The LDS Church's involvement in California's controversial anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 continues to have unintended consequences, sometimes in very personal ways.

Utah resident Kristen Madrigal is planning her wedding and logged on to Martha Stewart's online wedding magazine to get ideas and find vendors for the wedding services.

She found a calligrapher, Leigh Wells, liked the work samples Wells displayed, and e-mailed to request Wells' services for her wedding invitations. She explained in the e-mail that she wanted two invitations: one for a small group for the wedding ceremony and reception. Then one for a larger group to the reception only.

Madrigal was stunned by Wells' response.

The calligrapher said she had to decline because the nature of the request indicated it was a Mormon wedding and, because of the church's position on gay rights issues, she will not participate in Mormon functions. When Madrigal responded that it is not a Mormon wedding and that she, too, supports gay rights, Wells wrote that she won't do any business in Utah because of the church's stands.

Later, Wells was more conciliatory, apologizing to Madrigal in a subsequent e-mail for her tone and explaining that she just feels very strongly about that issue. She offered to give Madrigal the names of other worthy calligraphers.

Wells told me that she considered telling Madrigal she would do the job, but believed that because of the tone of the earlier e-mails, the offer would not be well-received.

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Big Brother syndrome? • The Canyons School District seems to have an oversized ego problem.

When high school diplomas for the upcoming graduations were printed and sent to the four high schools, a minor insurrection erupted.

The diplomas, in gigantic type, had CANYONS SCHOOL DISTRICT at the top. Then in relatively itsy-bitsy type, had the name of the respective high school.

Because school pride is a big deal, the idea of everyone's identity being swallowed into a centralized CANYONS SCHOOL DISTRICT prompted some principals to protest and the diplomas were reprinted.

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Can happen to anyone • When the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities slapped a water service termination notice on the door of the recently closed Emigration Market for nonpayment of a $766.09 water bill, some neighbors took notice.

That is because the building is owned by Salt Lake City Council member J.T. Martin.

But it was a mistake.

When Martin contacted the department, he learned there was confusion about a monthly payment because the market paid on two water accounts. When the store was closed the ownership records indicated the building was owned by a company called Essen (German for food). Thinking a new company had taken over the property, the notice was slapped on the building because notices sent through the mail got no response. That's because, with the store closed, Martin and his staff did not get the notices.

Essen is actually the holding company that owns Emigration Market and the neighbors can relax. Their council representative is not a deadbeat.

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Channeling Mark Twain • Remember Huckleberry Finn and the part in the book where Huck and the slave Jim encounter two shady characters on their trip down the Mississippi River?

One of the characters, you may recall, claimed to be the Duke of Bridgewater, and was simply called Bridgewater.

The other claimed to be Dauphin, the long lost son of the king of France. Latin for king is Rex, the name of the father of Mike Lee, who is running in the GOP Senate primary against Tim Bridgewater.

prolly@sltrib.com