It took us 3 1/2 hours and we were there (thanks to the time change) in time to have an early dinner with the family and meet Gary. They wanted a quiet wedding without the fuss, so it was just our family.
After dinner, we all went to freshen up and then we walked down the Riverwalk to the riverboat where they would be married. Laughlin is a strange place because when we were walking we saw a bunch of raccoons and on the way back from the wedding we had to stop a few times to let skunks go by us. You think they would want to keep the varmint population down, but no one really seemed to notice. We had the entire boat to ourselves, which was nice. Leigh Ann has us there 30 minutes early, so the kids explored around (they loved the boat) and waited for the wedding to begin.
Courtney was the flower girl and Ethan was photographer (Leigh Ann bought both the kids disposable cameras to use during the ceremony but I ended up using Courtney's because she isn't that great at taking photos and wasn't too interested because she was busy with flower girl duties). Leigh Ann had gotten everyone an artificial red rose to hold but Courtney and Ethan ended up with all of them, so Courtney carried hers down the aisle as she walked. Then Dad walked Leigh Ann down the aisle.
The minister did the ceremony and it was nice. Leigh Ann had a hard time getting Gary's wedding band off her finger when she had been wearing it for safe keeping ;) But it was a nice ceremony topped off with a toast and then they were given a t-shirt saying "I took the plunge in Laughlin." Then we got to play for another 45 minutes on the boat.
They turned on some music, gave us bottles of water and we went onto the second story to look around. Courtney began practicing walking down the aisle with all her flowers and Ethan began to dance Irish jigs for us to make us laugh. Then the co-captain came up and asked the kids if they wanted to drive the boat. They were THRILLED!! Courtney went first and even was allowed to honk the horn. The captain let them look through his binoculars and steer, it was great. Ethan took his job very seriously and asked a lot of questions and watched where he was driving. Courtney just moved the wheel to the beat of the music. They were even given certificates stating that they are honorary captains of the boat.
After the boat ride and we were docked, we went back to our hotel room with the intention of going swimming, but the kids were tired. So we all got ready for bed, had a few tantrums from Courtney because she was just overly tired, and then went to sleep.
The next morning we ate breakfast, watched the HUGE carp swim around the dock and watched the ducks. Then we loaded up and headed home so we could be back in time for Ethan's soccer game.
Congratulations Leigh Ann and Gary!
Here are some photos:
3 comments:
Dear Leigh Ann and Gary, Congratulations!! We are very happy for you. It was fun to get Ronnie's information and also Michelle's blog! We wish you the very best.
Love, Aunt Geraldine and Uncle Ralph
wow, that's crazy!, only because as sister of the brother in law, we had no idea! congrats to Leigh Ann and Gary.
I didn't either! Congratulations to Leigh Ann and Gary.
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