There's Nothing Like a Backyard Ramona Wedding—Animals and All

If you are a party to a backyard wedding in Ramona, you should be ready for all the crazy farm animal noises that may drown out your festivities.  Particularly barking dogs, braying goats, mooing cows and neighing horses.  In our daughter's recent wedding, having the clucking chickens involved was a must. 

With limited space, we chose to put the wedding canopy next to the chicken coop, where there are two large composters for the chickens to dig in.  A compost pile is a must for good chicken mental health, as chickens are happiest when digging.  Adding to the fun, the composter had been recently stocked with cooked grain from Lightning Brewery in Poway, where we also acquired a couple of kegs of Amber Ale for the festivities, a superior brew by any standard. 

Chicken clucking was expected, to the point that Megan, our daughter of 28 years, had purchased small bow ties for them to wear to this formal occasion.  Not unexpectedly, the chickens were averse to wearing bling and picked the bow ties off at the first chance, so the bow ties went on the fence, except for the photo session of course.  Any good Ramona girl can catch a chicken, which Megan did and so the photo is attached here.  Ramona weddings are also practical, as one can see, with the chicken acting as both the bridal bouquet, and a partial payment on the dowry. 

A must for our wedding was the use of our five large California pepper trees at the back of the yard as a canopy, which over 20 years had basically drooped to the ground.  After having the treekeeper trim them with expert skill and artistic finesse, 20 years of junk accumulation became rudely apparent, necessitating four trips to the dump in my overloaded pickup, looking like Jed Clampett.  Next was arranging the miscellaneous stuff that I would keep in a place where the wedding crowd couldn’t see it. 

The lighting for the wedding included 28 Japanese lanterns hanging under the trees. They hung above rented tables for an evening dinner and wild goat stomp on an unusually temperate evening for mid-August.  My wiring wasn’t right on the first two tries, browning out the town and causing a general panic.  When finally working, the light illuminated the green canopy over an uncultivated yard, a.k.a. dirt, providing a wonderful contrast to remember.

The wedding could not have happened without the help of our wonderful neighbors and relatives and the support of , as well as barbecue by Kevin, and European toilets because we couldn’t have just regular toilets. Also helping were , and a cake that amazed all, made by Marina. 

We must not forget the night before, in which the wedding party enjoyed a wonderful sunset and superior wine at Cordiano Winery, overlooking San Pasqual Valley. 

The only wild dog encountered was our party animal Dunder Dog, who mooched the tables for food and was so successful that she passed out under the lemon tree at 10 p.m..  With guests from all parts of the United States, our bug-free and full-mooned evening in Ramona was unsurpassed.  One of the groomsmen from Texas was sitting alone at a table around midnight, long after the bride and groom had left.  I sat down, and he told me he didn’t want to leave such a magical place.  I don’t want to either.  Ramona is the only place to have a wedding, with the animals included of course!