I have gone years without going to a wedding, but now we're in a Wedding Season for sure. There was the giant ranch wedding in June. I'm going to my niece's wedding in Vermont in October. And just last night, we went to another (slightly less giant) ranch wedding.
This one was also for a young lady who works at the school. She married our Superintendent's son, and the wedding was on his family ranch. It was a little over an hour from us. This one was slightly less formal than the one we went to in June. However, given that the dress code is always just varying degrees of formality in Western dress, that mostly meant that it was the women who didn't dress up quite as much. The men still wore their carefully ironed jeans, button-ups, hats, and boots.
Ironing in progress. Thankfully, the boys can all iron their own clothes now.
The women wore more-casual dresses and cowboy boots instead of heels.
I wore a long denim skirt and espadrille sandals. Boots would have been better, though, because there was no paved surface anywhere to be seen. Anyone foolish enough to wear thin heels would have been in big trouble.
The actual wedding service was on the edge of a river canyon, which required driving a bumpy track from the dirt road we came in on.
The track was very fine dirt, which kicked up a lot of dust and would have turned into an absolute quagmire had it rained at all.
There was no rain in sight, however, just a lot of sun.
It was about a hundred-yard walk to the service, with no path to be seen.
The service was at 5:30 p.m., when it was still at least 90 degrees, but it was pretty short. I was thankful for this, given that we were all sitting on boards supported by hay bales in full sun.
The service was performed in front of this cross. Note the aisle made of cowhides.
The bride and groom actually rode up to the aisle on their horses, the bride riding side saddle because of her long dress. This was the most Western wedding ever. But it wasn't performative or anything. This is really just the life these people live.
The service was very nice, and then we all got back in our cars and drove back to the dirt road for the reception.
Walking to the reception. Another hundred yards or so, no paths to be seen.
This was near the cattle pens, which were close enough to a road that there was electricity. They set up awnings for shade, the band was on a flat-bed trailer, and the dance floor was plywood.
Unusually for a wedding--or any event--the food was ready when we got the reception. After signing the guest book, we all just filed past a food truck and got our dinner. No waiting for speeches or whatever, which was great.
The food was delicious, too. They didn't have a cake, just giant cupcakes, which were also very good.
I discovered when I was dancing with the eldest that they had coated the plywood in flour. This was to make it easier to spin, I guess, but it also made it surprisingly slippery. Once again, I would have been better off in boots. Espadrilles are not made for the two-step.
Anyway. It was a very fun wedding and we all had a good time.
One quick shot of this week's flowers before I go . . .
There you have it! My life, snapshotted.
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