Aftermath of Casey's wedding in our back yard...

Despite the fact that I was tired to the bone, I got up fairly early, about 0800, on Sunday, June 24, 2007, to start the chore of cleaning up in the back yard, patio, and the whole bacy yard, as that was my part of the operation of returning our house back to normal.

Our guests were a neat, clean crowd, but when you have 60+ people packed into a relatively small space, things can get well out of hand. Despite the fact that we'd provided a couple of large trash cans, there were numerous little trashy "thingies" drifting around the back yard that I had to pick up, there were tables to stack, and 80 folding, rented chairs that I needed to get off the lawn, and stack into neat rows, to assist the guys from the rental company. Then, there were the two canopies that belonged to us that I had to take down and store, and the two rented ones that had to be taken down and folded, so the Aba Dabba guys could pick them up on Monday.

Left: The patio behind our house, the morning after, shows great disarray. Right: Looking at the big top tent and the ajoining canopies that I haven't had a chance to take down. The tables and chairs are still stacked under the tent.

Taking down and storing the canopies that belonged to us wasn't a problem, as it was just a lot of work. The ones that we'd rented were another matter, as I didn't have a clue of what to do with them. Sharlene told me to relax, as Jacquie knew what to do, and when she and Dave came over, they'd help me with the chore.

I wasn't disappointed, as when Jacquie and Dave arrived, they gladly pitched in to help me. Dave and I moved all of the tables from the lawn into a central spot on the patio, and Jacquie had the canopies packed up and ready to go in less than five minutes. Then, Jacquie, Dave and I moved the remaining chairs on to the patio, neatly stacked them, and went inside to enjoy a good Sunday morning breakfast, and some outstanding company.

After all of our guests left, Sharlene and I went back to work. The inside of the house was a mess, and a disaster, but Sharlene worked at it all day, and by our late afternoon quitting time, the interior was almost back to normal. I kept myself busy all day Sunday, picking up stuff, stuffing wedding decorations, bags, cardboard, junk, and more junk into 30-gallon trash bags, and then loading the bags into the back of the truck. By late afternoon, I had a truck load of stuff, destined for the dump the next day.

Left: Looking from the shed into the disarray of the patio, before the day's clean-up work began. Right: The patio is cleaned, and the chairs are stacked, and things are starting to get back to normal.

We called it quits late Sunday afternoon, as we were both exhausted. We'd offered to take Jacquie, Dave, Paris and Matt out to dinner at Tahoe Joe's Famous Steakhouse in Roseville, where we enjoyed a delicious dinner. Click on the hyperlink to read about our dining experience at Tahoe Joe's.

Monday, June 25, 2007 I had the fun chore of taking the remains of Casey's wedding, a whole truck load of it, to our local dump, and pay the princely price of $15.00 to get rid of it. One of our neighbors offered the use of his extra 1-yard dumpster, but we probably had about 4 cubic yards of trash, so that was beyond the scope of any household dumpster. So there we no other choice but to make a trip to the dump. Later in the day, the guys from Aba Dabba Rentals disassembled the big top tent, loaded everything in their truck, and drove away. The back yard looked like a wedding ceremony had never taken place, a scant 48 hours ago...

By Wednesday, June 27, 2007, we had tracked down and assassinated the last fly that had managed to penetrate our defenses, and enter our house. We now had our house, and our lives back.

Left: Chairs are stacked, awaiting to be carted away by the caterer, on the rv-access, located on the south side our our house. Right: The truck is loaded with about 4 cubic yards of wedding trash to be donated to the local dump for the price of $15.00.

I returned to work Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, a happy, but very tired man, with lots of pictures to show friends and co-workers, and lots of stories to tell, and Sharlene returned to work Wednesday evening.

Hosting a wedding in your back yard is exhausting, challenging, fun, and rewarding. If you're the type of person who likes lots of compliments from your guests, and remarks like "How'd you do it?" or "Oh how lovely your house looks..." then a back yard wedding is for you. However, if you've read this complete article, you've probably noted that even though we had a lot of services "farmed out," it's still a lot of work. It takes a lot of coordination and teamwork. Without the help of our family and friends, we'd never have pulled this thing off.

Would we do it again? Sure! We still have one unmarried daughter, but she probably won't choose this route, as a Las Vegas wedding chapel is more her style. But if she wants to marry in our back yard, we leave the option open to her...

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