Shelley's Wedding and Shoshone Falls

In a super whirlwind, tiny ceremony in Idaho, my beautiful baby sister married her sweet man. I found out about this wedding about a month prior. Originally planned for June, the wedding was reconfigured to be parents only as his mother is ailing and they wanted her to be a part of their celebration. Two weeks later, I received a call that the invite list now included siblings. Holy crap! I scrambled to buy a ticket with a little bit of freaking out about the price and schedule and layovers. After a minor melt down calmly readjusting my thoughts, I found what I needed and booked it.

In no time at all, I was falling asleep on a red eye flight to Salt Lake City. Emily picked me up in the morning, we brunched, picked up a cake and began the journey north. The wedding was held at Kelton's parent's farm in Burley. It was a three hour drive of fields and farmland and snow flurries. We stayed at the Marriott, all four girls in two adjacent rooms. So much noise, so much sass! Anyway, Mom made lasagna and brought pumpkin pie for dinner at the farm. We overwhelmed his family with wildly told stories about Shelley and how she was the cutest kid ever. Kelton told us funny stories about growing up the youngest of seven. I'm ever glad to have been first.

Wedding day Anne, Emily and I woke up at an uncivilized hour to go check out Shoshone Falls at sunrise. The falls are about 45 minutes west of Burley. We piled in Anne's little Beetle and drove down the road singing our favorite late '90s and early 2000s jams. So much talent, you wouldn't believe it. We arrived at the falls just as the sky was lighting up. The falls are part of a reservoir on the Snake River. It's an incredible spot!! We found every available overlook and angle to take pictures from.

On the drive back, we stopped at a super tall bridge spanning the gorge cut by the river. The bridge is called Hansen Bridge. Fitting, no? It's super rad! We walked along the rim of the canyon with Emily joking that Anne is Jon Snow with her black mane of curls spilling out over her puffy winter coat, black of course. So many "Winter is Coming" jokes. (Game of Thrones, if you've spent the past decade under a rock.) Anne doesn't read my blog. So, Lord Snow, Em and I enjoyed the heck out of that place taking pictures and hoping we didn't slip on the snow dusted rocks and fall to our deaths. Ok, it maybe wasn't actually that slippery, but it really was that far.

The three of us made it back with time for everyone to shower, do hair, makeup, dress, and freak out that Shelley had disappeared. She returned to frenzy of activity. Anne did hair, Emily did make up. I moved stuff to the room Shelley and Kelton were staying in that night. I'm the hired muscle, not the one with artistic talent, obvi. Anyway, Anne and I took pictures while Emily helped Shelley into her dress. She looked stunning. The makeup was lovely, the hair impressive, but Shell glowed, and it had nothing to do with either.

I had the honor of driving the bride to the farm (add cheauffer to my list of skills!) and we set up first look pictures. Kelton came out looking dashing in a black blazer, kilt and tall black socks. We made him turn around and wait for the arrival of the queen...I mean bride. The first look was everything we all hoped for. He had an "allergy attack" on seeing her, immediately bursting into tears.  Soooo sweet!

A friend of theirs was ordained just for the ceremony. Jordan, like Kelton, wore a kilt and tie. He did a fantastic job. Wayne sang "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley as everyone walked down the aisle. Jordan gave a sweet and heartfelt sermon on love and commitment. Anne was photographer and took about a million pictures. They're lovely, by the way.

Afterward, family photos were taken and we went to a nearby daycare facility for lunch. It sounds weird, but it's really just a large warm space. Warm was important since I could see my breath for the full ceremony. Kelton's siblings had prepared a wonderful taco bar and decorated tables in a fall theme. There was a huge cake topped with flowers and a Deadpool silhouette that everyone said was yummy to go along with it. Shell and Kelton cut the cake. She stole the first bite and made a giant mess of Kelton's nose giving him the next taste. He was planning to be sweet, but she deserved the cake face. It was all smiles. The gluten intolerant girl (me) cut and passed out the cake to everyone. It disappeared remarkably fast. Dad gave a heartfelt toast. Shortly there after, everyone packed up, gave hugs, and went their own way. Short, sweet, beautiful.

Em and I drove back in a bit of a blizzard. Utah/Idaho snow is dry and easy to drive in. So I did just fine!