July 16, 2024

Julian Waters and Juliana Banks get married!

It was a jam-packed whirlwind of a trip to Utah earlier this month, made a bit more intense by my (misguided) attempt to save money on flights by opting for the least convenient. Taking the red eye is maybe not advised when you’ve got a 5 hour drive on the back end!

We flew in and out of Hartford. (Possibly mistake #1. Boston would perhaps have been closer. Would have involved a direct flight with no connections. Might have been cheaper. But parking (as I just found out) would have been insane. $32 a day for ECONOMY. We paid $8. So maybe not a mistake.) It’s a straightforward drive down I-91 and follow the signs to the airport, and we left early enough that we were able to take a detour to TreeHouse Brewery in Deerfield, Mass. 

Still, when we arrived into Salt Lake City at 12:30 am, we were pretty tired. The uncomfortable bed (and impossibly awful pillows) at the airport hotel was slightly better than the floor. Mistake #2 - booking the Wyndham airport hotel. Don’t do it. In hindsight we’d have been better off leaving Hartford first thing in the morning and not had to book a hotel, even if it meant we had to leave the lake at some silly hour of the night. Or maybe just flown out of Burlington.

Successful car rental pick up, then a drive around to find a quick hike before picking up Jeremy’s mom (Anik) at the airport. Off to the AirBnB we go!

My brother found a fantastic spot that was large enough for all of us to be together, in a relatively central location in between the wedding venue and the temple. The crew of 13 included: Jeremy and me, Bee, Anik, my parents, my brother and sister in law and their 3 kids, plus my uncle Peter and his girlfriend Stephanie. Julian and Jules actually wound up spending a couple of evenings with us, which was an unexpected bonus.

Sunday: Arrival day. We did a big nibble platter for dinner as the majority of the group arrived from the east coast at 7:30 pm Utah time and another hour to drive to the house. The late hour did not deter anyone from enjoying the games room in the basement.

Monday: A few of us went over to help prep all the food for the reception, while everyone else went off to play Top Golf. Jules and Julian planned the whole wedding themselves and did a masterful job of keeping costs down - and this included hitting Costco for ingredients for the hugely impressive charcuterie board that was the main sustenance (other than cake!) at the reception.

When Julian served his mission in France, he spent over a year as the assistant to the Mission President. He became very close to that whole family, and one of the requirements around the wedding date was that it be after the Lepores returned from France, which they did the end of June. The Lepore family has a lovely house just outside of Salt Lake City and kindly offered it up as the prep space for the food. There were probably 20 or more family and friends all cheerfully peeling carrots, chopping cheese, and cutting melon. What a wonderful community event!

That afternoon a number of us got pedicures while the rest . . . played golf. Are you sensing a theme?

We ordered a serious feast from a local taco truck and lounged around in the evening. An incredible sunset lured us all out onto the golf course that was just behind the house. One patient golfer just laughed at our antics on the fairway as he waited to hit his ball.

Tuesday. Wedding day.

9 am. Meet at the wedding venue to help with set up. The Provo City Library ballroom is a soaring room with multiple tall windows showcasing the incredible mountain scenery. We placed vases for flowers, fussed with table linens, and put together picture easels for the tables.

10:30 am. Ring ceremony. My brother was the MC (he’s officiated at a number of other weddings; though he had no official capacity here, he did a fabulous job kicking things off). 

11:00 am. Quick shift of the set up to move chairs to the tables and bring out the catered lunch. A few speeches while people were eating and then a fun “shoe game” where the bride and groom sit with their backs to each other, a shoe (one of hers, one of his) in each hand. One of the bridesmaids read out a number of questions and the goal is to see how well the pair know each other. Questions like “which one got better grades” and “who’s the first to cry at movies”, “who takes a longer shower” and “who’s the better cook” were answered by thrusting a shoe into the air. There were only a few where the answers differed!

12:30. Jules and Julian and anyone attending the sealing ceremony leave for the Saratoga Springs Temple, about a 45 minute drive. This is the true wedding ceremony, where they are sealed together for eternity in a special room in the temple. Non-church members are not able to be in the room, so we went back to the airbnb for a little bit of down time.

2:30 pm. Sealing.

3 pm. Photos at the temple. We needed to be at the temple after the sealing for lots of photos. Family photos, bridal party shots, candid shots of unexpected moments. The setting of the temple is exquisite, with the dramatic mountains in the background. And like all temples we’ve seen, the flowers are breathtaking.

5 pm. Back at the venue to help with transforming that space into the reception room. We moved tables, carted food out, set up photos. Watching Emily Lepore create the 30-foot long charcuterie board was truly amazing. 

6-8:30. Reception! Jules and Julian were standing under the arch greeting well-wishers. It’s apparently not unusual at Mormon weddings for lots of people to come to the reception who have not been at any other part of the wedding - it’s a time to celebrate the newlyweds even if you only have time to pop in for 15 minutes or so. 

After the receiving line it was time for dancing. Mother-son, father-daughter. Then the newlyweds. And then a full on dance party. 

Bubbles to send them on their way. They did a couple of nights in Park City before heading to Jules’s family reunion in Logan, Utah, and then on to Vermont for our family reunion here.

Clean up. Then back to the Airbnb for one last evening together.

It was truly an epically wonderful celebration time. We packed a whole lot into a very short period of time!