Max and Diana's Wedding

The most anticipated event of the Year, besides babies being born, was the wedding of Mona's son Max and his fiance Diana. Since most of their friends, as well as Diana's family, lives in the LA area we all assumed that they would want to get married there. Max being raised in Bonner's 

ferry has lots of friends up here too.  Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, their LA friends and Diana's family wanted to get out of LA and thought a North Idaho wedding was a great idea..So they ended up having the wedding in Coeur d'Alene. There is a large bed and breakfast venue in Coeur d'Alene call the Roosevelt Inn. They managed to rent that entire facility for the weekend so many of their out-of-town friends could stay with them. It couldn't accommodate everybody but a good percentage did stay there.

 The night before the wedding Max and Diana had a meet and greet party on the Roosevelt Inn's grounds. All of my family was able to attend and we managed to get this wonderful picture of all of us.

 Here is Mona's family minus her kids Max, Diana and Lucy. Going around the table there's me. Then her brother Tracy and his wife Kathy, followed by her nephew Jay and his wife Susie. Then her niece Yvette and next to her, Mona's nephew Kyle who is Tracy's son. Then niece Kirsten who is Cathy's daughter. And finally, the mother of the groom, Mona.

 At this table was Diana surrounded by her friends.

 The next day the wedding was at a venue outside of Coeur d'Alene called Settlers Creek. The weather was perfect. Max has a lot of friends who all wanted to be part of the wedding. So rather than try to balance out the boys and girls they just invited all the boys.

 I like it when wedding photographers allow for a little spontaneity and fun and their photos. He just told them to do something silly.

And here is Mona's family, Lucy, Mona, Max and ex-husband, Doug.

Settler's Creek is a stunning venue for weddings. It's a converted small farm and vineyard. What an ideal spot for a wedding.

 The two silos in the background make a stunning backdrop for the newlyweds.

 And then we danced The Night Away.  Mona and Celia, Diana's mother in the foreground, set the pace for dancing.

 Since the wedding venue closed at 10 all the young adults boarded a chartered bus (no need to worry about drinking and driving) and went back to the Roosevelt in for some "silent disco"dancing. This was a huge success and needs some explaining. Max and Diana had rented headphones which everybody wore. The DJ would play three different songs with the same beat. You could choose which one of the three songs you wanted to listen to by changing the color of your headset: red, green, or blue. It was a hoot to walk up and see everyone dancing and not hearing any music. Most of us have never seen this before. The Roosevelt in people were especially excited. They hadn't seen it before either and loved it.  They didn't have to worry about having the police come by for violating noise ordinances.

 The next morning Mona and Doug put on a brunch for family and friends who traveled to the wedding.

This was one of the best weddings I think I have been at. These young adults know how to party. But more importantly, it was so great to see Max and Diana and just how much in love they are. It is a true joy to be around them