A Wedding in Colorado 08/12/06

I have a lot of material to cover for my trip to Colorado so I am going to break it down in to two posts - one of just the wedding and one for the sight-seeing I was able to do.

My cousin Samantha is the youngest daughter of my Dad's brother Mike. Over the years I have spent some time with my Uncle Mike's family but not much due to the fact that they lived in Colorado Springs and I lived here in California. Even though I haven't really gotten a chance to get to know my two Colorado cousins very well, I was still very happy to be there to witness such a happy event and to get a chance to get to know them a little better than I did before.

Saturday morning started very quiet and calm. The ceremony was at 1pm so all twelve people staying at my Uncle's house had plenty of time to get ready in addition to some of the bridesmaids. I only briefly saw Samantha getting ready but I was given a task that morning to give her husband to be a set of car keys and to retrieve a camera from him when he stopped by. He was already wearing his tux when he stopped by the house with one of his groomsman to pick up Samantha's car. Around noon, a group of us were tasked with decorating the church due to the fact that the people who were to decorate it were tied up at the reception location. I piled six additional people in to my rented Ford Explorer and off we went to the beautiful church. In my SUV was my Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Eileen, cousin Gina, and a close Colorado family friend, Crystal. Decorating was done in no time and we all sat waiting for the event to start.

It was a very nice ceremony. I didn't really get a chance to see Samantha's face but her husband Jon's face was beaming the entire time. I have to admit that I cried and even now I get a tear to my eye just thinking about the ceremony. In no time the ceremony was over and as we walked out to a waiting area in the church I saw that it was raining. I had heard some crashes during the ceremony and did not realize that it was thunder! It was pouring and hailing. Thank goodness we stuck around to take pictures, that allowed the cloudburst to blow over.

After pictures were taken, all the same people except for Crystal piled in the car to make the 16 mile trek to the reception at Mystic Meadows. What a beautiful place. The whole area was green and there was a lovely little pond on the property. The family made our way to our designated table and we feasted on appetizers - a chocolate fountain with various goodies for dipping. It was really my first experience with a chocolate fountain and I have to say I give it two big thumbs up!

The wedding party arrived and it was time to get the party started! There was great food, speeches (one 23 minutes long by the best man), the bride and groom's first dance, the father daughter dance, a Hawaiian dance performed by my Aunt Patty for my cousins Samantha and her older sister (and maid of honor) Cory, cake cutting, bouquet tossing, garter retrieving and throwing, dollar dancing with the bride and groom, all ending with a group dance of the electric slide. I had a great time and I am truly happy for my cousin. The bride and groom managed to leave quietly leaving the rest of us to close the place :-)

My car ended up being the car that carted home a lot of the alcohol (not the kegs though - no room for them!) in addition to a full passenger load. Once back at my Uncle and Aunt's house the party sort of moved there and continued for awhile. I don't know how late it was when I got to bed but I was tired!

I have included a few pictures throughout this post the descriptions are below in order even though the pictures posted are not in chronological order. Enjoy!


-The first picture is of Samantha and her parents, my Dad's brother Mike and his wife Patty.

-The second picture is of my Grandma, cousin Gina, and Auntie Eileen waiting to be driven to the church.

-The third picture is of Samantha and Jon during their vows.

-The fourth picture is of me and my dad at the reception.

-The fifth picture was one that was taken at the insistence of my grandma. All four of the girl cousins (from marriage) in one picture - in order Me, Cory, Samantha, and Gina.

-The sixth picture is of me and Gina. My Auntie E did a good job of taking this shot so I included it!

Congratulations again to Mr & Mrs Calm!