LAURA EMBRY / Union-Tribune Mona Felton-Schewe (left) and her daughter, Carol Hale, are extremely close and have shared many an adventure together. Carol, who says she likes to gamble, says she'll be there for Mona's trip to Laughlin.

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The first time Mona Felton-Schewe laid hands on a milk cow, the beast, in her mind, might just as well have been an orangutan. She didn't know what to do with it. Oh sure, she was a country girl from Great Britain's lush rural Romford Essex outside London. But she had never planted a working foot on a farm of any kind.

When orchestrating a wedding, it is wise not to be wed too earnestly to a specific plan. Jessica Moore learned this the hard way when her dream of marrying Justin Owens in her parents' Poway home went up in smoke. Literally.