Our Wedding, July 19, 2008

It's hard to believe that Eric and I have been married now for 6 months! Time flies when you're having fun! I thought I would recap the wedding for those of you who weren't there and maybe haven't seen pictures yet.
We got engaged on November 28, 2007. Yes, Eric finally proposed after 8+ years and 2 kids! And he did it on my birthday which made it very memorable. We didn't actually choose a date or begin planning the wedding till the last minute. I'm quite the procrastinator! We both decided that we wanted to get married in Arizona and felt that the hottest time of the year would be the best time to do it, lol! Not only would we get discounted rates, we were guaranteed some excellent photo ops of monsoon storms. Eric was really excited to shoot some lightning. We picked July 19th and planned our Phoenix wedding in a matter of 6 months.
Getting married in Arizona turned out to be a wonderful decision. I was full of worry beforehand about the weather, the church, who would make it. But all those worries were put to rest once we got there. We were married at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Tempe. We had a traditional ceremony in their beautiful little chapel. A cello and 2 ladies sung latin hyms before and during the ceremony. In front of 25 friends and family we exchanged our vows. It all went off without a hitch. The priest, Father Burfitt, was so very nice and made everyone feel very comfortable. The flowers were perfect! I relied on a woman from the church to help me with those. All I did was send pictures of what I liked and hoped for the best. Not only did we get a smokin' deal but they were the most beautiful bouquets and arrangements I had ever seen! We got a few outdoor photos in the 100 degree heat, wish we could have gotten more but yes, heat did factor in to that. We had our reception at a Western steakhouse called Rustler's Rooste. It sits on a bluff by South Mountain. We had their house band play one of our favorite George Strait songs, "The Chair" , for our first dance and then dined on steaks, bbq chicken, potatoes, salad and veggies. After a few trips down their long metal indoor slide, we had our beautiful wedding cake. Thanks to my wonderful sister Julie & her husband Andrew for making it happen! Barry & Kirsten gave very moving toasts and we finished off our evening with some nice sunset pictures. We had such a lovely day. Thanks to everyone for their help and their presence on our special day.
The days after our wedding we did plenty of sightseeing around Arizona. We travelled up north to Sedona and saw the beautiful red rocks as well as the ruins of Montezuma's castle. Eric and I both loved Prescott Valley where my Dad lives. The landscape and big sky is beautiful. We could certainly see ourselves making that area our home someday. We also spent plenty of time at Grandma Toni's relaxing in her pool and just hanging out and exploring the Superstition Mountain and it's surrounding mountains and lakes. There is truly breathtaking scenery everywhere. Eric had a great time taking pictures of the beautiful Arizona sunsets and luckily got to shoot a handful of monsoon thunder storms. The storms down in AZ are amazing! We hardly ever get a good storm in Oregon so it was especially fun for us to experience. Spending time with our Arizona family, family from Hawaii and Oregon family and friends was so wonderful. Thanks again for making our Arizona wedding so memorable!