The Miata Bride

by Skip Cannon

Saturday evening, the Peak to Peak Miata Club was gathering in a supermarket parking lot in Longmont, Colorado prior to an evening drive to Estes Park for dinner and then on to Lily Lake, high in the mountains for some meteor shower viewing.

As we gathered for the driver's meeting, a minivan drove into the midst of the 14 parked Miatas and disgorged six or seven bridesmaids and a bride, all in wedding finery. The bride's family has a tradition of the bridesmaids "kidnapping" the bride after the ceremony and holding her for ransom from the guests at the reception. The bride wanted to have her picture taken in a Miata.

Geremy, the event coordinator escorted her to the nearest Miata and pictures were taken. After getting out of that Miata, the bride looked around and in an obvious display of good taste, said she liked the yellow Miata best and would it be alright to have her picture taken in my car? More pictures were taken and a mood of conviviality developed between the bridal party and the club members. An invitation was extended to join the reception and party at the brides home. We declined, having reservations for dinner 40 miles away and being a little behind schedule.

The bridal party climbed back in the van and the Miatas began lining up for departure. The van pulled up along side my car and the bride asked if I would give her a ride to the reception, it being along our route. I agreed and helped her into the car, piling several bushels of wedding dress and train in the passengers compartment. Someone handed her a glass of champagne and off we went, following the van with much honking of horns.

Once out of town, the van was going much too slow for my liking so I asked the bride if it mattered if we arrived before the brides maids. She thought that would be fun so at the first opportunity, I applied full boost and passed the van, followed by several other Miatas. I looked over at the bride and she had a typical Miata SEG on her face. She asked if the car had some kind of "injection" thing on the engine. I told her it was a turbo and she said "yeah, I love that whoosh sound".

We arrived at the outdoor reception held behind a her parents country home and pulled up next to the newly constructed dance floor. Country rock music blasting away, little kids were boot scootin', and the DJ announced the arrival of the bride. The looks on the faces of some of the guests were priceless! The groom was no where to be found so I handed her out of the car, took her in my arms and laid a big smooch on her. The crowd loved it and out came the cameras. By this time, the van and the rest of the 14 Miatas had started to arrive.

More pictures were taken and finally the groom was summoned from the house. Introductions were made and further invitations extended to join the party. Again we declined and prepared to leave for Estes Park.

Several requests were made for another photo op of the bride, myself and the Miata and for another kiss. Being the obliging fellow I am, I again swept her up in my arms and gave her another kiss, this time laying her back like you see in the movies. As we were saying our goodbyes, she whispered in my ear "none of my friends are going to top this wedding".

Off we went with much tooting of horns and blasting of exhausts.

And the rest of the run, you ask?

A typically boisterous dinner for about 25 and then on to the lake. Meteors? I saw one before I decided it was time for the drive back home. A great top down drive under a starry, moonless night down one of my favorite canyons, unencumbered by traffic.

Geremy's going to have a hard time topping this for pre-event entertainment on his next run.