DID YOU EVER WONDER? Newlyweds swept up in parade

We were watching the Veterans Parade on Nov. 8 and there was a couple that just got married walking in the parade along with the bands and the military units. Do you know anything about the newlywed "Mr. and Mrs. Smith?" We thought it was great.

The Johnson family

• It took some searching but we found the newlyweds, thanks to parade director Diana Ceciliani. She had received a call from a woman who was to be married the morning of the parade at a "reception hall" near the corner of Nevada and Pikes Peak avenues.

The bride, who had just learned about the parade, worried that her guests might not have a place to park near the reception site because streets would be barricaded.

And there was a question about marching bands and cheering crowds in the midst of the "I do's."

On parade morning, said the director, "someone came up to the stage and asked me if the couple that was just married could come briefly onto the parade route to be announced as the ‘Just Married Mr. and Mrs. Smith.' It was the least we could do since we no doubt caused her some last-minute issues with her wedding."

With the help of Tre Luna Downtown Event Center, we tracked down the Smiths.

"I didn't realize I had planned my wedding for the same day and we wanted to make the most of it," said Jana Trusty Smith. Walking in the parade "was definitely one of the highlights!" After the ceremony and a group picture at Tre Luna they had walked a block to join the parade across from the reviewing stand at Pikes Peak Avenue and Tejon Street.

Trusty Smith met Matt Smith in Denver in February. She's a probation officer and he's a youth director.

"I had lived in the Springs for 15 years," the bride said. "He's from Denver and that's where we live now."

Both of their fathers had served more than 20 years in the Air Force, so the wedding-day parade was a natural.

The bride's sister, Cadena Trusty, came from Alaska to take the wedding photos, and she shared one with us for today's column.

CONCRETE TRUCKS: I'm pretty sure that you meant concrete trucks in your response (Did You Ever Wonder? Nov. 16). Cement is the powder which is mixed with gravel and water to make concrete, which makes the big trucks with the drum on the back "concrete trucks", not cement trucks. It's a common error. Probably more people call them cement trucks than call them concrete trucks.

Jerry Novak

• Concrete trucks they are! Thanks for cementing that for us.

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Puzzled about something in our area? Send questions to linda.navarro@gazette.com with "Column Question" in the subject line; mail to "Did You Ever Wonder?" P.O. Box 1779, Colorado Springs 80901; blog at gazette.com.