Plans for Wedding Go Up in Smoke

Chris and Kendra Mydock wanted a very private wedding. A 16,000-acre wildfire made it very public.

Two days before they took their vows a year ago, a wildfire ripped through their hometown of Weed, a hamlet of about two dozen people.

Despite the billows of smoke that lingered ominously above the horizon that May 13, the couple resolved to go on.

“You’re supposed to be worried on your wedding day about your wedding, not about your house burning down,” said Kendra Mydock, 32.

The fire that threatened the Mydocks--one of dozens of blazes that blackened New Mexico a year ago--was started by a downed electrical line and destroyed more than 60 homes.

The newlyweds’ home was spared.

But their desire for a quiet, private wedding wasn’t.

Dozens of firefighters were preparing to battle the blaze. Helicopters circled overhead. And several reporters and photographers were on the scene.

Two photographers snapped pictures of the Mydocks’ ceremony, held on a sunny day, and the private wedding was private no more.

“I picked up a paper the next morning and said, ‘There it is,’ ” recalled Chris Mydock, 39, a law enforcement officer.

The Mydocks took some ribbing from friends who weren’t invited to the nuptials.

“We had told them our wedding would be private,” Kendra Mydock said. “And we had friends who were laughing, saying, ‘We logged on to your wedding. That was pretty private.’ ”

The fire may have been destructive, but the Mydocks are benefiting from it in a way.

“People say now, ‘We remember your anniversary because it was the day of the fire,’ ” Kendra Mydock said. “ ‘We’ll never forget that.’ ”