Weddingbee Blog

While the ladies started primping and preening as only girls can do before a wedding, the guys took their sweet time savoring their breakfast, lounging in their pajamas, and shooting the breeze in the Lodge lobby.

Mr. CP, on the other hand, had been convinced by his cousin Alexander to give himself a wedding-day “wake up” in a different way.

Years ago, Alexander spent many summers working in Glacier National Park at Lake McDonald Lodge. One of his favorite morning pastimes was diving off the boat dock into the lake. A good way, he said, to wake up and enjoy the beauty that’s before you. So that’s what they did!

The low clouds that often hang over the lake in the morning were lifting over the foothills as they took a final plunge into Lake McDonald.

A side story: In the background of this photo, you can see Howe Ridge, which was severely burned in the 2003 Robert’s Complex fires. Glacier is always in danger of wildfires, particularly late in the summer when everything is dry and the storms move in. Most of the recent years we’ve been in Glacier, there have been fires burning nearby which substantially decreased air quality and visibility in the park.

The Trapper Creek and Roberts Complex fires were by far the worst we’ve ever seen. The fire that burned on Howe Ridge swept through the miles of the park in just one night due to high winds. This activity closed the park to the public for two weeks because the NPS was so worried that the fire would come up the south side of the lake and destroy residential and park properties. We visited just a week after Glacier re-opened, while the fire still smoldered. That year, soot filled the cabin and smoke rose to the top of the peaks. There was no escaping that fire.

Every year since then, we’ve seen some wildfire activity… but there hadn’t been any at all during the summer of 2008. So although we weren’t pleased with the cool and damp weather, we were happy that the park wasn’t on fire and that when the clouds lifted, our guests could at least see far enough to take in the magnificent views.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Best Man Micah was taking the spare time to finish working on his speech and to transcribe his notes to paper. Look at all those words!

When Mr. CP was back from his dip, the groomsmen crammed into our minuscule hotel room and started getting ready. This almost exclusively consisted of:

1. Taking a shower and shaving
2. Putting on pants and a shirt
3. Running a comb/finger through hair
4. Tying a tie

From these photos, one can accurately intuit that the first three steps took about 20 minutes, and the last step at least another 20, if not longer.

I guess Mr. CP had to help some of his fellas with their Windsor knots, too. (That’s my boy.)

Did I mention that he was proud of his suit? He had it custom-made at Kuhlman’s in Seattle and was very pleased with the results.

See the lovely stitching? He’ll point it out, if you like…

And there he is, a dapper and dandy groom, ready in about a quarter of the time it took the girls.

After that, it was just a matter of tying up a few loose ends and gathering together a few important items, like the extra copy of our ceremony and our hand-dyed handfasting cord:

Finished and with plenty of time to spare, the Best Man’s expression adequately sums up the guys’ predicament…

Welp, what do we do now?

Micah sequestered himself back into his corner to perfect the finer points of his toast.

The rest of the groomsmen took over the lobby…

There was time enough for Mr. CP to read a book…

And to contemplate the day ahead…

… while the women were still scurrying about frantically upstairs.

When the groom’s bus arrived, Micah gave a soft knock on the door of the bridal “suite” (where “suite” is a euphemism for “disaster area”) to tell us they were heading out.

One last pow-wow in the lobby to practice looking tough, well-groomed, and manly, and the dudetourage was on its way…

Up next, photos from the bus and the ladies’ long ride to Polebridge.

[Credits: All images courtesy of Piknik Studios.]

Previously:

Married in Montana: The Rehearsal
Married in Montana: The Girls Get Ready