2014 bridal guide

Bridal Guide 2014 9

Bridal Guide2014

Park and Sweet Grass counties

Bridal Guide 2014

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Bridal Guide 2014

When Erica Hardesty met her fian-cé, Tim Thigpen, it was love at first sight.

At the BMX Track. It was two years ago. Hardesty’s best friend invited

her to go to the Gallatin Valley BMX track in Bozeman. The best friend’s brother would be there, and she hoped to fix him up with Hardesty.

But in the long-standing tradition of romantic comedy films everywhere, Hardesty, of Livingston, looked right past the blind date to his friend — Thigpen.

“It was odd and awkward,” Hardesty laughed.Hardesty jokes now that her best friend had tried to

fix her up with the wrong guy.“She was like, oh my God, I can’t believe I never

thought of him. It was just kind of funny,” Hardesty said.

Asked to describe the sensation of “love at first sight,” Hardesty, 22, didn’t hesitate for a second.

“I felt the connection right away,” she said. “I was focused on him, and it was like nothing around us even mattered.”

The very next day, they had their first “date” — cleaning his apartment.

Thigpen, 28, was in the process of moving from Bozeman back to his home-town, Big Timber. He was clearing out his stuff and

cleaning. Hardesty went over to help.“We talked most of the night and I helped clean most

of the night. It wasn’t even a date,” she laughed. Before too long, they moved in together in Livingston. At Christmas, Thigpen surprised Hardesty with a pro-

posal of marriage. “It was a shocker,” she laughed. “We had talked, but

never really thought about it.” Thigpen said he had been planning to propose in New

Mexico, during a trip to visit family there. Both families were in on the planned surprise, but when he picked up the ring, he just couldn’t wait, Thigpen said.

“We were on our way to a Christmas party,” Hardesty recalls.

Thigpen was standing near the front door, kneeling. Hardesty couldn’t figure out what he was doing.

“He said, ‘Come here,’ and said, ‘Will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?’”

Hardesty works at her mother’s day care center in Livingston. Thigpen commutes to Bozeman every day to work as a quality control optics technician. In his spare

time, he takes BMX bicycle racing seriously. Last year, he was eighth in the NAG (national age group).

Hardesty said she has tried the sport, but doesn’t par-ticipate like Thigpen does. But they love to work out together, and she hopes to get certified as a personal trainer.

Falling in love at first sight was surprising, Hardesty said.

“It was weird and amazing,” she said. “You never feel this way until you actually meet that person.”

Hardesty and Thigpen will have an outdoor wedding in Livingston’s Sacajawea Park this August, with a reception at the Livingston Civic Center.

For their honeymoon, they’re going on a road trip to the West Coast that will eventually bring them to Las Vegas for a — wait for it — BMX Nationals race.

Love at first sight — at the BMX track

Sharon Hardesty photoWhen she and Tim Thigpen met, it was “love at first sight,” Erica Hardesty said. And it turns out they already had something in common — both are Green Bay Pack-ers fans.

“You never feel this way until

you actually meet that person.”

— Erica Hardesty, on meeting her fiancé,

Tim Thigpen

On the cover: Kelsey Joronen and Pat Dyess, at Mission Creek Ranch, Sept. 14, 2013, photographed by Cameron Walker

Bridal Guide 2014

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Bridal Guide 2014

It’s a fact of life most Montanans must submit to at some point: Our lives are ruled by the changing seasons.

Just as the rise and fall of mercury and dramatic changes in daylight hours often dictate life in the Big Sky state, so do the seasons change wed-ding planning.

“If you’re planning a summer wed-ding in Montana, everything gets booked up quickly,” Chuckwagon Catering owner Susan Metcalf said. “That sets the timeline for planning.”

On the other hand, a winter wedding might just shorten the amount of time a bride puts into the planning process.

“Most people just don’t want to deal with Montana in the winter ... the weather, the roads, traveling ... so everyone is underutilized that time of year, but overbooked in the summer months,” Chris Dern, manager of Big Timber’s The Grand Hotel and Restau-rant, said.

‘Crunch time’With the changing seasons in mind,

businesses that help brides plan their perfect day agreed: The sooner they can start the planning process the bet-ter, especially if they select a date in June, July or August.

Those popular months are crunch time for the service industries that make a large part of their annual incomes from summer tourists, com-munity events, family reunions, out-door recreationists and the plethora of weddings that pack into the three months of more dependable sunshine and warmer temps.

Number of guests affects everything else

Once a date is set, an invitation list is the next step that will determine the rest of the planning.

“The invite list is probably one of the first things you’ll need to come up with,” Metcalf advised, both as a cater-er and the mother of a recent summer bride. “Then you can get an idea of what size you’re going to be working with, which will dictate everything else.”

Book rooms earlyThen it’s all about securing guest

accommodations for the number of

people you’ve selected, especially when planning a wedding in smaller communities like those in Sweet Grass County.

“When it comes to hotel rooms, if they’re not on the schedule in January or February, it’s going to get pretty hard to block out any hotels for a sum-mer or fall wedding,” Dern said. “Everything gets sold out — there just aren’t enough rooms between Bill-ings and Bozeman for what goes through here in the summer months.”

He advised wedding planners to try to book hotel blocks eight to nine months ahead of the wedding date to ensure enough space for a medium to large wedding.

“Make sure you have enough beds for everybody to start with, then the rest can fall into place,” Dern said.

Simultaneously, ensuring there are enough seats in a local venue to host the number you’ve chosen to put on the invitation list is also a top priority. In addition to bulky summer traffic in Sweet Grass County, be mindful of hol-iday bookings when it comes to recep-tion venues, Dern said. If you’ve decid-ed to have a December wedding, plan to get on a venue’s books long before holiday party planning begins.

Wedding photographers can also get booked quickly in the summer months, so finding the right professional to document the big day is also an imme-diate priority after the date is set.

Many couples choose to have engage-ment photos taken to use on invita-tions; using the same photographer and getting on their books at the time of the engagement photos can check that item off the list early.

On a traditional planning schedule, those items should be in line at least six months ahead of schedule. Then, wedding planners can turn their atten-tion to the more personalized details of the big day.

Give guests lots of noticeLisa Berg is the owner of Big Tim-

ber’s It’s A Wrap, a custom printing business that provides invitation ser-vices and personalized paper materials for special events. She asks brides give her at least three weeks notice for printing invitations, but more if they want hard-to-find specialty paper or have an invite list of several hundred.

Save the date cards give wedding planners more time to create their invitations, and can be sent at any time, she said, preferably at least three to four months in advance, but can be as far out as a year or more.

“It all depends on how far you’re expecting people to be coming for the wedding,” Berg said. “If people are flying in from Texas and need to schedule several days of vacation time for travel, they deserve more advance

Plan far, far ahead for summer wedding

Pioneer photo by Laura NelsonChris Dern, the manager at the Grand Hotel in Big Timber, sets a table in the hotel’s dining room. For a local summer wedding, Dern suggests secur-ing hotel rooms for your out-of-town guests by January or February.

See Planning, Page 15

Bridal Guide 2014

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Bridal Guide 2014

What to look for when buying the ring

NEW YORK (AP) — Buy-ing a diamond ring can be intimidating. What do you look for? How much should you pay? Should you buy online or in a store?

Demystify the process by learning about the four C’s: carat, color, clarity and cut. This system of grading dia-monds was developed 60 years ago by the Gemologi-cal Institute of America.

Then do some research online or visit jewelers. You’ll soon understand your options. Here’s a primer on the four C’s and other advice.

The four C’s• Carat is a weight mea-

surement. A 1-carat dia-mond weighs 200 milli-grams. But there’s no ideal size for a diamond. It depends on your budget and taste. Some women want a big rock; others prefer a delicate, less blingy look.

Small diamonds are cheaper than large dia-monds. A ring with three small diamonds totaling 1 carat costs less than a sin-gle 1-carat stone of similar quality.

• Color is graded by let-ter, starting with D for rare, colorless diamonds. E and F are considered excellent, but G or H diamonds will look just as good to the naked eye.

Farther down the scale, you’ll notice differences. “If you put a K color beside a G color, you’ll notice more yellow in the K,” said Rus-sell Shor, senior industry analyst for the Gemological Institute.

• Clarity measures dia-mond flaws, called inclu-sions, which might appear as tiny spots, clouds or cavi-ties in the stone. The clarity grade SI stands for “slight-

ly included.” VS is a better grade, “very slightly includ-ed.” VVS is even higher, “very, very slightly includ-ed.” Most inclusions in the VVS-SI range cannot be seen by the untrained eye “unless someone tells you where it is,” Shor said.

• Cut measures workman-ship, rather than a dia-mond’s inherent qualities. The way a stone is cut enhances sparkle and lumi-nosity and can hide flaws. The best cut rating, ideal, is rare. About a third of dia-monds are rated fair, good or very good.

The formulaWhat should you look for

in each of the C’s?“The one thing you should

not trade off on is the quali-ty of the cut,” said Shor. “Even a nice color stone, if not well-cut, will be dull and lifeless. But if it’s a middle color — like K — and it’s got a real excellent cut, it will pop and flash with all the sparkle that diamonds

are famous for.”After choosing the cut,

“balance the color, clarity and carat weight based on your personal preference to find the best diamond for you and your budget,” said Amanda Gizzi, spokeswom-an for Jewelers of America.

For example, for $2,000, you might pick a 1-carat, K-color stone with a slight inclusion, or a half-carat, G-color, with a very slight inclusion. An L or M-col-ored diamond at that price “will get you a 2-carat honk-er, but you’ll definitely notice the yellow and you’ll see some inclusions,” said Shor.

Consumers pay $3,500 on average for engagement rings, according to Jewel-ers of America. On the low end, Shor recommends spending at least $700 to $1,000 to get “something that’s not too small and of reasonable quality, a respectable half-carat stone.”

It’s easy to compare

options online. At BlueNile.com, set your price range, then play with carat size and the other C’s to see tradeoffs.

Many websites list the four C’s for every ring they sell. Brick-and-mortar stores should be able to pro-vide grading reports, whether from GIA or anoth-er expert lab.

Shape and styleEngagement rings tradi-

tionally feature gold bands with a center diamond, though some have smaller diamonds on either side. Melissa Colgan, senior style editor for Martha Stewart Weddings, says the engage-ment ring that Prince Wil-liam gave to Kate Middle-ton, a large sapphire sur-rounded by diamonds, has increased interest in rings with other gemstones.

Diamonds can be cut into many shapes. Round, the most common, offers “the biggest bang for your buck because the difference between the raw and cut diamond is smaller,” Colgan said. But she said unusual shapes with retro looks and names like marquise, Ass-cher and pear are having a resurgence, partly because celebrities are wearing them.

Whether a shape is flat-tering depends on your fin-gers. “If you have long thin fingers, you can wear some-thing like Asscher or prin-cess that is more square-cut,” Colgan said. “If you have shorter fingers or muscular hands, marquise or oval will elongate your fingers.”

But long nails don’t mix with oval: “It looks like you’ve got a weird nail in the middle of your hand.”

The four C’s — carat, color, clarity, cut

AP photoExperts can help you demystify the experience of buy-ing a diamond wedding ring.

See Ring, Page 9

Bridal Guide 2014

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Bridal Guide 2014

Online or brick-and-mortar?Many major brands, including

Macy’s, Kay, Zales, Tiffany and even Costco, sell diamonds both online and in stores.

Some retailers sell online only. Gem-vara.com’s site is fun for customizing designs. Just click to see how a ring looks with diamonds and sapphires, versus diamonds and rubies, or with white versus yellow gold.

Blue Nile has sold engagement rings to 325,000 couples over the Internet, including one for $1.5 million.

Nervous about ring size? Blue Nile will mail a free plastic ring-sizer with no obligation to buy.

Many retail stores offer 30-day returns with no penalty as well. That’s important for surprise proposals in case the bride-to-be says no, or if she says yes but wants a different ring.

These days, though, couples often shop together for a ring.

“It’s perfectly OK to say, ‘Let’s just go and look at things together,’” said Colgan, of Martha Stewart Weddings. “This way she knows what he can afford and he knows aesthetically what she wants.”

Some customers prefer online shop-ping so they won’t be pressured by an aggressive salesperson. But most dia-mond rings are bought in person, according to Jewelers of America, cit-ing the 2011 Wedding Report, which found that only 11 percent of engage-ment rings are bought online. Most people want to see, touch and try

before buying.A new online retailer called Ocappi.

com offers to bridge the gap between in-person and online shopping by mail-ing out “try on rings” made from silver and cubic zirconia.

The replica rings let you see how dif-ferent styles, shapes and carats look on your finger, something that’s impossi-ble to judge from most websites. You can order up to six replicas at once. As long as you return them, there’s no charge and no obligation to buy the real thing. Ocappi pays shipping both ways.

Some buyers prefer brands they know and trust, whether Macy’s or Tif-fany. Others want to go local.

“For some people, they want to have a relationship with a jeweler, or they want to buy something where their parents bought their rings,” Colgan said.

Estate sales and investmentsIn 2011, a 33.19-carat diamond

owned by Elizabeth Taylor sold for $8.8 million. The same stone was $305,000 in 1968. But that’s an excep-tion: The average diamond does not appreciate much, if at all.

“A diamond will never become worthless, but I would not buy a stone for $1,200 thinking I’m going to get $2,000 back for it at some point,” Shor said.

Does that mean estate-sale rings are a bargain? Shor says “older stones can be a bargain,” but cautions that stone-cutting has improved with computers

and robotics, so older rings may not have “the quality of workmanship” found in modern diamonds.

It’s also a matter of taste.“I think some of the old-cut jewelry

is so incredibly beautiful,” said Colgan. “They’re not quite as shimmery or blingy but they have a really sweet sparkle. There are also girls out there who want an estate look because they identify with a certain decade and they don’t want something blinged out.”

Jewelers who specialize in estate collections are not hard to find, but be careful buying from a Sunday “every-thing must go sale.”

Conflict-free diamondsIn the 1990s, concerns arose that

some African diamond mines support-ed rebel movements undermining legitimate governments. The U.S. and 79 other countries agreed to a set of rules called the Kimberley Process to ensure that diamonds sold within their borders are “conflict-free,” meaning they do not come from mines support-ing rebel activity, according to this definition.

Some organizations like the Anti-Slavery Society and the Responsible Jewellery Council are working to raise awareness of issues not addressed by the Kimberley Process, such as harm-ful environmental practices or child labor in diamond production.

Interested consumers should ask retailers about their involvement with these efforts.

Ring, from Page 7

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Worried about the groom getting cold feet? There’s an insurance policy for that.

With the cost of the aver-age American wedding reaching about $26,000, insurers have been selling a growing number of policies to protect against losses from extreme weather, ill-ness and, in one firm’s case, even a sudden change of heart.

Travelers says issues with vendors account for about a quarter of the claims, with most of those related to issues with photographers or videographers.

For Travelers, an insur-

ance giant with annual reve-nue of $26 billion, the poli-cies will not make or break the bottom line.

But the wedding insur-ance it began selling in 2007 is also a way to connect with a couple who might later think of the company for home insurance and other life milestones.

“It could be the beginning of a relationship with a young couple,” said Ed Charlebois, a Travelers vice president for personal insurance.

Wedsafe, backed by Aon, also offers wedding insur-ance, which differs little from the specialty insur-

ance that firms may offer for other kinds of events and celebrations.

For parents concerned about a relationship souring before the exchange of vows, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. offers change of heart insurance.

It’s been available since 2007, but the program administrator said the fraud rate soared in the early years as policies were bought for couples who were known to be fighting. That coverage now applies only if the bride or groom calls off the wedding more than nine months beforehand.

“Coverage does not exist once you hit the altar,” said administrator Rob Nuccio of R.V. Nuccio & Associates. “The only ones who were buying it were the ones who knew they would have a claim.”

Kyle Brown, director of the Bakersfield, Calif.-based Bridal Association of America, said he recom-mends wedding insurance, but he estimates policies are taken out for less than half of 1 percent of the more than 2 million wed-dings held annually in the U.S.

“Nobody likes to think about the bad side,” he said.

Spending big bucks? Get wedding insuranceAverage American wedding pushing $26,000

Bridal Guide 2014

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Bridal Guide2014

Park and Sweet Grass counties

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It’s available free at retail oulets in Big Timber,

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Copies can also be found at The Big Timber Pioneer

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It’s also available in its entirety at:

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Bridal Guide 2014

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Sizzlin’ romance

AP photoWith a Farmland Bacon bouquet in hand, April Davila weds the bacon-loving man of her dreams, Craig Roush, at the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival in Des Moines, Iowa. The chapel where the couple married had a wall full of windows that looked out over an arena full of vendors selling bacon-filled foods. Afterward, a cake topped with a bacon-strip bride and groom awaited the couple and their guests.

Bridal Guide 2014

Engagement Announcement Form

Bridal Guide 2014

How does a couple that lives back east plan a Montana wedding? They start early.

Kelsey Joronen and Pat Dyess were going to school in Ver-mont. Their marriage was slated for mid-September, 2013, in Livingston.

Their planning began when they were both home in Montana over the Christmas break in 2012.

“We worked out many plans then,” Joronen explained when she, her husband and her mother, Sheila, and father, Mike, met with an Enterprise reporter in January 2014.

They emailed vendors while they were back at school.

The website Pinterest was very helpful for that purpose.

Dyess handled most of that part of the planning.

Joronen also referred to local bridal guides and several magazines for helpful hints.

The couple approached the task while keeping two things in mind: They wanted to have all local ven-dors, and they wanted to avoid let-ting the process cause them stress. Both of those rules paid dividends.

“It was nice having local vendors,” said Mike Joronen.

Kelsey, Pat and Sheila concurred. They agreed that having local ven-

dors was great because they were so friendly and easy to work with.

“There is so much drama in-volved in wedding planning,” Kelsey Joronen said. “But we managed to avoid it because we took our time. We didn’t allow things to upset us.”

When they were asked if there were any glitches, they both agreed they should have lined up a band well before they did. They had a little trouble communicating with band members. The band wasn’t hired until about a month before the wedding.

“The smallest details need to be communicated,” Pat said.

One of the groomsmen wasn’t aware he needed to bring his own belt for the tuxedo he would wear. But other wedding party members found one for him.

Kelsey Joronen offered some ad-vice for brides and grooms who are making wedding plans.

The three main things to concen-trate on initially are the food, the ac-tivities and the venue, she advised. Joronen explained that they had lawn games at their outdoor wed-ding so children and adults could participate in them.

And if a couple is planning an outdoor wedding, Joronen strongly suggests a tent.

Attendees at her wedding were out of the strong wind and heavy rainstorm that happened as guests were eating — thanks to the tent.

The bride, Kelsey Joronen, and the groom, Pat Dyess, recite vows under an arch that was built by the bride’s father, while District Judge Brenda Gilbert officiates. The wedding took place at the Mission Creek Ranch east of Liv-ingston.

Left: Tim Dyess, brother of the groom, signs the wedding certificate as a witness while Pat Dyess and Brenda Gilbert look on. Right: Erin Joronen, sister of the bride and maid of honor, gives advice to ring bearer Kayven Fischer, 5, of Bozeman, as 4-year-old Ian Kelz, of Black Diamond, Wash., looks on. Ian was also a ring bearer.

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Bridal Guide 2014

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Bridal Guide 2014

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notice than driving from Livingston for an afternoon.”

If save-the-dates have been issued well in advance, she said the formal invitation should be sent at least a month, preferably closer to two, before the date.

The six-month mark would also be the right time to have a wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses selected and purchased in order to leave time for alterations, if needed. If you’re rent-ing tuxedos, that’s a good time to get those secured as well — like every-thing else, supplies can run short on summer weekends if you wait too long, Metcalf said.

She and Dern agreed that three to four months in advance is an appropri-ate time frame to contact a caterer, too. An in-house caterer can usually make accommodations on a shorter turnaround if the venue is already reserved, but getting on a contracted caterer’s schedule should be a top pri-ority if that’s necessary.

Once you’re on the caterer’s books, ask them to outline the details of what services they offer and what you’ll still need to contract, Metcalf said — refreshments, cake, speciality treats,

etc., may or may not be provided through the venue or caterer you’ve selected, so make sure to get a full pic-ture of their services and what their timeline for planning, head counts and price quotes are.

With three months to go-time, Tame-la Saltas of Big Timber’s Petal Pushers said, it’s time to get in contact with your florist of choice. That’s when Saltas likes to get a wedding on her planning calendar, get an idea of exactly what the bride envisions for her special day and prioritize services. They’re a one-stop shop for several needs, from flowers to table linens, centerpieces, candelabras and tuxedo rentals, so the more services you plan to go through their door, the earlier they want to meet.

“That helps me get them a rough price quote for their planning and start to get things lined out,” Saltas said.

Once the initial meeting and plan-ning session is complete, she said, they’ll make contact again about six weeks ahead of time to make formal floral plans. Depending on the flowers, they might need to put an order in four or more weeks in advance for the

freshest delivery — that includes more exotic blooms like orchids, hydrangeas or unique rose colorings. Standard flowers — roses, daises, carnations, etc., — can be ordered on a much shorter turnaround time in a pinch, too.

“But really, it’s never too early to plan as far as flowers go,” Saltas said. “The sooner you call and give us an idea, the sooner we can get an esti-mate and ideas going.”

Each professional shared those sen-timents:

“I would say, the earlier the better,” Berg said.

“The longer you wait, the harder it is to find the right space,” Dern added.

“Get it done as far in advance as possible,” Metcalf said — that goes for everything, not just the essentials that won’t be available if you put it off until the last minute, especially items you plan to craft or produce yourself.

“It’s a big temptation to think, ‘I can do this all myself,’ but you have to think about the stress factor, too,” she said. “Give yourself time to actually enjoy the wedding and not be so wor-ried about all the details at the last minute.”

Planning, from Page 5

Bridal Guide 2014

8 to 15 months to go:

Have engagement photos taken

Announce your engagement with a photo in The Big Timber Pioneer and/or The Livingston Enterprise (form is on page 12)

Choose a wedding date

Decide the kind of wedding you want - large or small, formal or informal, themed or non-themed

Set a budget

Make a system for keeping track of expenses

Bride, groom and their families choose whom to invite - save list in safe place

Select ceremony site and reception site - reserve these

Ask person who will officiate to reserve the date

Select a photographer and a videographer and have them save the date

Start shopping for wedding gown

Decide on maid of honor, best man, bridesmaids, groomsmen


Select wedding stationery including RSVP cards and thank you cards. Mail invitations with RSVP cards

Start planning honeymoon

Choose ring bearer and flower girl

Reserve caterer - choose menu

Decide on a florist

Reserve a band or DJ

Choose bridesmaids’ attire

4 to 6 months to go:Reserve rental equipment

Choose accommodations for out-of-town guests

Send out “save the date” cards

Establish Bridal registry

Shop for gifts bride and groom give each other

Have dress alterations made


Order party favors and room decorations

Order wedding cake

Check marriage license regulations

Order wedding rings

Order bridal party gifts


Decide on hair and makeup and schedule appointment

Keep tack of RSVPs

Purchase ring pillow, cake knife, guest book, toasting glasses

Change bride’s name on bank accounts, driver’s license, subscriptions, etc.

Obtain marriage license

2 to 6 weeks to go:

Plan detailed wedding day schedule - give to wedding party members and vendors

Do final fittings for gown and veil and for bridesmaids’ dresses

Go over ceremony details with officiate

Get rings - check for fit

Give photographer and videographer idea of special photos/events to cover

Plan seating for rehearsal dinner and wedding

Plan seating for receptionLet band know about special tunes - father and bride dance, etc.

Make sure bridesmaids and groomsmen know where to get their attire

Check with invited guests who haven’t responded

1 week to go:Confirm honeymoon reservations/travel

Get bride’s gown and veil and groom’s tux/shoes

Give caterer total guest count

Go over final schedule with vendors and wedding party

Pack for the honeymoon

Day of Rehearsal:Make sure bridal party knows procedure and musical cues

Go over seating arrangement with ushers

Give bridal party detailed schedule for ceremony

Give best man check for officiant

Day of the wedding:Follow the detailed schedule

Make sure best man has bride’s ring

Make sure maid of honor has groom’s ring

Arrive at ceremony site in timely manner

Enjoy your wedding

Planning ScheduleBrides and grooms will find this suggested timeline helpful

Bridal Guide 2014

Before you may both say "I do," you need a license

Applying for aMarriage License

• Marriage licenses are avail-able at the Clerk of the District

Court's office

• The future bride and groom must both appear

• A valid driver's license, a valid passport or a birth

certificate may be used for identification purposes

• In the event either party was previously married, the the exact date of the divorce or death and the full name of the ex-spouse

must be written on the application

• Cost is $53.00, cash only

Solemnize the Marriage License

Only a qualified officiant may perform your ceremony and sign

the license. Those who qualify:

• Clergy • Judge or retired judge of a

court of record• Public official with power to

solemnize marriages• Tribal Judge

• Mayor• Justice of the Peace

Note: After the ceremony the officiant must return the license

to the Clerk of the District Court's office no later than 30

days from the date of the ceremony

Obtaining a copy

Copies of your marriage licenseare available at the Clerk of the

District Court's office.The cost is $5.00 or $7.00 for a

certified copy which is necessary for official use

Steps in obtaining a license:• Provide full names of couple

(including maiden name of bride)• List date of marriage

• Request regular or certified copy

• Proved appropriate fee(checks should be made out to

Clerk of Court)

Park County:City/County Complex, 414 E. Callender

Sweet Grass County:Clerk & Recorder, 200 W. 1st Ave.

Dean Hendrickson, Agent224 W Lewis

Livingston, MT 59047Bus: 406-222-2250

[email protected]

Bridal Guide 2014

BRIDAL ATTIRE CHECK LISTBRIDAL SALON

#1

BRIDAL SALON

#2

BRIDAL GOWN

Designer

Size

Color/Fabric

Train Length

Cost

HEADDRESS/VEIL

Style

Color

Veil Length

Cost

SHOES

Size

Style

Color

Dyeing Charge

Cost

ACCESSORIES

Gloves

Garter

Hankie

Cost

FITTINGS/ALTERATIONS

Cost

TOTAL

UNDERGARMENTS

Bra

Slip

Stockings

Cost

BRIDAL ATTENDANTS ATTIREBRIDAL SALON

#1

BRIDAL SALON

#2

MAID/MATRONOF HONOR

DRESS

Color/Fabric

Size

Manufacturer

Cost

BRIDESMAIDS’DRESSES

Color/Fabric

Sizes

Manufacturer

Style #

Cost

SHOES/STOCKINGS

Size

Style/Color

Dyeing Charge

Cost

ACCESSORIES

Hat

Gloves

Other

Cost

FITTINGS/ALTERATIONS

Cost

TOTAL

FLOWER GIRL’SDRESS

Color/Fabric

Size

Manufacturer

Style #

Cost

Bridal Guide 2014

Wedding Cakes

Meat, cheese, vegetable and

fruit trays made to your

order.

ElegantArrangements

for your wedding day.

We’ll custom designall the floral

arrangements you need for the big day.

And our expert advicecosts nothing extra.

Trust our expertise to provide you with a one-of-a-kind creation that’s beautiful as well

as delicious.Your guests will never

guess it was economical

as well.You’ll say, “It wasa piece of cake.”

Bridal Guide 2014 Page 19

I I

2014 bridal guide

Documents