| Marion & John |
[Oct. 17th, 2006|06:21 pm] |
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Dave and I flew out to Oregon for John and Marion's wedding this weekend! This is the first wedding of very close friends I have attended, so it was certainly an emotional and wonderful time.
The trip was packed full of stuff to see and people to talk to and even some rest and relaxation! We lucked out and had a pretty non-eventful time getting to and from Oregon, which required a couple of transfers and a small bit of panic over delayed flights and the possiblilty of lost luggage, both of which played out fine in the end. We arrived late, late, late on Friday night, but were immediately lured into a game of 'Encore' with Marion's sisters and her friend Mike. Something about sitting in a wooden cabin, on a cold night, playing board games with new friends, is just intoxicating and wonderful. I was completely zonked out at that point, which probably made the whole thing even more fun. Did I mention that we were up in the mountains, and saw deer within the first two minutes of arriving, and there were more stars in the sky than I've seen in 15 years? Yeah.
Our first morning, we all walked over to the Vitus family's cabin for breakfast. It was cold, but that didn't stop Mike from rockin' his UtiliKilt!
Breakfast. Their cabin was huge! We were treated to oatmeal and buttered toast and cold blueberries and hot tea, along with eggs and sausage. More laughing and relaxing, and getting to know Marion's parents and cousins.
Molasses syrup from Peru. That's Marion's younger sister, Stephanie.
Marion's best friend, Mike, and her youngest sister, Rebecca.
Meeting Mike and his wife Mandy was definitely a highlight of our trip! We had been told "you guys will love them!" but you know how that goes--sometimes it's true, sometimes it isn't. But we did. They were our cabin mates, and we basically spent the whole weekend hanging out with them.
Mike shares a story while Mandy reacts.
Mandy gets him back for it later!
Marion had a lot to do before the rehearsal, which meant a lot of phone calls.
The wedding's color scheme was based on local aspens, turned yellow in fall, against a bright blue sky.
While the bride and groom did "wedding stuff," Mike and Mandy took Dave and I went site-seeing in the nearby town of Sisters, which is done up to look like an old Western goldmine town. We cheesed out and had fun walking around.
Mmmm, small town bakeries.
We got good mileage out of the "free" samples of donuts on the counter. Maple bars!!! I am back on the West Coast!!!
Mandy's cream puff, which was shaped like a swan.
Dave and some Western goodness.
Dig the moneybags painted above this ATM!
From there, it was back to the ranch for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The wedding was to take place next to a lake overlooking the mountains.
MarSi, Mother of the Bride, helps with set-up at the rehearsal.
The bridesmaids fuss over Marion's pretend veil.
The groomsmen line up with the officiant, Marion's cousin Spring.
L to R: Spring, John, Dave, John's brother Bill, and Mike.
Rehearsal of the vows. Both of them (and everyone watching) laughed a lot during this!
During the rehearsal dinner, the bride and groom gave gifts to their attendants, and generally roasted them. The food at the dinner was SUPER excellent, I was quite stuffed afterwards! Having eaten several pieces of donut earlier didn't help!
Everyone was really tired that evening, so everything wound down pretty early.
Sunday morning, we woke up to rain. Rain, rain, rain. Plans to move the ceremony to the lodge were quickly put into motion, and I kicked around until it was time to go over to the lodge for a massage! Marion, the genius, had arranged for two Breema massage therapists for the bridal party, and I was allowed to get in on the action, too. It's a gentle massage technique, you basically lie on the floor and they kind of pull on your arms and legs and head, and it's very relaxing. I was ready to go to sleep after mine! But, no, I had a wedding to get ready for!
Best Man and Mother of the Groom.
Proof that I was there!
The ceremony, in the lodge, began with hot cider for the guests, polaroid pictures, and a sprig of juniper for every attendee to pin to their outfit. Everyone looked wonderful, and even though it was raining, the sun was shining and the photographer was able to pose everyone outside under an overhang for pictures.
Here comes the bride, escorted by both her father and mother. She looked beautiful!
John's grandmother, MarMar, gave a reading. MarMar is one of the spunkiest grandmas I know, and it was fun hanging out with her in Oregon (we usually see her here, in New York).
After the ceremony, everyone moved over to another lodge for the reception. It was about 60 yards from the cabin we were staying in, so we walked over, even though it was cold and very wet. This would come back to haunt us later.
I didn't get too many shots of the reception, because the lighting was low and the pictures all came out a little off. But, we had fun. The food was yummy and the speeches were good and the company was even better.
Dave's Best Man toast cracked everyone up!
Groom and Best Man.
After the reception, people asked us if we needed a ride back to our cabin. We said no, because it was so close, and we had walked over with no problem. But, we didn't realize that the path was not lit at night, so Dave, Mike, Mandy, and I found ourselves stumbling around in the pitch dark! We figured we'd follow the path, but somehow we got off of it and were literally using cell phones to shine just a teeny bit of light in front of our feet to see where to step. We could see the cabin lights in the distance, but easier said than done etc. After walking through high grass, and goose crap, and around trees, we made it back 'home.'
We changed, then headed over to Mike's parents' cabin, this time in a car. They had built a fire, and gave us tea and hot cocoa and asked Dave and I tons of questions about our upcoming wedding, and engagement, and all that good stuff. They have three dogs, who were very excited by the company. It was so cozy and pleasant! I need to do stuff like that more often!
The final morning, Marion's parents hosted another breakfast, but this time there were 45 people there! I'm always impressed when people host such events with charm and grace. And blueberry pancakes, oh my. We stuffed ourselves again, said goodbye to everyone, then caught our shuttle to the airport.
Marion with her mom and sisters. The family resembleance runs strong with them!
So, that was it! The bride and groom were happy and adorable, the setting was lovely, and the people we spent time with were all people we would like to see again. All of my heart goes out to the newlyweds, who will be back home next week and will have their own stories to tell. As they are two of my closest friends, I only hope that Dave and I will look to them as an example of how to throw a wedding...because we're NEXT.
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