Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

KOB-Channel 4 news anchorwoman Nicole Brady waits with her father, Bill (unseen), and peeks into the courtyard before walking down the aisle at her wedding. On June 9, Brady was married to producer Brian Close at Hacienda Vargas Bed and Breakfast Inn in Algodones - and they did it on a tight budget.

Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

While having their portraits made, Daron Close (from left), groom Brian Close, bride Nicole Brady, and her sister, Vanessa Dunn, react to the blowing wind as a storm gets ready to rain them and their guests into an indoor reception at Hacienda Vargas Bed and Breakfast Inn in Algodones.

Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

A small chapel in an adobe room is tucked away at the Hacienda Vargas Bed and Breakfast Inn in Algodones.

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Nicole Brady and Brian Close are a match made in local TV news. It was fitting, then, that the weather for their outdoor wedding on June 9 was the top news of the day - and not in a good way.

But before we get to that stormy reception, let's go back to when their love first bloomed.

Brady, 26, and Close, 30, were both working their first jobs as on-air reporters for KRCR-TV in Redding, Calif. He was the Chico bureau chief; she was based in Redding. In September 2002, they met at a station get-together over dinner and split off with a smaller group to go a bar. Then the two split off by themselves to talk long into the night.

"After the first night we met, we were exclusive," said Close. "I wanted to see her again as soon as possible after meeting her. I had spent six months in Chico alone."

They commuted between the two cities to see each other on weekends, a trip of about 75 miles. Then Brady became a weekend anchor. As time went on, Close debated taking a job in Reno, Nev., but stayed and pushed Brady to look for a position in a bigger market.

"I wanted to be in a town with more than one Thai restaurant," Close said.

KOB-Channel 4 in Albuquerque bought out Brady's contract in 2004. Since then, she's become familiar to local viewers as an anchor on the early morning and midday newscasts. Close took a job as an editor/producer with the KASA-Channel 2 news program that KOB formerly produced, then moved to KOB producing overnight and holiday stories. He'll leave the station to go to law school at the University of New Mexico in August.

"They have a super great relationship," said Joyce Lundeen, Close's mother. "I don't see them ever arguing; they have fun and do improv together. The minute I met her, I felt like I knew her forever."

Brady's mother, Carol, agreed.

"When I met Brian in California, I knew they were a match and meant to be together," she said. "He's assimilated well into our family."

The Brady family has a long history in New Mexico. Nicole is a great-great-great granddaughter of Sheriff William Brady, who was shot by Billy the Kid. Her parents met at UNM and she has family across the state, although she grew up outside of Denver. The Close family comes from Minnesota, and many of its members don't know green chile from red.

Close proposed in May 2006, but it wasn't until November that they found a place and set a date. The challenge for the couple was to plan a wedding that wouldn't put them into debt and would still give out-of-state visitors a taste of New Mexico. They wanted to do an outdoor wedding within a $10,000 budget and be able to plan everything themselves.

They booked the Hacienda Vargas Bed and Breakfast Inn in Algodones, a historic structure that used to be a stagecoach stop on the Camino Real before the railroad came through in 1880. Some parts of the complex are more than 200 years old, and a 206-year-old elm tree shades the courtyard where the ceremony took place.

Streams of white taffeta decorated the vigas, as well as the couple's dog, Lucy.

The ceremony lasted less than 10 minutes, led by interfaith minister Marya O'Malley. Both the bride's and the groom's eyes brimmed with tears as they held hands and said their customized vows to each other. When they were pronounced "Mr. and Mrs. Brian Close," a bell on the property tolled as the guests cheered and clapped.

After the license was signed, Brady said she included in her vows that she would take care of Close, because that's what she does. But it seemed the feeling is mutual.

"He did everything for this wedding," said Brady. "He really took care of me."

"That's the producer in me," Close said.

Sadie's Restaurant catered the reception with a fajita buffet, green chile chicken enchiladas and all the fixings. The bar was stocked with margaritas, piña coladas, strawberry daiquiris, beer, wine, champagne and sodas.

Los Primos, a strolling string mariachi band, provided music for the ceremony and part of the reception, and Rodney Bowe's Sweetlife played R&B, blues and jazz into the evening.

On tables under an open-sided tent, miniature rose plants in painted Chinese carryout containers decorated the tables.

Throughout the afternoon, dark clouds built in the west. All was calm through the ceremony. But about 15 minutes after it ended, the wind picked up. No mere summer thunderstorm gust, this sustained wind blew large cottonwood branches down, threw dust in guests' eyes and pushed over fencing.

"Every weatherman in town promised me gorgeous weather for this day," Brady said. "We're still expecting it to blow over."

But they didn't know that a tornado was touching down just to the north near Santo Domingo Pueblo. The bell was rung again to gain guests' attention, and Brady asked them to take their food inside the inn until the wind died down.

"The bride is unflappable. That's nice," said Richard Spence, who co-owns Hacienda Vargas with his wife, Cynthia. And the Spences know brides. They have weddings scheduled at the inn every weekend from mid-May to mid-October.

"If every bride were like Nicole, my life would be heaven," said Cynthia Spence.

Rain started to fall, the wind died down, the music played, the guests ate and danced. Lucy the dog sc arfed up tortilla chips that had dropped on the ground. Children with disposable cameras swarmed around Brady, snapping pictures.

"It's like the paparazzi are all over me," she said.

Brady and Close did an impromptu first dance as Los Primos played.

"I've lost all control of our choreographed little plan," Close said of the rained-out outdoor plan. "As long as she's happy, I'm happy."