Our Marriage (Maiwwage!) at Chief Hosa Lodge
As you may remember, back in January I asked Anna to marry me. (She said “yes,” in case you were wondering.) Immediately after popping the question, we went straight into planning mode.
Within a week, we had already toured multiple venues and put down a deposit on the perfect one, Chief Hosa Lodge. The Lodge is a Denver Parks and Recreation site which was constructed in 1918 using local resources. It is also a National Historic Site.
Located in the mountains just outside of Denver, Chief Hosa’s advantage is that it is inexpensive and extremely flexible while still offering the beauty of nature. Over the next 8 months, we put together an all-star cast of vendors (and friends & family!) and planned out the party.
After many different food tastings—easily one of the best parts of wedding planning!— we decided on going with A Perfect Bite Catering to provide a variety of heavy hors d’oeuvres for the event. They also handled the bartending, where we served down-the-street-from-our-house Brighton-based favorite Something Brewery beers, including kegs of Brew Claw, Ol’ 27, and Totes Mangoes.
Additionally, we owe a huge shoutout to our families, who came up with brilliant ideas for a trail mix bar (with all the best stuff!) and brought a variety of homemade treats, including homemade huckleberry jam all the way from Montana.
For dessert, we had a delicious pink champagne-flavored sweetheart cake made by Milk & Cake, as well as mini-cupcakes in both wedding cake and s’mores flavors.
On August 23, 2019, it happened. The ceremony was one for the history books, thanks to our great friend Jane who wrote the best nerdy ceremony for us! (Click the “read more” section below the map for Jane’s full Officiant Speech!) We were surrounded by friends and family, walking down the aisle to the musical talent of Roma Ransom, the two-piece gypsy folk duo that I met while working at KRFC up in Fort Collins. For the recessional, they learned to play the song “Pink Champagne” by Caitlin Rose, one of our favorite artists. It was perfect.
Additionally, we need to acknowledge Rockstar Rentals for the use of their audio equipment, which got us out onto the dance floor after the ceremony. Additionally, you can listen to the playlist I put together on Spotify, as it really is a rockin’ playlist for any occasion.
If you’ve already looked through the photos, I’m sure you’re wondering who did our flowers. I can say with the highest appreciation that Anna’s parents, Liz and Jim, brought all of the flowers and plants out from Southern California. All of the centerpieces, the bouquets, the boutonnières, and decorative arrangements were put together by family and friends before the wedding, which took hours of delicate work, and was the reason our wedding looked so amazing. Everything was placed by our families before the ceremony.
Finally, a huge shoutout to my friend Lisa, owner of Flash House Photography, who took hundreds of amazing photos of the great time we had, the small moments that we didn’t get to see because we were running around catching up with all of our guests, and the details that made our wedding one of the best days of our lives. I highly recommend Lisa, you can see her work in the photos below.
I would like to say one final thank you to all of our friends and family who came out for our wedding. My parents, Sandy and Rick, and Anna’s parents, Liz and Jim, helped us pull everything together and are the best family we could ask for. Love y’all! Enjoy the pictures.
Jane’s Officiant Speech
See if you can identify all of the nerdy references!
Mawwiage. Mawwiage is what brings us togevah today.
I’m sure most of you came here today expecting a traditional wedding ceremony. But if you know these two at all… you shoulda known better!
You know, when you're a kid, they tell you it's all, grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid, and that's it. But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It's so much darker, and so much madder. And so much better.
You know, we should probably determine if the universe even wants this wedding to happen. Forget what you know, or what you think you know. I will consult the bones! The bones say…. Nothing.
You’re going to have to make a savings throw! Success!
The door in front of you opens and beyond it is a maze that will take you at least 50 years to get through. Instinctively, you know that, for the most part, the maze will be interesting and fun. But there will also some boring sections that seem to go on for-e-ver, along with some challenging sections. You probably won’t have to face mortal combat, but there’s sure to be lots of pitfalls. You may even feel at times you want to give up on finding your way through.
Anna and Ric, I know you have several family members with serious health issues, including cancer, and many of them couldn’t join you today but they are here with you in your hearts. So you personally know that life is not always predictable or easy. But supporting each other can make it better. To make it to the end of the maze and win the most fabulous object in the world, you must stay together and help each other no matter what. So think carefully if you want to go through that door. 'Cause if you do then I should warn you, you're gonna see all sorts of things. Ghosts from the past; Aliens from the future; the day the Earth died in a ball of flame; It won't be quiet, it won't be safe, and it won't be calm. But I'll tell you what it will be: the trip of a lifetime.
Ric, do you wish to proceed? Of course you do. She’s the babe with the power
Anna: What power?
Jane: The power of voodoo
Anna: Who do?
Jane: You do!
Anna: Do what?
Jane: Remind me of a babe.
Anna: What babe?
Jane The babe with the power.
Anna: What power?
Jane: The power of- you know what, we’re getting off track!
Anna, do you wish to proceed?
Your party of two walks through the door. In front of you, you see a statue holding a scroll. You reach out and take the scroll and Reed it.
Scroll: The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love. ~ John Muir
And as you begin your journey, you suddenly find yourself contemplating, what is love? I don't think you can analyze love. It's the greatest mystery of all. No one knows why it happens or doesn't. Love is a chance combination of elements. Any one thing might be enough to keep it from igniting — a mood, a glance, or a remark. And if we could define love, predict it, it would probably lose its power
This is everything I have to tell you about love: nothing.
This is everything I've learned about marriage: nothing.
Only that the world out there is complicated,
and there are beasts in the night, and delight and pain,
and the only thing that makes it okay, sometimes,
is to reach out a hand in the darkness and find another hand to squeeze,
and not to be alone.
It's not the kisses, or never just the kisses: it's what they mean.
Somebody's got your back.
Somebody knows your worst self and somehow doesn't want to rescue you
or send for the army to rescue them.
It's not two broken halves becoming one. (two parter gesture)
It's the light from a distant lighthouse bringing you both safely home
because home is wherever you are both together.
So this is everything I have to tell you about love and marriage: nothing,
like a book without pages or a forest without trees.
Because there are things you cannot know before you experience them.
Because no study can prepare you for the joys or the trials.
Because nobody else's love, nobody else's marriage, is like yours,
and it's a road you can only learn by walking it,
a dance you cannot be taught,
a song that did not exist before you began, together, to sing.
And because in the darkness you will reach out a hand,
not knowing for certain if someone else is even there.
And your hands will meet,
and then neither of you will ever need to be alone again.
And that's all I know about love.
Now please join hands and say the vows you have written for each other.
Mawwiage, that bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam. And wove, twue wove, wiww fowwow you fowevah and evah…
So tweasure your wove. Have you the wings?
Ric, place the ring on Anna’s finger and repeat after me:
I, Ric, take you, Anna, to be my lawfully wedded wife---- and my time travel partner when Marty McFly shows up in a de lorean---- which he will. I promise to protect you---- during the zombie apocalypse.
Anna, place the ring on Ric’s finger and repeat after me:
With this one ring I thee wed---- with this one ring I give you my love and devotion---- with this one ring that binds us together---- as long as we both shall live--- And I promise--- if a mad man in a blue box tries to take me away---- I will insist that you tag along.
May the odds be ever in your favor, may the force be with you and may you live long and prosper. Man and wife. Man and wife. You may now kiss the bride. Make it so.
Ladies and gentleman may I present Mr. and Mrs. Anna Ke-…. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Reed.