Our Wedding

We were married February 6, 1982 in Diamond Valley, Nevada about twelve miles northwest of Eureka, Nevada. Rex Roberts performed the ceremony. He was our branch president. We were married in the afternoon in a house on Blue Diamond Farm. It was named after my brother, Gordon.

Christian’s whole family came from Washington with the exception of his brother, Erin, who was serving a mission in Argentina. Antone Purcell (a good friend and self-proclaimed foster brother) also came.

From my family, we had all of my brothers and sisters, Grandma and Granddad Quigley, Grandma Whitaker, Lewis and Julie Quigley, and little baby Jared who had been born just under a month before. (Kevin was already in Germany finding housing for his new little family.) Lisa Johnson came out from Fallon with her mother and sister, Lorelei and Shannon. She was my maid of honor.

Mom had hurried and gotten everything ready. She made my wedding dress and it was beautiful. Each of the bridesmaids wore a white shirt and Mom made matching blue wrap-around skirts for them. She also put nice fabric up on the windows so it would go with everything. She did the flowers and the cake. I wanted cream puffs so she did those too. She was amazing.

It was bitter cold outside, about 30 degrees below zero. It was so cold that the Larson’s had to start a fire under the car, just to get the oil thawed out so they could start it. They got clear over to the house and realized that they had forgotten the ring and had to go back to get it. (just a couple of miles.) Christian picked out beautiful rings. I really wanted white gold because I liked it better. He couldn’t find anything he liked well enough in white gold and settled for matching bands of yellow gold but on top was a layer of brushed white gold and four little diamonds. They were absolutely beautiful and I couldn’t have done a better job myself. I loved those rings. I still really love the look of the two colors of white and yellow gold together.

It was a very nice ceremony. One funny thing that happened was that during the opening prayer, Jared filled his pants. It was long and loud. It was so funny that it was hard for me to keep from giggling. Then we had the wedding starting with President Roberts talking to us for a few minutes followed by the ceremony. Granddad Quigley sang “Oh Promise Me.” He used to be in the Tabernacle Choir and had a beautiful voice. Later on, when I saw the movie Anne of Green Gables I thought it was funny that they made fun of our wedding song.

Afterwards we had a nice reception with friends and family there. We had a lot of people that came out and supported us. Mom and Dad had a lot of good friends so we had a good turnout. Grandma Quigley took over the organizing of the pictures. She was in her element. Everyone dubbed her “General Quigley” but I think she loved that. It was a good thing she did this though because we now have some tangible memories of that special day.

Both families loved music and so a group of the men, mostly family, sang around the piano and it was a nice time.

The Quigleys rented a hotel in town for us. Valerie and Corey snuck out to the hotel and decorated our car. Christian noticed it when he got up in the middle of the night to start the car. It was so cold that we had to let the engine run for a while so the oil wouldn’t freeze again. The next morning, we thought we had taken off most of the cans that they had tied on but as we pulled out, we found out they had put some quite far under the car. We rattled our way the twelve miles back out to the farm. It was fun.

The next day, we were off . The first day we went as far as Klamath Falls, Oregon and spent the night with Christian’s Uncle Dougie MacGregor and Aunt Marion. We rode in the car with the Larsons while Christian’s siblings rode in the other car. The next day we switched cars and headed up on our own up the Oregon Coast. It was fun and I was especially glad to see the ocean. It was fun to realize that we were married and could be together. I loved Christian so much. It seemed like it was too good to be true. I was lucky to marry into such a great, supportive family.

That night, we stayed in a little hotel and ordered a pizza. I remember that we didn’t eat the whole thing and threw away the last piece. The next morning while Christian was in the shower, I was feeling sick and was getting very nauseas. I knew if I didn’t eat soon it was going to be bad. I remember fishing that extra piece of pizza out of the trash bag and having a few bites to settle my stomach.

That day we made it to Chehalis where we stayed in the Larson’s garage that had been converted into a bedroom. This was such a nice thing for them to do for us because Nathan and Mike Harris had no bedroom once I moved in. They had to sleep in the living room on the floor in that little 900 square foot house. I’ll bet they hated me! We stayed there until April when my parents came up to get us and take us back to Nevada so Christian could work for Dad.

Dad and Mom gave us a car as a wedding present. It was a their Chrysler Newport.

Ariana, 31 March 2009: Wow, Mom! This blog looks great! I loved reading the story of your wedding. I can't wait for everyone to start adding their memories!

Melanni, 1 April 2009: Hi Mom-I loved this memory. I always wondered about the details of your wedding day! This memory blog is a great idea and, like Ariana said, I can't wait to read everyone's memories once we all start posting!