When we finally decided to sit down and plan our wedding neither
one of us wanted what would be called a "Normal Wedding". What we
were interested in doing was to throw a party for our family and friends
so they could help us celebrate an extremely important event in our lives.
Seeing as how our Motorcycle was what brought us together in the first
place, we figured that our wedding should be in some way biker related.
Unfortunately, Joe blew up the engine on the bike in February and try as
he might, it just wasn't going to be running before the Blessed Event,
no matter who he pleaded with to "Find the Parts!". He did threaten
to put the frame on a trailer and have it hauled to the ceremony although
that wasn't necessary thanks to Spence.
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Knowing the situation, Spence and Kathy from Foxes offered their
Electra-Glide Ultra for the occasion. And a good thing too as with
a little help from Toms' I-Pod it also doubled as the sound system for
the ceremony.
We've always had kind of a soft spot for River Island State Park on
the Colorado River below Parker Dam. It's a beautiful area in a secluded
canyon right on the river and one of the few places in this part of the
state where you actually will find trees and grass, at least what passes
for grass in this area.
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Teri really only had one request concerning the ceremony and that
was she wanted to walk down an "Aisle of Bikes". Seeing as how the
vast majority of our friends and family ride, this wasn't seen as much
of a problem.
As the date approached we arranged for enough chairs to supplement the
benches that were already in place at the amphitheater and contacted the
Arizona State Parks concerning parking just a few motorcycles on their
grass. (This should read Teri did most of the work.)
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The plan for our end of the festivities was for the guests to arrive
sometime between three and four in the afternoon for a four pm ceremony.
The Club decided that they couldn't witness one of their Brothers getting
hitched in a completely sober state of mind, so they were going to arrive
at Blue Bar around two to bolster their courage. Then on to River
Island State Park at three. Joe, Bugs (Blockhead) and Mad Mike were
supposed to also arrive at River Island at three to help set up the chairs
then parade around for an hour in their Monkey Suits until the bridal party
arrived via limo at four sharp.
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When Joe made the invitations we figured that something needed
to be said about the type of dress that we wished the guests to wear.
We figured the most simple way to get our point across was to simply put
at the bottom of the invitation, Attire: Biker Formal.
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Well...we thought it was self explanatory but we got a lot of questions
regarding "What exactly is Biker Formal?" Biker formal as we explained
it is simply clean T-Shirts and blue jeans without too many holes in them.
The wedding party on the other hand was going to dress formal. The
guys in Western Tuxedos, courtesy of JR's Mens Store in Cody Wyoming, and
the girls, Shawn & Shylah in brides maid dresses and the beautiful
bride in a satin sand colored halter wedding dress. Low cut of course
to meet Joes'' approval!!
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Several years ago at a Club event, Bugs gave Joe a ratty old derby
after discovering that it really didn't have the good luck properties he
thought it did. Joe took a liking to wearing this chapeaux while
riding and soon replaced it. By now he's on his third one, ordered
specially for the wedding back in February. It's kind of become his
trademark you could say. How many people do you every see riding
down the highway on an Electra-Glide at seventy miles per hours sporting
a Western Derby perched on his head?
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Well it turns out that the Club, not being able to restrain themselves
from at least one practical joke sent the Prospect on a mission a few weeks
before the wedding. His mission was to obtain enough "Derby's" for
all the Members to be worn at the wedding. As it turns out, St. Patrick's
Day provided the local Wal-Mart with a large supply of Irish Green plastic
Derby's. All he had to do was paint them all black.
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The grooms wedding party managed to arrive within fifteen minutes
of when they were supposed to be at the park, thanks in to part to having
to dress themselves. If you ever want to have some fun, give three
bikers tuxedos and tell them to dress themselves. Especially if one
of them (Bugs) has discovered that the bar serves Patron Tequila, 'nuf
said.
When the grooms wedding party arrived at River Island State Park
every Member was topped in a Derby.
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The brides wedding party arrived at four sharp, sort of, via limo
provided by Peggy for the occasion. Teri and Joes'' dad Ray have
become fast friends over the last couple of years and since her father
passed away a few years ago she asked Ray to walk her down the aisle on
her wedding day. What she didn't tell him was that the ground isn't
exactly level but each holding on to the other they managed to make it
to the appointed spot without their leather sole shoes sliding down the
hill and landing them in a heap.
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Teri had spent several weeks researching and writing the ceremony
to be officiated by Louie, Joes'' sisters minister from Parker. The
ceremony came off without a hitch and when Louie pronounced the happy couple
man and wife a rain of black plastic Derby's showered down on those of
us up front. To this point Teri hadn't noticed the fact that the
entire Club sported the unusual head gear.
We'd both like to give a very large "Thank You" to Mike Barton for the
pictures you see on this web page as well as dozens more that we just didn't
have space to post. As soon as Mike finished with the photos we loaded
up the bikes and proceeded to Foxes for the less serious part of the celebration.
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The reception was scheduled to take place at Foxes Pierpoint Landing,
courtesy of Spence and Kathy. When it comes to putting on a party
these two know how to make it happen. Actually, here again it would
be our guess that Kathy is the expert in the area of organizing.
There must be something about the female genes that allow them to pull
off a huge event and not turn into raving lunatics in the process.
Foxes laid out a spread under their big tent and Diane made sure that
nobody got thirsty. We just can't thank Spence, Kathy and the folks
at Foxes enough for all they did for us. Foxes made sure that those
who wanted to spend the night had proper accommodations. Whether
it was a grassy spot to pitch their tent or a park model trailer.
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About the only small hitch we had for the whole affair was the
band that we had hired canceled on us five days before the wedding day.
So much for paying a deposit, or for getting it back as far as that's concerned.
Anyway...Joe kind of had a panic attack then got on the phone to a few
people. We managed to find a guy down in Parker who put together
an impromptu band for us that did an outstanding job. We'd mention
the name of their band here, but they didn't have one.
They managed to play most of the night or until just about
everybody had tipped over or headed back to Havasu or parts unknown.
You'll notice that you don't see too many pictures from the reception on
this page. Everybody was having too much fun to take a lot of pictures.
There were the obligatory toasts and speeches given by those who had
guts enough to stand up to the microphone but without a doubt Shylah and
Shawn stole the show. They both managed to get on stage and give
toasts that left very few dry eyes in the audience.
All in all, it was a great day and everybody had a lot of fun.
We did get questioned about a honeymoon by just about everybody.
About the only answer that we could think of that made sense was, "We've
been on a honeymoon since we met!"
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