Six Wedding Moments

I think all weddings have funny and unique moments and our daughter and son-in-laws wedding Memorial Weekend had a bunch and these are my six favorite moments:

WEATHER: When you have an outdoor service(5-5:30), you have to be concerned about the weather.  The venue in the mountains of Colorado had spectacular views such as the the two below. The forecast for several days before the wedding called for rain most of the day, but it showed a window between 5-6:00 pm. that it wouldn't be raining. 

On the way to the venue, my wife and I were in separate cars driving up a mountain when we hit some rain, sleet, hail, and snow.  For about a mile the road had snow and salt on it and I was driving exactly where the last cars drove and it was very tense even for an experienced driver.

About ten to fifteen minutes before the ceremony started, the rain stopped, the clouds cleared and there was sunshine for about half the service until clouds started to move in.  All the pictures were taken outside and during the inside reception it rained again.  And, what a ceremony! This picture was how the weather looked an hour or so before the ceremony and you can see to the left all the chairs out for the ceremony.

THE CEREMONY: Are there really wedding ceremonies that are not beautiful and special? I don't think so, but this one really did take the cake.(that's coming later).

 I am biased since it was a family wedding, but this was a unique ceremony which included:

The bride and groom watered a very small pine tree that had dirt from New Jersey and Michigan (where they are from) as a remembrance of their wedding.

Two of the groomsmen carried the small tree and another one directed them and waved them forward while the audience laughed.

The bride and groom actually played rock, scissors, and paper to determine who would give their vows first.

One of my favorite moments was the groom reading from a small notebook and saying, "These pages don't have anything on them."

The finale was after the officiant, doing her first ceremony said, "You may now kiss the groom." (Intentionally)

And then it happened:

THE BABY: Our first grandchild was almost ten months old and she was a little bit fussy during the ceremony and our daughter-in-law moved her towards the back.  One thing our grandchild has learned is that when she does something we clap and she says, "I did it." As the audience applauded after the bride and groom kissed, it was quiet and you heard our grandchild say, "I did it." Some people thought she said, "You did it" or "We did it," but she doesn't know that.  It was hilarious and hopefully someone recorded it.

"THE TWIRL" The bride dancing with her dad is always a special moment, but I've never been confused with Fred Astaire.  As I danced with my daughter and we managed not to break out laughing, "She asked me, "Would you like to twirl me?" I said "No, not really.  Do you want to twirl me?" She laughed and said yes and "SHE DID IT, " pictured below.  It was much better with her twirling me.

THE WEDDING CAKE: The food was terrific, but having wedding cake is almost always a very enjoyable moment at the reception.  Some of the three-tier cake was put on a table off on the side at the same time the real dancing began on the dance floor.  There was no announcement, but I spotted it from across the room and I got a piece of vanilla cake.  It was very good, but after the wedding I heard there was chocolate cake. WHAT? I could not believe it!

It appears that many people did not see any cake, but the day after and two days after the wedding, I volunteered to help eat the chocolate cake at their house.  It was delicious.

THE HEATER: The wedding was ending around 11 pm and there was no way we were driving down a mountain at that hour.  We stayed in a small cottage on the property. Walking into the cottage after 3 pm, it was cold because the heater pictured below was not on.  Our new-in-laws room was adjacent to our and their heater did not work at all.  Our heater definitely worked and when we left for the ceremony it was comfortable in the room.

About seven hours later I opened the cabin door and it was like opening the door to a sauna.  It was 95 degrees in the room, but nothing had melted.  We opened a couple windows, shut the heater off, and left the door open hoping a bear would not walk in.  When I fell asleep the temperature in the room was 86 degrees.  The heater was directly in front of the bed-I think the heat knocked me out.

I woke up in the middle of the night and moved to another bed due to the heat.  In the morning the temperature was down to 73 degrees and my wife had all the windows open.  I was cold from all the windows being open, but that heater was still going strong.