Last week, I departed for Michigan on a mission so secret its nature was known only to me. Last December, Where Las Vegas Editor Jennifer Prosser and I won a two-night stay at the stately Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, via a silent auction held by the Nevada Hospitality & Lodging Association. (An ambulatory jack o’lantern in the form of Gov. Jim Gibbons crashed the party but that’s another story.)
At the foot of the slope upon which the Grand Hotel resides is a fountain and there, a week ago tonight, I knelt and asked Jennifer if she would do me the honor of becoming my wife. Lucky for me, she accepted my proposal and — upon our return to Marquette — wedding preparations were set into motion posthaste.
We both had known that, should this day ever come, our mutual desire was for a civil ceremony. No expensive spectacles for us! On Monday we reported to the Marquette County Clerk, $60 changed hands and 24 hours later the exchange of vows that you see above was conducted on the courthouse lawn.
Although it’s not in the photo (taken by my niece, Sydney Dorow), the Marquette County Courthouse might be familiar to you as the central location of Anatomy of a Murder. Actually, our nuptials were unintentionally Anatomy-themed. The rehearsal dinner was held in a hotel in Big Bay that served as another cinematic setting and the post-nuptial lunch was consumed at Mount Shasta, an eatery near Michigamee. That’s where James Stewart and Duke Ellington joined forces at the keyboard in the movie.
I suppose you could say we did things somewhat backward. For one thing, we had the honeymoon prior to the wedding. Besides, whoever heard of somebody going from Las Vegas to Michigan to get married? I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Congratulations from someone who did go from Michigan to Las Vegas to get married.
Congratulations and best wishes to you both! Nothing beats Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and thanks for the reminders of Anatomy of a Murder. I’ve just put it in my Netflix queue. I remember all the publicity when it was filmed in the U.P. Was it really 51 years ago?
Hope it was finally summer up there. They used to say the U.P. had ten months of winter and two months of poor sledding.
Congratulations to you and your bride for getting married. Best wishes and hopefully you guys will have many happy years ahead of you. Upper Michigan is great this time of year, we had a family reunion in Traverse City back in 2005 and it was a lot of fun.
Congrats! As an avid reader of your blogs not only for the
timely info on everything and anything Las Vegas and then some,
I was getting worried as I hadn’t read any new postings in a while.
Best wishes!
Congrats to you both.
In case anybody is interested, below are links to some of the locations mentioned by David:
A montage of the Grand Hotel:
http://www.aerialpics.com/H/grandhotel.html
Marquette County Courthouse:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Population/Photos/ShowCH.asp?FIPS=26103
“The Thunder Bay Inn was the Film Location of “Anatomy of a Murder”…
The Ford Hotel was the 1959 setting for scenes in the classic film, “Anatomy of a Murder,” starring Jimmy Stewart and Lee Remick. The novel and movie were based on a true event which took place in Big Bay in 1951. The present day pub was built onto the hotel for the filming of the movie.”:
http://www.exploringthenorth.com/thunderbay/inn.html
I am so happy for both of you. Congratulations! Yrs., Richard
Are you sure that’s not your mom in the picture ?
Thanks for the links, Kerr. I have taken the liberty of incorporating them into the body of the post as well.
Congratulations. I was getting a little worried as you hadn’t posted in awhile and thought perhaps you were ill.
MI is a grand place during the summer.
Congratulations on your marriage, I wish you and your wife a lifetime of happiness.
Congratulations, you are a great couple. Looks like a match for a lifetime. May your marraige be long and happy.
David: What a great way to start the summer! I hope that married life brings you and Jennifer as much fun, excitement, passion, and intellectual stimulation as you have been bringing your readers for all these years. You deserve the best–congratulations!
Congrats!
The line comparing Jimminy Crooked to a Jack O Lantern made me literally LOL.
Congrats! What a great place for a wedding and I hope your marrage is as beautiful and enduring as the setting.
Well done and congratulations – beautiful setting
Congratulations, David. Here’s to a happy life together.
Posting comments here has a “delayed gratification” problem, as all comments are frog-marched by reCaptcha into the “Spam” folder, from whence I must fish them out one by one. So, my continued apologies for the lag time — hours, sometimes days — between comment-writing and publication. I try to liberate them as often as I can.
David,
All of us here at AccessVegas.com want to congratulate you (and sorry for the delay… we are behind on our RSS blog readings).
I strongly admire all who cover Las Vegas which look to do the uncommon. Get outside of our small island in the desert. And… do something for a lifetime.
Our best to both of you.
Ted Newkirk
Well said. There are many of us who do not have a gambling problem but just enjoy casino games as a form of entertainment – and we know that entertainment costs money.