May 16th - Reception Day

After the relative calm of our Wedding Day, the real work began. RockCrawlinChef and I knew that we wanted a small wedding, just our family, but that we wanted to have one hell of a party with our friends to celebrate. Let me tell you, throwing a party for the 160+ RSVPs we had was WORK. But it was well worth it! RCC and Scott headed into the kitchen first thing Friday morning to begin cooking, while the grunts (me, Bill, and Not A GunDiva) started the physical labor. Friday was pretty much just prep work - a lot of the stuff couldn't be done until Saturday, but we did as much stuff as absolutely possible. We (the grunts) moved the grill (I'd still have it's babies), the smoker, a horse trailer full of chairs and a ton of propane to Kai and Annie's house so that all we'd have to do on Saturday was set everything up.

We managed to get everything done that we could and headed back up to the mountain, where Estee and I had plans to ride hard for a little bit to blow off some steam. She's wonderful for just that. Deejo and his family had finally arrived from Arizona and were asleep when we got back up the hill, which worked out perfectly. Since they were asleep, I didn't feel at all guilty about running away on my horse for an hour. Well, I felt a little guilty, since RCC and Scott were still slaving away in the kitchen, but I got over it.

Saturday morning dawned over-cast, which bummed me out a bit. But I got over that, too. I mean, everyone who had RSVP'd was from Colorado and knew how to layer for a BBQ. Turns out, I didn't need to worry - the clouds went away and it got down-right hot! I managed to get myself a little bit of a sunburn doing more grunt labor.

All available hands got put to work on Saturday. My friends, Matt and Angie, who drove down from WY late Friday night, got put to work hauling me, Ashee-butt, and her "bestie" all over Northern Colorado doing last minute stuff. Ash and her bestie worked their skinny little butts off setting up all of the tables and chairs. Matt and Angie were indispensable helping with all of the odds and ends. Annie, God bless her, put together 120 champagne flutes for the toast. Mom and my friend Cindy decorated what had to seem like a million cakes. Digger got stuck being a "go-fer" and Monster got put to work where ever we needed him. It was really heartwarming to have so many friends and family pull together to see the reception go off without a hitch.

We got everything set up with time to spare. It was amazing.

We had a great turn-out; somewhere just over a hundred people turned up to help us celebrate our wedding. It was great to finally get to meet some of RCC's friends, whom I've heard a lot about, but had never gotten to meet. And it was even better to see some of my friends who I haven't seen in forever. I'm sure every couple feels badly that they don't get to spend much time with each person at their reception, and we're no exception. There were so many people that I wanted to just sit and talk with, but we only had a few hours, and it would have taken me days to spend the amount of time with each person that I wanted to.

RCC and Scott got the party started with an "Appetizer Showdown". Each prepared an appetizer (approximately one hundred each) and the guests got to vote for their favorite appetizer by placing a blue ribbon next to their favorite chef's name. RCC won first place with his Pina Colada Meatballs and Scott won first loser with his Firecracker Shrimp and Chicken. It was a great time, and what a way to jump start everyone's appetites.

I'm pretty sure that Scott and RCC managed to prep enough food for everyone to have thirds and fourths. Scott, having run his own catering business in the past, told us that they'd prepared enough food to feed between 400-500 people. No one should have left hungry.

The kids ended the night with a slideshow that they put together that had everyone in happy tears. For the few people with dry eyes, Digger finished them off by playing "The Man He Didn't Have To Be" (at least I think that's the name of it) and welcoming RCC with, "welcome to the family, Dad."