ALASTAIR & DAWN WEDDING: Part 1 of 2: Official

Alastair and Dawn were married on April 25, 2009 in the presence of both sets of parents, namely, Linda and Dave, and Iain and Barb. It was Alabama, USA and Scotland meeting Vancouver in Vegas.

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After Alastair and Dawn collected the official forms in the morning, we six gathered at this building in downtown Vegas. It was a 'drive-through' wedding - observe the drive-in entrance on the left.

For the ceremony, the bride and groom remained seated in their Mustang while the parent-witnesses gathered at the back bumper. The door in the background left and the window indicate the office of the official person - a lady, as it happened - who appears at the end of the ceremony after the 'theatrical' part.

So the ceremony started with the fun part, namely, 'Elvis', a personable chap who, for 10 minutes entertained us with his Elvis Ceremony which included him, and the rest of us, singing Love Me Tender and Viva Las Vegas!

Himself brought along his bagpipes and played the Happy Couple into the drive-in window at the appointed hour of 2 pm. His kilt, being too much to carry as baggage - and too hot for Vegas - had to be left behind and in its place was the next best thing, his father's Seaforth Balmoral bunnet.

The ceremony finished with the official person "authorized by the State of Nevada" asking both: "Do you take this person ...? " and then pronouncing them "man and wife".

The Bridal Beauty

A celebratory dinner was held at 6:30 pm in the elegant Wynn Hotel, recommended by their friend Ryan, a chef, who took a video of the wedding. Dawn organised the cake (with the hotel) which was sponge with chocolate and butter cream filling. The tartan (included in her flowers and also Alastair's bowtie) is Dress MacLeod.