The Week Before the Wedding

Mr. Irene and I were busy the week before we got married. A young couple had befriended me when I lived in Venice, and the two flew to Chicago for the wedding. The husband, an architect, had been to the United States earlier, but his wife had never traveled overseas. We therefore spent about five days sightseeing in Chicago.

We took our guests to the spots that were important to us. We toured the Evanston campus of Northwestern University, where Mr. Irene and I had done our undergraduate work. We stopped at Daley Plaza, and we rode up to the top of the John Hancock Building. We also spent at day at my beloved Brookfield Zoo.

The Venetian visitors were interested in American food, so we ate at places like Ed Debevic's and McDonald's. We ordered take-out ribs from Russell's Barbecue in Elmwood Park.

Our schedule was so packed that we barely had time to think about the wedding day. On the day of our rehearsal dinner, for example, we did a walking tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Oak Park, we visited the Robie House, and we wandered around the campus of the University of Chicago. We were running late as we returned to our respective homes. When I drove into the driveway, I saw that my Dad's twin sister, Jonė, and her husband, Kadis, already had arrived from Toronto for the wedding.

I quickly changed for the small gathering at a Polish restaurant. I was so late, that I painted my nails in the car on the way to dinner.

Chicago, Illinois, June 1, 1989. Mr. Irene and I pose for a photo at Daley Plaza as we hosted our Venetian wedding guests. My Mom knitted the white cotton, lace sweater that I wore.