Amanda and Brian’s Wedding

Friday we packed up flowers, food, wedding dress and tuxedoes and headed to the Long Hollow Ranch in Sisters OR for the wedding weekend. The ranch is a lovely event venue. It has three buildings on site with bedrooms for special guests and a camping area. The barn has a kitchen for food prep and a bar and a dance floor. We had the ceremony in a somewhat shady area and the reception dinner in front of the barn.

Friday late-afternoon was the rehearsal, followed by a taco truck dinner. The wedding party, family, and out-of-town guests enjoyed the cool , but very breezy, evening. The weather here has been very hot during the day, but cools down significantly during the evening.

Saturday was filled with the usual wedding preparations. When ready, Brian and his groomsmen looked so elegant in their gray tuxes. My grandsons Clay, Wyatt, and Graham looked so grown-up and handsome. Amanda was absolutely stunning in her dress. The bridesmaids, dressed in purple, periwinkle, dusty rose, green, rust, and deep yellow achieved the look of a bouquet of wildflowers – the look Amanda was hoping for.
The wedding, officiated by Andrew, with a reading by Steven went well and Louie dog delivered the rings without becoming too distracted. After the ceremony, Mr and Mrs Barton celebrated with us at the barn. The dinner, a pig roast, was excellent with a fantastic band. A large number of the guests were camping at the ranch, so once the band stopped playing at 10 (noise ordinance) they held an impromptu, quiet sing-along outside the barn. Ali, Amanda’s friend and our hostess from Thursday evening, did a fire dance. Many of the older crowd headed to bed, leaving the young ones to enjoy.

Sunday morning we provided an informal breakfast for campers and anyone who wished to travel back out from town. Our family was well-represented with Mary, Mike, Allyn, Claire, and Nora coming out to say good-bye before they headed out to explore a bit.

Then we had to madly pack up and clean the three houses and barn for a noon checkout. With lots of hands and feet, particularly the help of our grandsons, everything got loaded into vans and trucks, trash moved out, and the floors mopped. We actually finished at 11:30 and headed back to Bend to unpack and put away.

it was a wonderful weekend. Sadly, as usual, there is never enough time to talk with everyone.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)