Marriage wows: The best-made wedding plans will get a good reception

Tying the knot? Deseret Morning News staff writer Susan Whitney profiles a few unusual ways to say "I do" and passes along advice from pros, parents and couples themselves on what to do and what not to do when you're planning your wedding festivities.

Getting hitched

So what if one of the horses sneezed a few times during the ceremony. Misty Lupus and Travis Bleak couldn't have had a more perfect wedding.

Carrie Cannon and Kris Baughman say the same thing about their wedding. Not only was it perfect, it was perfect for them.

Cannon began by planning a traditional wedding. She figured they'd say their vows and greet their guests at a reception center. But as she waved one reception center brochure after another before Kris' eyes, she says, "he would try to show interest, but basically, he was like, 'whatever.'

"And I didn't want this to be just my thing."

So one day she asked him, "If money were no object, if you could get married anywhere in the world, where would you want to get married?" And Baughman, who sells mountain bikes and loves to ride them, said, "the Moab Rim."

Her family was agreeable to the idea. And when Cannon called Baughman's mom, her future mother-in-law eagerly set to work on the project. She called the chairlift operators and made arrangements. She did all the invitations. "I had veto power," Cannon says. She couldn't have been happier with her mother-in-law's help. "She was amazing."

Cannon will never forget when, after the ceremony, she turned around and saw a mountainside covered in smiling guests.

As for Lupus, she and Bleak planned to get married in Las Vegas. But then her aunt, knowing they were both horse trainers and had met through horses, offered them the use of her arena.

Three weeks before their wedding day, they completely changed their plans. Lupus says they needed help from everyone. Not only did her aunt give them a place for the wedding, she also arranged for a wagon and a team to transport the grandparents to the ceremony. Lupus' mom made the cake.

The groom, meanwhile, had been breaking horses for Reed Workman. He arranged for Workman's wife, Nancy, who happens to be the mayor of Salt Lake County, to perform the ceremony.