Planning Our Wedding

After Christmas, and New Years..We got down to the business of planning our wedding..We decided on Friday, February 11th at 7:30PM ... and we wanted to be married at my Parents house,..my Mother and Father seemed very pleased to hear that...that didn't leave a lot of time to get everything planned, and gather up furniture, etc...and get a place to live...well, the place to live kind of fell right into place...my father had worked with a very nice man about his age, for years..he and his wife had no children, and Mother and I had met them, in fact, when they lived in Jacinto City..well, they had bought a large house nearer to his work, and on the lot was a garage apt..which they wanted to rent out...as of yet , they had not done so, ..when he heard that we were getting married soon, ...he told Daddy, to ask us if we would like to see the apt, and think about it...that was perfect...there was 1 bedroom, living room, kitchen and bath..that was it, but all that we needed..i thought it was the cutest apt...we went and looked and it, and told them to save it for us...well, they were the sweetest couple, and kind of "adopted" us...Mrs Rogers waited on her husband hand and foot, and I think she would have gladly done the same for us...well, we liked them very much, and respected them, but we wanted to do for ourselves, our own way., ..having rented the apt..we started thinking about furniture...at the time, we had to furnish the kitchen completely...the only new furniture that we moved in with was a red dining room table and 4 chairs to match...Mother and Daddy give us a couch, that they had for years, but was still in good shape, and clean, ...I took my bedroom suite with me, ..also my hope chest, and by the time different ones in the family gave us furniture that they didn't use, or could spare, we had everything we needed...it was a "Family Project"  to gather up "Irvin and Ann's stuff for their apt"...Mary Frances gave us a wedding shower a couple of weeks before the Wedding, and we got all of the towels, sheets, cooking sets, dishes, etc..that we needed,...I had gone down to Kress's and bought a iron (I used that iron for at least 30 years until it "died" on it...we finally got around to picking out ones to stand up with us..I asked my Cousin, Neta to be my Matron of Honor( she had lost her husbanf of nine months a couple of years earlier), we wer the same age, and always have been close., in fact, she came after Marvin passed away, and stayed with us the biggest part of a year..I was working, and had just started writing to Irvin while she was with us..she looked for work, but had no luck, and finally, My Uncle and Aunt in Texas City asked her to come and take care of their Children, while Dorothy worked......Irvin asked his friend, Oscar...now Oscar was a bachelor, and not dating...since the two, (Neta and Oscar have never met, we thought it would be good if we got together, and took them to a drive-in  theatre to see a movie with us...WE play Match Maker that night, not really meaning to do so...but Oscar called Neta the nest day, and they were married in April after we married in February of 1955..