Wonderful Wyoming (Windy!) Wedding

Alex and Deena W___ were married at 2:00PM, August 31st, 2007 at a ranch that's been in Deena's family for six generations. It was hot, it was dusty, windy, it was beautiful! This is Wyoming, people!

I have no shots of the ceremony itself: the kids had a very talented photographer to do that for them and mine would pale by comparison, but I do have highlights and a few nice photos from the rehearsal dinner and the reception:

• The setting: grazing land amongst the sweeping plains of North East Wyoming with a view of the Black Hills. The boys had created an arch of iron(?) with linked horseshoes for the couple to stand beneath. I didn't realize it until later, but the horseshoe motif was very clever, picture two horseshoes entwined, or crossing one another. The symbol of two becoming one works very well, it's also the first letter of their last name (W).
• The Gents: four groomsmen dressed in black cowboy hats, top coats (Alex, correct me if I'm wrong, k?), vests, white shirts, black jeans and boots.To say it was sunny would be an understatement, no rain for our newly-weds' day. The must-have accessory turned out to be sunglasses.
• The Ladies: a quartet of Deenas' closest friends, each with a pretty purple dress specially designed for her. Despite the wind, hairdos held up, make-up stayed fresh. The flowers made it through the ceremony; good thing they had extra for the reception.
• The Little Ones: The ring bearer, a cousin of Deena's, I believe, was darling. He was dressed just to match the Big Boys and did a beautiful job, standing still without complaining through the ceremony. Cheryl looked darling with her hair in loose curls and a wreath of baby's breath. Deena's mom, Luanne, designed her dress so that the bodice was made of the same material as Deena's dress and the skirt of the same material in the Bridesmaid's gowns. She carried a tiny white basket filled with pink rose petals remembered it was OK if they blew away.
• The Honored Guests: we were very fortunate to have so many members of both families join us. Besides both sides of Alex (and my) family, all of Deena's grandparents were able to attend, including her grandfather whose health has been declining. Poppop and Uncle Rick were there, representing the W's, along with my mom's sister Karen. Best of all, the same uncle who married Bill and I also performed the ceremony for Alex and Deena. Both Alex and Deena had unexpected friends show up from far away, both at the ceremony and the reception.
• The Groom: Alex smiled. A lot. This is big. Alex smiles at Mom and Dad, he smiles at me, at Cowboy, he smiles quite a bit at Deena, and even at his friends. That afternoon, Alex smiled and smiled and smiled. But not during his vows. Maybe it's a sign: both Alex and Cowboy said their vows with faces set in stone, men of their word, they took it seriously. When it came time for him to say the "I take you Deena" part, he was also loud enough to be heard in Utah! When this guy makes a vow, he says it so everybody can hear.
• The Bride: Soft blond curls floated down Deena's back, her delicate tiara sparkling in the sun. As I think on it, every inch of Deena's ensemble was created or set by someone who loves her very much. The dress was made primarily by her mother, but Deena's whole family helped with various parts. The tiara I mentioned was made by an Aunt in Texas just for the occasion, her hair carefully set and prepared by a long time friend of the family, her flowers arranged by the sister of one of her best friends, even the cake prepared by someone close to her. I gave her a handkerchief that had belonged to our great-grandmother, Miriam to carry as her borrowed thing. Alex and Cowboy said their vows the same way; Deena and I did too. We both sniffled just a bit in awe of the moment.

It was so bright, the wedding party wore shades but I didn't feel it detracted at all. Afterwards, everyone piled into the vehicles for the drive back to town and the reception. Tons of barbecue chicken and beef, fabulous potato salad, tons of ice tea and lemonade and a keg. Cowboy felt it part of his groomsmen duty to assist in the draining of the last, and had enough to make him the best dancer in the room. No really, he gets better with a little beer.

Some other highlights from the reception:

• Mark (the best man) gave a fabulous toast that really did capture the heart of Alex and his bond with Deena. It also captured Mark's bond with Alex.. which mostly involves horsepower.
• Alex and Deena are darling together. During their dance, I cried.
• My parents danced. In my memory, I can't recall ever having seen them dance in a formal setting. I cried.
• Patrick danced with Deena, as did Bill. I didn't cry, I got pictures.
• My mother didn't stop dancing the whole night. She danced with my dad, then she danced with Deena's dad (more than once, actually, I think), she danced the hokey-pokey, the chicken dance and the conga. It was awesome!
• The cake was handmade by one of Deena's friends and turned out beautifully; she'd never worked with fondant icing before but she did so well!
• I got to dance with my husband. I think it's been close to five years since we had danced and I forgot how much I missed it.
• Will caught the garter. Not sure how happy I am about that...

Last but not least, the best thing about the whole day.....

Alex did NOT have to work!!!

Congratulations, Alex and Deena. It was a privilege celebrating with you both!

Check out the album I created for this on Flickr (boy I hope this works!)

Wedding Album

My Wishes for Deena

We've never met face to face Deena, but I trust Alex's judgement implicitly. As you prepare to join your life with his, I wish you all these things:

• May you feel welcome as a member of our family; loved and accepted just as much as he loves you and accepts you.
• May you have a marriage that is more than even what you wildest dreams imagine.
• May Alex find you attractive always, especially when you feel unattractive. May he always see you as the girl he first loved(even if this means he never notices when you change hairstyles or gain/lose weight).
• May you have a houseful of love, between you both, your familes and all who know you.
• May you have the man who is strong when you need him to be, yet understands and supports that often it is we, the women, who must be the strong ones.
• May you worry only when you need to.
• May Alex be your helium and your string: giving you flight, yet holding you steady.
• May you be blessed with a peaceful home and the talent for keeping it so.
• May your ends always meet.
• May you find a man who trusts you enough to cry with you. There are few higher honors than a man's tears entrusted to one who won't disrespect them.
• May it be forever.

I can't wait to meet you. Congratulations!

My Wishes for Alex

Little brother, I'm so happy for you and so proud of you! I finally understand why mom always cried during beautiful pieces of music and happy parts of movies (I am sooo my mother's daughter).

Alex, I wishes for you:

• May your bond be like the strong bonds you've been surrounded with all your life. May you take the steadfast, stubborn, longlasting love we saw in our grandparents and parents into your own marraige.
• May you find in Deena a real partner, a woman you know you can share your whole self, even the grumpy in the morning, unshaved and messy haired self with.
• May you be both a leader and a follower in your relationship, learning and becoming the teacher by turns.
• May you be comforted and offer comfort as it's needed, that you can become to her what she has been to you.
• May you have what you need, yet know the pride of self-reliance.
• May you work together to accomplish your goals; nothing is so satisfying as sharing these experiences.
• May you suffer crises, that you can know miracles and recovery.
• May you argue, that you can make up.
• May you have met someone who compliments your attention to detail with flexibility, your devotion with respect and honor.
• May you have found a partner who makes you want to work and to grow.
• May you find tenderness and intimacy in quiet times, a sense of humor and steady temper in loud ones.
• May you have found someone who gets your jokes, even the really dry ones.
• May she mean as much to you as Bill means to me, that to lose her would be losing a part of yourself.
• May it be forever.

I love you.

Inspiration from the iPod

At the end of my Featured Space week on MSN last year, I posted about 'Inspiration from the Radio.' It may have been one of my best posts to date. Music stirs us all deeply. In addition, times of intense emotions tend to inspire me to write. When my grandmother was dying, three years ago, I wrote the tribute that drove my grandfather to ask me to speak at Alex and Deena's rehearsal dinner.

Knowing both these things, I guess it's not surprising that with a week to go before my little brother marries the love of his life, I am suddenly bursting with inspiration. One tiny whiney note: where the HECK was all this inspriration over the course of the last two months, huh? It's gotta all arrive in one night? Yeah, that's reasonable!

*cleansing breath*

Annnnnnnd we're back.

Tonight, I heard Rascal Flatt's sing 'My Wish' and all my wishes for my brother and his fiance began crowding into my brain. It might take me more than one post. I hope you bear with me, I may have wishes for more people than simply Alex and Deena. As I sit I can think of wishes I have for both my grandmothers, my parents, my kids, my grandfather and the rest of my family.

It's a darn good thing I'm practicing to be a Godmother. No other creature has the capacity to handle the vastness of well-wishes bursting out of me right now.

Without further ado...

Amazon.com Bites and The Worst Writer's Block. Ever.

My copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I dutifully preordered June 12 did not arrive today. I was dubious about ordering it this way in the first place, seeing how Manda and I skipped all the hub-bub of the last release and STILL had a copy in our grubby paws by 12:05AM (24hour grocery stores sell books, at a discount even!). Still, well-meaning coworkers and peer pressure got to me and I caved; I preordered.

Manda didn't. Instead, she dragged me to King Soopers at 11:30 for HER copy. I ended up there anyway; I should have just purchased the dag nab thing that way. I should have run to Sam's or Costco this morning and gotten it for $17.99 (and NO SHIPPING!). But nooooooo.. I have to be all '21st Century', Internet savvy, seduced by one coworkers' story that she actually received her copy of HP:ATHBP a whole day early.

Manda's on Chapter 11 and periodically gasps or laughs. It's torture.

I sent a very uncharacteristically un-world-peace-good-karma-pay-it-forward email to Amazon at exactly 7:15 pointing out that their delivery guarantee was as valuable as Confederate money.

It's a good thing my Pat did such a great job on my hair; otherwise the day might be a total loss.

As for the Writer's Block: my grandfather has asked me to speak at Alex's rehearsal dinner. It's something of a tradition for my father's side of the family to have a little speech, poem or song prepared for very special occasions. Sometimes my grandparents spent weeks getting it ready, sometimes they made the thing up in the middle of the event.

I spoke at my grandmother's wake and most of my family read my blog at least occasionally. I guess it's kind of a passing of the torch that Pop-pop has asked me to do it for Alex. Needless to say, I'm incredibly honored and touched. I'm incredibly proud of Alex and couldn't be more happy for him. Combine that with a history of saying exactly the very most WRONG thing at the worst possible times and.......

Forget Writer's Block. It's Writer's Mountain.