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The
day before the wedding, Don's mother, Judy, flew in from Pennsylvania
and his sister, Alyssa, arrived from Colorado. That evening, Don and
Anya invited Lena and Steve over to their apartment for a bite to eat
and introductions to his family.
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Since
they decided at the last minute to get married before Anya returned
to Moscow (as opposed to Anya’s returning in 6-7 months), they
had not been afforded the usual luxury of having a great deal of time
to plan the event. As such, Don and Anya were...
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...extremely
pleased that everyone could make arrangements to attend the ceremony.
Anya and Lena had spent the weekend prior to the wedding trying on countless
dresses before they found these beautiful outfits.
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We
were also extremely grateful that Steve’s long-term friend, Dave
Seyller, quickly volunteered to come down from Newport Beach in order
to help photograph the wedding cermonies—and to take these photos
of us...
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...at
our home just before we departed to meet Don, his mother, sister, and
friends at the downtown San Diego County Administration Building (where
Don’s and Anya’s civil marriage ceremony was going to be conducted).
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In
addition to Don’s sister and mother (and Dave Seyller), two of
Don’s friends were able to witness the marriage. In this photo,
Anya and Don listen to a Justice of the Peace (in the center background)
as she read the marriage vows.
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Lena
(on the left in the background) is almost ready to cry as she listens
to the couple exchange marriage vows.
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After
Don and Anya had placed the rings on each others fingers...
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...Anya
prepared her lips in this photo in preparation for the BIG EVENT: the
BRIDAL KISS! [Actually, Anya just simply HATES this particular photo...which
Steve jokingly refers to as ‘the LIPS photo’...and would love
to have it destroyed. <grin>]
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As
tradition has it then, after the ceremony was concluded, the husband
then grabbed his new bride and gave her a huge SMOOCH (as Lena tried
to smile, but, had to wipe away tears)! Don’s mother, Judy, and
his friend, Henry, smiled and...
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...looked
at the newlyweds. At this stage, Donald Chomiak and Anya Chomiak were 'officially' married. Anya hugged her new mother-in-law while Lena continued...at
times unsuccessfully...to keep her emotions under control.
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Lena
started to hug Anya while complimenting her new son-in-law, Don...
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...and
ended up giving her daughter a motherly smooch.
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Don
and Judy posed with Anya and Lena. [Don, at almost 6 feet 3 inches,
dwarfs Lena (who is 5 feet 10 inches) even when she is wearing high
heels!]
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Steve
had been kidding Anya that she would have to stand on TIP TOES (even
in high heels) to kiss her new husband.
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(L
to R) Don’s friend (also named ‘Don’ and also a NAVY
P3 pilot); (husband) Don’s sister, Alyssa; Don’s mother,
Judy; and Henry (who got his Masters in Journalism at Columbia University
with Don and then went onto to become Financial Editor at the LA
TIMES) while Don served his country as a P3 pilot.
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Lena
likes to say that “she is no longer the tallest member in the family!”
(Steve is the short, squat guy on the right! <grin>)
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Dave
Seyller, as usual, did an excellent job helping Steve do the photography
of the wedding. Dave had also served in the very same Navy “VQ1”
squadron—during Vietnam—doing the same kind of intelligence-gathering
work as Don performed while on active duty with “VQ1” in the
1990’s.
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This
is a photo taken in front of the downtown San Diego County Administration
Building where Don and Anya had just completed their civil service wedding
ceremony.
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In
this photo immediately after the ceremony, Don has assumed that typical
“GOOFY” expression often depicted by one of Disney’s
cartoon characters! [Steve is contemplating as to HOW he might best
merge Anya’s “LIPS” photo with this “GOOFY”
photo of Don!]
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After
the ceremony, we all went to the LIGHTHOUSE restaurant on Harbor Island
to enjoy a nice lunch while overlooking the harbor, downtown San Diego,
and North Island.
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Because
San Diego’s real sky depicted the usual “grayish June gloom”
on the day of the wedding, this blue and white background sky had to
be artificially created in the computer!
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However,
the sky in this photo of Anya and Lena with downtown San Diego in the
distant background is what one actually saw that day.
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We
were all impressed with the quality of the food in the Lighthouse as
well as the spectacular view of the harbor and Naval Air Station North
Island (across the harbor).
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(The
‘blue’ sky in this photo had to also be artificially created
in the computer!)
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After
lunch, we drove back to our house to enjoy cake and champaign and to
open wedding gifts. Lena and Anya had designed their own wedding cake—a
huge pudding-filled carrot cake that was incredibly delicious!
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In
this photo, Don has those eyes of a “Deer-Frozen-In-the Headlights-Just-Before-IMPACT”
as he cuts the cake with Anya.
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Ah-h-h-h-h,
at last! Anya & Don are thinking: “Let’s relax, take off
our clothes, pop the cork, and swill some bubbly!” [Or, at the
very LEAST—let’s pop the cork, have a TOAST, and eat some
CAKE & ICE CREAM (until we can have some PRIVATE time by ourselves)!]
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Anya
liked Lena’s idea of decorating the champaign glasses with ribbons
that matched the colors of the balloons and tableware.
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It
was very comfortable for all eight of us to sit around the living room
and to enjoy the cake and icecream.
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As
Don was opening their wedding gifts, Steve told him: “Beware of
things that come in PLAIN BROWN WRAPPERS...especially when they are
gifts from an old, retired sailor!” Don was just...
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...a
little worried as to exactly WHAT kind of an exotic and/or erotic toy
he might be getting from Steve, but, was obviously relieved to discover
that it was ONLY an electric toothbrush and an electric hair dryer!
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