The guns were everywhere.
The day dawned bright and beautiful. The storms from earlier in the week were gone. The weather was turning out to be one of these days that make Utah so beautiful in the Fall. The beauty of the weather and the fall foliage was nothing compared to my daughter.
Every daughter is a princess. It’s just that sometimes they look more like the the gardener than royalty. This daughter had certainly been one of those. She hated dresses growing up. She cut her hair short. She played baseball not softball. In fact there was nothing at all soft about her. One of the decisions she will make will be when to change her Army title from 2LT Bliss to 2LT James.
So, to see her dressed in white with something resembling lace and frills was a different look. And she looked beautiful. Even the white cowboy boots that she had paired with her dress were feminine and demure. Of course, the .45 Rutger semi-automatic pistol tucked in a holster at her hip made a more bold statement.
Most times when you are having the daddy/daughter dance, your biggest worry is stepping on someone’s toes. On Saturday we added “accidental discharge” as a potential consequence.
See, my daughter didn’t pick wedding colors. She was perfectly happy having the reception in her in-laws backyard. “Dinner” was my wife’s homemade potato salad and we served home canned grapejuice in mason jars to drink. But, the one important aspect of the reception was that she (and her husband) wanted an open-carry reception. The invitations even said that people were encouraged to bring firearms.
They did.
In addition to the bride’s .45, the groom had a holstered revolver. I think it was a .357, but I never actually asked. I don’t think I have ever seen so many guns in public in my life. At least not in a setting where no one is wearing a uniform. It was exactly the way the bride and groom wanted it.
I took advantage of the chance to hold a true shotgun wedding. My friend Dave does leatherwork. He made me a bandolier for the wedding.
He loaned me a shotgun as well.
Giving a daughter away is always a bittersweet moment. I think it’s part of the reason we have a big party, to distract the father of the bride from thinking too much about his changing relationship with his daughter. With the amount of firepower and live ammunition at the event over the weekend, we needed to pay even better attention.
I’m just glad Mormon weddings don’t involve alcohol.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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