The Wedding
During my six weeks up in Utah over the summer I spent time with family and friends, enjoyed hiking outside, and just being lazy. I also helped my Bro and Sister in Law with many prep projects for their only daughter’s wedding (my first niece). Crazylegs has always been a creative girl, and she had a detailed plan of exactly what she wanted for her wedding day. Our job was to help execute her vision. This included finding and tarnishing silver serving platters, making a wedding welcome sign for the venue, organizing and physically moving items to the venue, and so much more. I had no idea how much work needed to be done, and we needed all six weeks.
When the week of the wedding came, it started with a dinner put on by the groom’s parents. A special and intimate affair where the parents gave toasts. My brother is not a fan at all of public speaking, which is ironic since he runs his own business, meets with new clients all of the time, and is generally a very outgoing and friendly person. The day of the dinner, he came bursting into my room, visibly upset about the speech he was trying to write. Not because he couldn’t finish writing it, but because he got so emotional reading it that he couldn’t finish the speech. The love he has for his daughter was coming through his watery eyes with such fire and passion. I gave him a couple of tips to help with his speech, but I suggested he physically writes the word “BREATHE” after every paragraph. He was trying to rush through it. He took my advice and gave a powerful toast that had all of us in tears.
The weather was a concern. The week before the wedding had been abnormally hot, over 100 degrees each afternoon, following by crazy rainstorms. The ceremony was to be outside up at the State Capital, with the celebration in the historic Congress Club downtown. All of the furniture, alcohol, and decorations needed to be delivered and taken inside of the venue at 3 p.m. the day before. We get trailers, trucks and cars all loaded up and arrive at teh Congress Club about 10 minutes early, but the doors were locked. As we are trying to find a way in, the clouds above us are quickly turning dark. Nervous we are that the furniture and decorations will get ruined from the rain as we had already unloaded everything, the rain starts to fall. The entryway has a small outcrop that we shove some of the most sensitive items into as the rain turns to hail. Finally we find someone that has a key and opens the front door. It was a mad wet dash to get everything inside, but we managed with nothing worse for wear. My brother’s Mother-in-law invites us all to a local Mexican restaurant downtown for lovely cocktails and divine meals for another gathering of family and friends before the wedding the next day…..
August the 15th, 2026. The wedding day is here. The weather forecast shows clear blue skies with no rain, but it is warmer than what many would like. All of us boys are in the groom’s room getting ready, joking as men can only do. We are all in our custom made suits, helping the bride’s brother and my only nephew tie his tie. We get in our cars and make the short drive up to the State Capital. We set up a stage, piano, flowers and chairs, then a police officer let’s us inside the capital building to stay cool until the wedding begins. The capital sits on a hill overlooking the entire Salt Lake valley, a beautiful venue and location for an outdoor wedding ceremony.
Crazylegs and Noodles have asked for all cell phones to be turned off and put away so that we can all be present during the wedding ceremony, without distraction. She looks stunning in her wedding dress, Noodles is so handsome in his salmon colored suit. Their vows make me cry with tears of joy. Afterwards, we all head back over to the Congress Club for the celebration.
I hang out with my other nieces, all of whom are under eighteen, as I show them around the venue, which truly is a stunning building. The little touches that Crazylegs did. My nephew Cbug and his bubbly girlfriend Brooke entertain the masses. My brother and sister in law look both relieved and happy.
Noodles dances with his Mom, then Crazylegs with her Dad, both are such sweet moments. Love is in the air, the feeling can not be escaped. Smiles everywhere. A great start for the rest of their lives. I love them both with all my heart.
After dinner, the cutting of the cake, the lovely couple gets the first dance.
Then the dance party begins. They have a DJ and a bar, so the drinks start flowing and the dance floor gets nuts. The young keep the dance party going, and all of us older folks make a quick appearance on the dance floor, making a fools of ourselves but no one really cares. It is all about celebrating love.
The evening comes to an end as we create a human tunnel full of bubbles that Crazylegs and Noodles run through as they leave the venue and climb into our friend’s vintage 1957 Chevy, and they roar away to their hotel for the night before leaving on their honeymoon in the morning to French Polynesia. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Cooley, may your lives be full of epic adventures, love and a lifetime of happiness.
