Five Months Ago

May 24th 2009



All danced out and a very smiley, sweaty mess, we jumped into the back of a car and waved goodbye to our family and friends.


But not just any car. This was the very fine older-than-us Alfa Romeo Super Guilia owned and driven by the very generous Dan.


I met Dan on a street corner. He was stopped at a red line in his nice Alfa Romeo, and I was walking home from the gym. I practically jumped into his driver side window with an enthusiastic "Excuse me!"

I'd been searching for a classic car to drive us home from the wedding. Bryan and I had determined we're not limo people and we'd rather not leave our wedding in a cab. Our personal car is as unattractive as a car can get so I started looking for a pretty car. A cool car. A classic car. Little did I know I'd find my dream car.

When I was 15 I was once punished and forced to travel to the middle of the desert with my dad for a classic car race. About the worse thing you can imagine as a 15 year old. But the race that weekend was featuring Alfa Romeos and I fell in love. I vowed to get a 1968 cherry red Alfa Romeo with creamy tan leather interior someday. If I ever have enough money for a play car, that is still my dream car.

In the midst of my classic car for the wedding search, and with the desperation one feels when planning her wedding, I approached a stranger at a red light. Figuring I had nothing to lose I asked him, "would you ever consider driving a bride and groom in your car?" He looked at me like I was nuts, the light turned green, and he quickly told me how to contact him. The rest is history - wedding history.


Dan generously showed up with his shiny Alfa a few hours before the wedding so we could take pictures with it.

And he happily showed up again at the end of the wedding to drive us away. There are a lot of things about our wedding I look back on and think "It couldn't have happened a better way." This car is certainly one of them. My teenage self's dream car. A generous driver. And smiles all around.

We also made Dan's day. He wants to put our story up on an Alfa Romeo chat board. And some of these photos are on his Facebook page.