for the really good image, use
.
Contact me (garya at this domain) if you want the really good image
and it does not have the
icon under it. .
icon under it. Surprise! Sometime in late winter, Dona and I decided to officially tie the knot. It seemed like the right way to confirm my committment to her; and it was a great motivator for getting things done around the place. It was also a heck of a good excuse for a party. The most immediate effect of that was that I put off trying to get back on Sambo for a few more months.
So... We started drawing up a guest list, trying to keep it small. But even then it seemed kinda large, Especially when we saw how many people would be coming from out of the area. Dona has a bigger family than I do, but between us they all added up. We got cards from Dona's nephew, Ram Papish, to use as invitations, printed them up and sent them out. Once we had an idea who was coming, we attempted to match people to accomodations, and sent out a few photos to let people know what they were getting into.
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| Invitation | Actual Text (Image)
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One of our big concerns was where the heck we were going to house them. Some of our neighbors have cabins for guests, and were gracious enough to make them available for us. We reserved one of our neighbor's cabins, the Krutar Homestead, all the rooms at the bed and breakfast in Ovando, and some at our friends Brian and Kerry Bertsch's resort The Lodges on Seeley Lake .
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| Foote cabin | Poett cabin | Roe cabin | Inside a cabin |
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| Krutar Homestead
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View from Lodges on Seeley Lake
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We put a railing on the front porch. And the back porch. We put steps up to the front porch, and new ones that were more stable up to the back porch. We made a custom shower curtain rod for the guest bathroom, made a shower curtain, and finished the trim. We built doors for the guest room and guest bathroom and hung them. We built a planter for the sunroom. We hung up more art on the walls. We ran power to the arena. We built steps down to the bench below the house, and a bridge across the irrigation ditch.
We arranged for a friend, Marian McKenna, to officially marry us, and for two of Dona's former students and colleages to play music. We arranged for a home-made cake from a great bakery in Missoula. We arranged for a dj to play music at the dance -- recommended by one of her sons as "The guys I couldn't get for our wedding." What else to do? Dona made her dress; I dusted off my suit, which I hadn't worn in a long time...
A day or two before, friends started showing up from as far away as Australia. We put them to work... The plan was for the ceremony to be out in one of the fields, but in May, you never know what the weather will do around here. So for an alternate plan, we thought about renting a tent, but in the end decided to use the arena. We originally were going to rent a dance floor. When we checked the price, we decided to cover the arena with OSB. For the price of renting the dance floor, we could cover an area large enough for guest tables to boot, then sell the stuff afterwards. So Dona's brother Bob, his son Nick, and Dona's youngest son Sid all helped cut the 1x4s for the frame and then screwed the whole thing together. The Frappells, Dona's Australian friends, took over decorating the arena, and what a job they did! Along the way, we had some fun swinging from the rope at the top!
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| Huon and Frapps Decorating
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Huon, Claire and Frapps Decorating
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Decorating Hay Bales
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Top bauble
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| Arena Transformed
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Hay Bale Proclamations
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My family arrived the day before; they met up at Trixi's for lunch, where Ian made sure the animals were properly hydrated, and Blue Moose, Trudy's constant companion, got acquainted.
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| Ian hydrating the moose at Trixi's
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Eric, Mel, Ian, Christi
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Blue moose getting acquainted
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Blue moose
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The evening before the ceremony, we had all our out-of-town friends and relatives over for dinner and a get-acquainted evening.
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| Dona and brother Bob Fawcett
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Frapps, Dona and Bob
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College buddies
Victor, Kent, Steve and Peggy and Bob Payne |
College buddies
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Ian and Trudy
got some kind of glue smeared on their butts |
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Dona's sister and mom arrived the morning of the wedding -- Mary (sister) was staying with Dorothy (mom) in Missoula.
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| Gary likes Dona's mom
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The Papish clan and Dorothy arrive
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Ram, Anne, and Mary
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Mel, Gary, Ram, Ian
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Dorothy hadn't seen Frapps in a while
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Dave and Annette Hinds
Peter Frappell |
Our mothers and siblings helped arrange flowers in the bowls Dona had turned on dad's old lathe.
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| Some of Dona's table centerpieces
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Arranging flowers
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Arranging flowers
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Everybody helped out doing all the things we forgot, and had a good time to boot.
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| Dorothy doing Mary's hair
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Eduardo Ceballos and London
emptying our lifetime supply of salt and pepper |
Our neighbor friends were wonderful and brought potted plants to help decorate the arena; something they could take back home.
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| Studly Ian moving flowers
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Huon filling water pitchers
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Plants
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Plants
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Plants
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We figured our septic could deal with one day's overload, and it gave people an excuse to see the house.
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| Essentials
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We lucked out on the weather -- it was perfect. We had about 600 feet of extension cord from the arena to the field where the ceremony took place, so we and the musicians could be heard. The ceremony was relatively short; I'm sure our friends were grateful :-).
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| A field of chairs
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Dona's sister Mary lives in Hawaii, and she brought us two surprises, besides herself -- traditional Hawaiin flowers for the bride and groom! Our friends had to check them out to see if they were real... a lei crown for Dona, and a Maile lei for Gary!
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| Zia shows Maddie her flowers
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Steve checks out Gary's Maile lei
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While waiting for the bride, we took a few family photos.
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| Christi and the groom
My sailing friend Tom Butts says "Check out the suit!" |
Ian, Christi and the groom
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Our friend Marian McKenna did the officiating, our neighbor Zia Kloetzel carried Dona's flowers. The best part of the whole ceremony was watching Dona come across the field escorted by her sons and grandsons to the tune of "Simple Gifts".
| Fast Internet Connection | Slow Internet Connection |
(grandson Aidan was being onery and kept his mother occupied...
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| Gary waiting for Dona
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| Dona arriving
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Dona arriving
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Alex and Riley, Dona, Justin and Dylan
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| Marian, Zia and Gary
waiting for Dona |
Zia giving Dona
her flowers |
Zia giving Dona
her flowers |
The bride looked wonderful, and, fortunately for me, happy :-).
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| Good looking bride, eh?
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Waving to grandkids
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Marian orchestrated the whole thing, ready to help out if we messed up.
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The setting was perfect.
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Dona's brother Bob gave us some sage advice. To be on the safe side, we told him what to say...
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| Advice from Bob
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Dona read a short poem, "At Last," without crying -- pretty good, considering she couldn't ever do it in practice. I tried to listen carefully, something I'm not always very good at. I read a short poem as well, "Two Trees."
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| Dona reading
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Dona reading
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Paying attention...
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Music was provided by two friends of Dona's, who are former colleagues and also co-researchers -- Bret Tobalske and Jerred Seveyka. They even composed a wonderful special piece just for us --
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| Bret Tobalske and Jerred Seveyka
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We exchanged vows, serious and humorous.
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| Exchanging vows
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Glad to be done with it?
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Our rings were made by a local jeweler, Barney Jette. Dona's contains a Montana sapphire she found herself, which we had cut and polished by an old miner in Missoula. Gary's is a sheet bend knot, one of the best knots for connecting different kinds of line.
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| Ring exchange
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Putting on Gary's ring
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Trying to put on Gary's Ring
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Still trying...
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And trying...
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Finally!
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Dona's went on a little easier...
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Finally! What a guy has to go through for a kiss! I told Marian I didn't think I got it quite right the first time, so I got to do it again :-).
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| Whoppie!
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Sometimes not gettin' it right
the first time has its advantages... |
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Our friends and family in the audience were totally enthralled... of course! Well, at least they didn't doze off...
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| Part of Dona's family
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Ruth and Peg
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Our friend and neighbor Steve Kloetzel sent us off with a wonderful Native American verse, "Apache Song".
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| Steve reading an Apache Song
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We left to a jaunty rendition of "Saint Agnes and the Burning Train." You can interpret that however you wish! When they played it at the wedding it wasn't quite this fast, and it had a bit more of a "lilting" tempo to it, although that may not be the right word. Ah, but to have captured the moment!
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| Off...
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to the tune of...
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St. Agnes and ...
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the Burning Train
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Sid grabbed us, saying the light was just right, so we went down to the river for a few pictures.
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With the ceremony over, mom could let Kya out of jail, people could say "Hi" to Sambo, neighbors could mingle with out-of-towners, and we could take a few more family photos.
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| Mom with Kya,
her constant companion 
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Sambo checks out Jill
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and Ruth and Charlie
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Trudy, Geoff, Pen, Liz, Carol
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The Payne clan (my sister's family)
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Riley, Tash, Alex, Aidan (Dona's middle son & family)
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And then it was time to party!
Steaks were barbequeued by Dona's brother Joe, who hauled a big grill down from Kalispel. Dona's brother Bob handled the chicken. Joe didn't want any contamination of his beef... Our neighborhood friends brought yummy pot luck side dishes. As soon as they were done eating, all the kids chased each other around the haystack.
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| Joe and Nora Fawcett
Waiting to start steaks |
Bob Fawcett, Chicken Man
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| Guest Book
Note the flower vase -- a Dona original |
Photos of Dona
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Photos of Gary
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| Dinner
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Kids love haystacks...
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and then there was the cake... Yum! Made by Bernice's Bakery in Missoula, even people who don't usually like chocolate cake loved it. There was nothing left. Yum. Yum. Yum!
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| Jim Hallett and Paul Alaback,
Cakebearers |
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We had hired some local DJ brothers from Missoula, Aerial Maneuvers Mobile DJ Services, to spin tunes for us. Dona's son Alex recommended them as "The guys I wanted to get for our wedding, but they were booked. They'll make people get out and dance." They didn't need to work too hard, Our friends are generally happy to party.
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| Bride and Groom
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Bride and brother Bob
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Groom and mom
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| Riley and Aidan
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General Mayhem
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London, Eric, Dylan
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| Ian break dancing
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A real line dance
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DJs mixing it up with Blue Moose
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When the disk spinsters took a break, Adin Kloetzel played a hot rendition of the Milk Cow Blues, plus other impromptu stuff. Wish I could do that at age 12! Heck, I wish I could do it now!
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| Adin Kloetzel revving things up
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The next day we started picking up. Hot weather and hoses always leads to a water fight...
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More... |
This page last updated on 2013-11-08.
