Why We Got Married August 16th—My Birthday, Instead of August 23rd, Our Original Wedding Date

It was my dream 36+ years ago to get married on my birthday, August 16, 1986. I was marrying my best male friend and the man of my dreams. Everything on the calendar lined up perfectly as my birthday fell on a Saturday that year.

I was working at the main branch of US Bank in downtown Portland as a teller and the time came when my fiancé, Alvin, (whom I called and still call ‘Slim’), had to secure our date by requesting time off. Once we did that we could start planning our wedding and order our wedding invitations from the Lloyd Center Hallmark store.

However, my request to have the week off following the 16th was denied because someone with seniority had already requested that week. I asked if there was anyway that I could trade weeks but neither my coworker nor my supervisors would comply.

Hence, we chose the following week, August 23, 1986 as our official wedding date and we ordered our invitations.

In late Spring I decided to look forward on my calendar to see when my cycle (which was very regular) would be coming in August. The last thing I wanted was to be on my period during our honeymoon. I had endometriosis and got severely sick every single month and I also always bled for a full seven days. TMI? Well, I just know that menstruating during my honeymoon would have been a nightmare.