We Finally Tied The Knot!!

Thanks To All Of You
Who Helped Us
Celebrate Our Wedding Day!!

April 6th, 2002


 
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.


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.

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.)

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.
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.
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!!
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.

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.

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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