Fort McPherson wedding party returns from Las Vegas
'It was something that I never thought we'd all be doing,' says bride's aunt
When you think of a Las Vegas wedding, you might not think of fiddle music, square dancing, and handmade moccasins — but that's exactly how a bride from Fort McPherson, N.W.T., recently celebrated her big day.
About 30 wedding guests from the N.W.T. headed to Las Vegas about a week ago to see Stephanie Ross get married.
She and the groom, Matt Baryluk, chose Vegas as a central place between her family and his, from Nova Scotia.
"It was something that I never thought we'd all be doing, going to Vegas," laughs her aunt Betty Firth.
Firth says the preparations started a year ago, when the bride's mother started sewing handmade moccasins for every member of the wedding party.
"She did all the cutting out, and did all the drawings," Firth says. "It was so funny how time went so fast with her sewing all the slippers for the wedding party, for the parents, for the flower girls, the ring bearers and so on. That's a lot of work."
Firth says more than half the wedding party was from Fort McPherson, a hamlet with a population of about 800.
"As we arrived in Vegas it was overwhelming," she says. "Like having to deal with the heat and the amount of people, the amount of traffic. It was exciting!"
'We shared our culture, we shared our tradition'
A family friend from Alaska did a pre-wedding dance for the couple, which Firth says was "something to see."
"We shared our culture, we shared our tradition with them," Firth says.
The dance included traditional music on fiddles and guitars, as well as jigging, waltzing and square dancing.
"They really had a good time, they really had a good gathering," Firth says. "And when they received their slippers it was overwhelming. It was overwhelming because each of the slippers had their names."
Another wedding guest also added some excitement, Firth says. Newly crowned Mrs. Universe, Ashley Callingbull, became a good friend of the bride when they went to school together in Edmonton.
"She did the traditional Red River Jig, and she waltzed and you know, just being there, it was good to have her among us as well. It was quite exciting," Firth says.
Firth says everyone had a great time looking around the big city before they made the trek back to the North. She adds she'd definitely go back to Las Vegas again.
