immensely amused by the fact that she could pick frosting out of Grandpa's beard!

Greg had been growing out his beard and hair since June for the Big Day. He's looking pretty wooly, isn't he? I think he should keep growing the beard until at least Christmas...he'd make a great Santa Grandpa, don't you think?

Now this was obviously a Southern wedding as well as a hippy wedding, and here they come together in a psychelic swirl. Frosting on this groom's cake would have hidden the most amazing cake I'd ever seen! No red velvet cake forming an armadillo for us!

This is what the interior of the groom's cake looked like.

It's still nowhere as beautiful as the top was!

Certain people deserve an extra special thank you for the efforts that they put into our special day. Without them, it wouldn't have been nearly as special! So, we are just going to list them here, without further ado.

Mary Wehmeyer

MaryMartha Miller

Aurora Rogers

Vaishali

Mark Eddy

The New Riders of the Purple Sage, especially Buddy Cage

Spring Winters

Jeremy Jenkins

Lila Jenkins

Don Andrews

Pam Andrews

Joe Montaldo

Sam Simmons

Mitch & Kortnee (our somewhat adopted "kids")

Susan Moulton

Art Loya

Evelyn Magill

Barbara Savage

Leonard Miller

Richard Rogers

of course, the lovely Rev. Linda and her husband, Richard

The City of Waveland and the volunteers at Garfield Memorial Pier

Hancock County, Mississippi (The only dog-friendly beaches in Mississippi)

and all of our many friends, family & fans that have wished us well!

Thank you to everyone!

WEDDING LINKS AND CONTACT INFORMATION

Rev. Linda Giardelli - Universal Brotherhood Non-Denominational Minister

A personalized approach to your wedding cermony

Weddings - Civil Unions - Vow Renewals - Funerals

Telephone (228) 435-9877

Cellular Tel: (228) 229-5605

revlingiardelli@bellsouth.net

The City of Waveland, Mississippi
Garfield Ladner Memorial Municipal Pier at Waveland, Mississippi
Hancock County, Mississippi (The only dog-friendly beaches in Mississippi)
The New Riders of the Purple Sage
Mark Eddy
Vaishali
Joe Montaldo

After the ceremony, Greg needed a stiff drink...of coffee!

The stove we're using to perk it on is an old standby of mine, dating from my solitary camping days in Arizona. Something old, right?

Red Dog lounging in the sun, lurking near Nemo's crate. The sun was warm, and Red Dog is getting up there in "dog years" now. They aren't 'best buddies' but they get along fine.

Guess who caught the bouquet?

He's not only not already married...he's a HE!

Joe Montaldo!

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