They are hitched

Dawn and Randy, officially hitched now

Our son Randy made it official last Saturday and brought his fiancée Dawn into our family, we now have a new Daughter in law and we couldn't be happier for them. We flew to Montana as you already know and here is my outlook on their wedding day along with a few pictures. 

The scene of the crime wedding was held at a beautiful spot Ryan Island Park in Great Falls, Montana, which is situated within view of Ryan Dam.

To get on the island you have to walk across a bridge that will sway while you walk if you are not careful. On my first trip across the bridge it began moving so bad that I almost thought the beer in Montana must be a lot stronger than I am accustomed to, but after we actually hit the island I found out that I was still capable of walking, and also of  drinking one beer with the brides Dad without issue.

The ceremony began with Randy standing at the end of the swaying bridge while the brides Dad walked her across, this little situation was called "The Reveal", "The First Look", "the bride not wanting the groom to see her staggering on the bridge" or something along the line.

Woody (Dawns Dad) and Dawn made it safely across the bridge, and Randy could hardly wait for them to arrive so he could turn around to see her.

This was going to be Randy's first view of Dawn decked out in her wedding gown, and man wasn't she beautiful. I know the pictures are a little blurry but she did look amazing and the look on his face said that Randy was really proud of her.

They made these little boutonnieres for the guys out of shotgun shells, it started out as a joke "Shotgun Wedding" but Cindy was so happy at the possibility of another grandbaby that they had to tell her the truth, there is no "bun in the oven"

This is a picture of my boutonniere (see I told you a purple and gray striped tie wouldn't go with my shirt)

Cindy began the process of sticking the boutonniere to my shirt. Have you ever seen a proud Mama with her eyes full of tears stick a 4 inch needle through a shotgun shell while holding it to her husbands chest?

Well I'm here to tell you that it doesn't work, no she didn't stick herself, but she did stick me, I received a little hole in my chest right next to my defibrillator.

At this point I had to yell, "Ow, Ow, Ow, Ouch!" She looked at me embarrassed and through gritted teeth said "Stop it Jimmy", I told her to hold on a minute, as I looked down my shirt to view the damage, she said "Oh you were serious, I thought you were messing with me", I bet this was my payback for the napping incident on the plane.

Tim did step in and relieve his Mom, as good as Tim is in tying neckties, he is just as good at sticking needles through shotgun shell boutonniers.

Cindy with Dawn before the ceremony

Randy with Mama before the wedding

A Kiss from Mama saying I love you Son

Before the ceremony, during setup it was decided to lay a paper/cloth aisle runner on the ground for Dawn to walk on, her Dad was supposed to escort her down the aisle on this runner to give her away, it was very pretty and worked real well for just a few steps.

Dawn was walking arm in arm with her Dad, dragging a three foot train behind her, I was afraid the train would bunch up the aisle runner, but it flowed perfectly, what wasn't perfect was the decision to walk a bride down an aisle runner that was lying on top of thick grass.

Dawns feet sank into the grass, pushing the aisle runner down and causing her to step on her own dress, she stopped, adjusted her dress by pulling it from underneath her toes, and began again.

The third time this happened, she turned to look at her Dad with her face reddened, she smiled at everyone, said "what the hell" handed the bouquet to her Dad, pulled up the front of her gown, and marched down the aisle, I was kind of proud to see her do this, it was a lot better than falling on her face.

The wedding was beautiful, the ceremony was really nice and at the end Randy walked away with a wonderful memory of the day he married the love of his life.

Presenting the bride and groom, Dawn and Randy at the beginning of their married life together.

The wedding party

And before the wedding when Maid of Honorzilla thought she was the one in charge, I'm probably going to be in trouble for going there.....so we'll talk about this later.

All in all the wedding was great, it was a perfect day and all the glitches were small ones, you always have to go through little glitches to make a ceremony like this uniquely your own, and now Dawn is officially one of us, and we are proud to have her.