Wedding Day Shocker: We Almost Missed Our Own Reception!

I guess I have weddings on the brain, as my daughter is getting married next May, (hooray!), and just today, I had to drive back to the town I was married in, to get a copy of my marriage license

that was needed for dependent health insurance coverage purposes by my employer. It reminded me of my own wedding some thirty two year s ago and how my new bride and I almost missed our own wedding reception!
We were married in a church in one town, while the reception was a good 30-45 minutes away in another town.

A lot of pictures were taken by the photographer at the church, after the ceremony, so mostly everyone had left and started to drive over to the reception. Eventually, there were only three of us left at the church, me, my new wife, and one of her brothers.   My wonderful sister and her husband had let us borrow their beautiful, luxurious  Lincoln Continental for our special day, and my wife's brother was acting as our chauffeur.
So my wife and I lock up the church (I had a key, but that's another story), and go to the car where her brother has parked it, smack dab in the middle of the street, waiting our exit. Everyone else has left by this point and we are the only ones at the church. Her brother steps out of the car, and somehow, ends up power locking all the doors......with the only set of keys in the ignition!

In 1979, there were very few cars with power locks and being unfamiliar with the Lincoln, my wife's brother had just locked out the newly married couple. Let me remind you: .there are no cell phones at this point. Anyone I could call that might be able to help is on their way to my wedding reception, which is going to be lame if the situation can't be rectified.
I let myself back into the church and called the police. The phone call was right out of a stand-up comedian's routine: " Uh, police..yeah, I just got married and am on my way to my own reception, but we've locked the keys in the car, which is in the middle of the street......I wish I could have seen the  person's face at police headquarters that took my call. Anyway, they said they would get there when they could. The town I got married in was more of a city than a town, and I'll bet they had higher priorities.
So I ran back outside in my wedding tux and relayed the update to my wife and my new brother-in-law. In what seemed an instant, a passerby asked us what the problem was...let's face it, it had to be an odd scene for him to stumble on:  a very worried bride and groom, all dressed up, standing in front of a church, with a big car in the middle of the street.
We told him of our dilemma and he said he might be able to help us. With that, he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small piece of hanger wire. Within seconds, he had opened the car.
.

We thanked him profusely! I ran back into the church, called the police and told them our issue had resolved itself. I ran back outside and into the Lincoln Town Car. We then proceeded hastily to our reception. No one was the wiser.


P.S. Yes, that's the actual piece of wire in the picture to the left. Maybe I'll bring it to my daughter's wedding....just in case......