A bear crashed at a wedding and ate all the desserts

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cailyn MacRossie-Martinez, 24, who married her husband Brandon Martinez in Boulder, Colorado, on July 31, 2023, after eight months of planning. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

The night before the wedding, we made a last-minute decision to choreograph our first dance. We were in the gym, YouTubing dance moves that we could try. At the time, I was thinking how crazy we were for trying to do that.

But, in the end, it was actually the only thing that went according to plan.