The Big Day

The morning of the ceremony began with a bubble bath gone awry and ended with forward ochos and a dip. The plan for the rest of the day was for the hair dresser Terri to show up in our suite at noon, at which time Matt would disappear and make sure that a ceremony would occur several hours later, precisely at 3:30PM. What Matt was actually planning to do was unveil the new master plan for the ceremony to Susan and Tom. Unfortunately, Terri did not show up until an hour and a half later, due to the large number of other wedding guests getting their hair done, making the unveiling problematic and severely decreasing preparation time. Fortunately, a bunch of women showed up and distracted Kristin in the bedroom, allowing Matt, Tom and Susan to conspire in the outer room on the how the kilt could be kept secret until Kristin turned down the aisle, how to modify the ceremony to accomodate the sash pinning, how to get the bagpiper into position and playing at just the right moment, and how to keep the DJs and photographer and whoever else from inadvertently blowing the whole thing prematurely. Other, more mundane tasks, also needed to be accomplished, such as making dinner menus, taking polaroid photographs of the guests, and making sure the kitchen knew how much food to make. Because Tom and Susan's room was being used as the morning salon, that room could not be used as kilt-planning central. We therefore commandeered Paul's room for the purpose.

Once in Paul's room at about 2PM, Matt finally had the chance to see the final package from Scotland. Everything looked great, except for the fact that regular ties had been sent instead of bow-ties. Would regular ties look stupid with tuxedo shirts? The conspirators gave it a try and decided that it could be worse, but still worth doing. After some frantic kilt and jacket ironing, flask filling, and sashing tutorials, the parents arrived at 2:45PM, nominally to pick up their coursages. Julie was the first to arrive, and took the news pretty well. She agreed to wear the sash and pinned it on. Bill and RoseMarie arrived next and likewise agreed to go in on the project once they learned the background. Mike arrived last and was also hip to the idea. By 3:15, all were dressed and ready to go. The bagpiper had arrived was arrived and was in position. The guests were out on the deck and in good spirits. There was only one thing missing -- the bride.

News came down about this time that the hair dressing was taking longer than expected and there would be an hour delay. Matt and Mike sent word that they would walk in twenty minutes if there was no bride, and the reply came back that there would be a bride by 4PM. The plan was for Mike to go to Kristin's room and chase out the attendents once Kristin was ready, and he would wait by the window until Susan gave the word to proceed from the altar. This way Matt and family could proceed into the ceremony without Kristin seeing them from the window. Thus Matt, Julie, Bill and RoseMarie waited in Paul's room, while Tom, Susan and Paul ran back and forth between the two rooms passing messages and keeping the bagpipers' pipes from drying out.

As promised, at 4PM the conspirators received word that the bride was ready. Bill led Julie to her seat and Matt led RoseMarie to hers. The crowd was seated in the sunshine, facing the mountains, which had transformed their majesty into what was arguably the most sacred altar ever used. Matt stood at the front, expectantly staring at the door. When Kristin and Mike approached, the guests stood, blocking the view between the not-yet-newlyweds. But finally the moment had come, and Kristin and Matt stood facing each other, Kristin in her white cape and Matt in his Sligo-tartan kilt. Kristin walked slowly up the aisle, allowing both to savor the moment, holding her father's arm. As Will ended his tune on the bagpipes, Matt and Kristin held hands, and the ceremony began.