Colorado Cruiser: 90 days of prep, 10 hours of frantic happyness

My youngest daughter is married. It's over, done, and the world is right once again.

When my daughter's boyfriend phoned me 3 months ago and said he'd like to take me to lunch, I had a strong inkling of what was coming.

We met at a local mexican restaurant that I enjoy, and he told me how much he's come to love my daughter, and that he'd like to spend the rest of eternity with her. I pointed out some of her bigger flaws and he said he was aware of them and loved her all the more for them.

I pointed out that they haven't known each other all that long and I wish they'd take more time to just date and get to know each other better, but he said they were very much in love and they were sure they could make it work.

After a long talk and a great meal, I eventually gave my blessing.........and the madness began.

The first question was a date. Both Kadi and David are in school. They both have jobs (or multiple jobs in David's case). Family schedules have to be considered, weather, locations, etc.

Eventually they settled on Saturday, May 31st.

Location was the next issue. David loves the outdoors, hiking, biking, walking. And especially mountains. He's climbed many of the 14,000 foot mountains here in Colorado. We considered several parks around the area and eventually settled on the scenic overlook of Palmer Park right in the middle of Colorado Springs (more on that later, obviously).

David is also very political and while picking out dates, I had jokingly suggested July 4th with Red, White, and Blue as the colors. The date didn't stick, but the patriotic colors did, but they warped them into a 50s theme with polka dots.

The hunt for dresses began and thankfully I wasn't drug to 50 places, but my loving wife was. I don't know all the details, but eventually a compromise was made between form, function, finance, frillery, filligre, flamboyance, fixups, and flipouts. I love the final results.

About 45 days before the wedding, David contracted an illness while travelling for his job. He became very ill and several organs began to shutdown. It left us all very concerned and praying for his health. Kadi spent most of every day with him. Allot of thought was given to pushing the wedding off till the end of summer, but he recovered and plans proceeded.

I lost track of how many things were ordered from Amazon and Ebay, but my Amazon Prime more than paid for itself in toule orders alone. Just how much lace does it take to get married???

Before we knew it, the wedding date was just days away. My mother was the first to arrive on the Wednesday before. She was the smart one and stayed in a nearby hotel where she could actually rest and avoid some of the crazyness. Then Nannette's sisters and a niece, then her mother.

Nan's sisters were especially helpful. They cooked food for the reception, put all that toule to good work decorating boxes, books, cups, center pieces, chairs, tables, and dresses. Most nights I went to sleep around 10 and those ladies stayed up laughing and hot gluing the world together.

We've been having heavy rains most afternoons, so the idea of rehearsing the wedding out at the park wasn't going to happen. Instead we decided to meet at the church where the reception was to be held, rehearse, and have a nice informal dinner together. The best punchline for the rehearsal dinner was given by Kadi's niece Sydnee, she said "I already know how to eat, why do I need to rehearse it?"

The decorations had a few snags between mis-understood agreements with the decorators and late deliveries, but in the end, it was a very beautiful setting.

The morning of the wedding I woke up at 5:00. I thought I was up pretty early, but just minutes after I got out of the shower, the first bride's maid knocked on the door. The final push had begun.

As people arrived or awoke, they were thrust into the assembly line of hair drying, plucking, gluing, and frufru'ing. The pancake makeup alone could keep Max Factor in business for a year.

I cooked eggs for breakfast, prepared the pulled pork for the reception, and loaded stuff in the car. Other than that, I tried to stay out of the way and not get myself shellacked to chairs.

By 9:00 most people were ready to go, except for the bride. She'd been busy doing everyone else's hair and she still had a few things left including strapping her into the wedding dress. The only room big enough for her, the entourage, and the dress was our living room. All the men promised to sit in the family room and stare straight ahead while she dressed, but of course my grandson Beckham kept trying to get up and run to look in the room he was told he couldn't look in.

By 9:35 we were ready to go. As carload after carload left, I kept wondering who was going to drive Kadi to the park. It wasn't till the very end that I realized I was taking her.

We drove to the park which is 20 minutes away, then met up with a bunch of others to carpool to the top. All of the parking was taken by the time we got to the top but since most of the cars were ours, I just parked behind a few cars and hoped for the best.

Kadi didn't want to be seen by the groom yet, so she waited in the car while we all got things ready.

There is a 100 yard walkway leading down to the overlook, so it wasn't quick to run back and forth between the group of bride's maids and the other wedding party getting things coordinated, but finally the cameras were all ready, the music was ready, and the bride was.... still sitting in a parked car 30 yards away.

Nola (Nan's sister) got her out and over near the beginning of the walkway. Then the bride's maids formed a scrum line to block any view of her from the groom and they walked most of the way down the path.

Let me pause to set the stage here. This is a public park that is very busy with health conscious hikers, bikers, joggers, and runners. And this is one of the most scenic spots in the city so there are also tourists by the droves coming up. You can't "reserve" the overlook for exclusive use, you just have to respect other people and hope they respect you. And that's what had us so nervous. We had no idea how the other people in the park would react to our dominating this area for 30 minutes. Already we had seen a large group of mountain bikers come up, then sit and joke loudly about their ride and where to go next. But they weren't rude to us, so we hoped it would stay that way.

So now we're set. Groom and his men lined up along a low block wall with Pike's Peak behind them. The Bishop in the middle ready to perform the wedding. About 30 people spread around the area ready for the wedding. 10 strangers meandering around but being very courteous. Bride and her maids 30 yards up the trail looking like a football huddle waiting for the ref to blow the whistle and start the music. Nan's sisters along the walkway ready to coordinate it all.

Finally Nola raised her hand and the music started, but we couldn't hear it so everyone starts waving and signalling to come. Kadi's nephew Beckham lead the way. Early in the planning he'd been told he would be the ring bearer, but he said that "No! I'll be the RING MASTER!!"

Beckham lead the procession just perfect. He didn't run, he didn't wave his arms, he was just a perfect little gentleman walking dignified right toward the video camera till someone waved him off to stand with the groomsmen.

The Brides maids followed Beckham toward the groom, then they all lined up along the block wall. The sky was a perfect blue with some scattered clouds and a gentle breeze cooling everything off. With the mountain range and Pike's Peak behind them all, it was about as idealic as you could imagine.

The wedding itself was fairly short. About 5 minutes of advice from the Bishop, and 3 minutes for the ceremony itself. All of the bystanders were courteous and quiet throughout the whole thing and several made comments about how beautiful it all looked.

After the wedding, we quickly staged pictures with the various groups both with and without the bride/groom. We were packed up and back out of the park before 11:00.

Back at the church we met up and finished the last of the decorating just in time for the first guests to arrive at noon for the reception.

The reception line was just the Bride and groom, and the parents. We greeted about a hundred people for 40 minutes and as they left the line, people would get food and sit at the tables chatting.

The reception was a full sitdown meal including pulled pork sandwiches, macaroni salad, fresh fruit salad, cupcakes, cookies, rootbeer in brown bottles, Coke in the classic bottles, and various other sodas and water. Judging by how many bottles were left on the tables, the Rootbeer and Coke were big hits. And judging by how little pork and macaroni was left, that was a hit too.

There was a "photo booth" setup in the entryway for people to take pictures, including some funny hats, scarves, signs and other props.

The background music was all 50s songs. There was a first dance by the bride and groom, and the cake cutting. But there was so much laughing and talking going on that we let most of the other traditional wedding festivities pass.

By 2:00 the reception was winding down. We met out front of the church, but instead of throwing rice, Nannette had bought small vials of bubbles, so we filled the air with floating bubbles for the bride and groom to walk through.

As we began cleaning up, the "Mormon Miracle" happened as usual. The sound of that first chair snapping closed is like a signal, and all of the men instantly start folding chairs and tables. Within 10 minutes the room was clear of furniture. The food and decorations took a bit longer, but by 3:00 we were closing the doors and heading home.

The marriage has had a great start. I hope it continues with as much success, but maybe a little less chaos.

Bridal Shower