Our wedding was held in Golden, Colorado on July 11, 1998. We were married at Mike's grandmother's church by George Berlin, an old friend of the Sanders family. Even though he had moved out of state by the time of the wedding, he returned to Colorado just for us. The choice of location was a sentimental one for Mike, since he remembers going to church services there with his grandmother, but it unfortunately turned out to be a more emotional setting for him than originally planned because she passed on about two months before the ceremony.
After the wedding, we took some family photos in the park by the Denver West business complex, and then we returned to Golden for the reception at the Table Mountain Inn. There's a funny story about that. We chose not to dance at the wedding, since Mike is rather shy about dancing on an open dance floor. After the reception, we went to the local biker bar, The Buffalo Rose, with Jarl, Todd, my brother, and my cousin, Marieke. The people there were thrilled to have newly weds to celebrate with! One rather large biker woman, exclaiming her delight, grabbed us both by the shoulder and said we had to dance. Since she rivaled Mike in height and more than outdid him in girth, he wasn't going to argue. So, we had our first dance to a bad cover of a Nine Inch Nails song, "Closer". The only other time Mike and I have danced on a dance floor was at the request of the president of his company, in LA. So, we joke that, in order to get Mike on the dance floor, you have to be a very large biker or the president of something. *grin*
Later that week, we flew to Long Island and had a second reception with my family in New York, since many of the older members were unable to make the trip to Colorado. This reception was hosted by a friend of the Rawluk clan, Chris, who owns the Sea Cove restaurant in Center Moriches. When Chris first opened the restaurant many years ago, my dad spent many nights helping him by watching the front while Chris was in the kitchen. To this day, it continues to be a special place for our family to have dinner - and the food is always fantastic!
Last updated 04Jan2014