And finally... our wedding

No words or pictures could possibly do this day justice. People always talk about your wedding day as being the most magical day of your life-- and I wasn't sure I was the "magical" type of person-- but it turns out I am. It was amazing.

We had planned to be married atop Glacier Point, at 10:30 in the morning, in Yosemite National Park. Our plans were looking a little shaky when we were greeted with a blanket of snow on our way into the park Friday afternoon. Saturday morning the park rangers made their determination that the Glacier Point road was too icy to traverse, so we had to fall back onto Plan B. Thank God we hired the most knowledgable reverend in the tri-county area to marry us, because he had a list of possible alternatives ready for us. We chose a place that we didn't even know existed: Turtleback Dome. He explained that it was a football field sized area that you could access by hopping a rock wall and scrambling down a few boulders, about 1 mile north of Inspiration Point. The main reason D and I originally chose Glacier Point was because we wanted to be married in front of a beautiful view, so we were happy with Turtleback Dome.

We got to the area, handed Savvy off to her Auntie Ellie for the ceremony and said our vows in front of 9 of our closest friends. Quick excerpts:

Read by Denise, to Stephanie: "Our life is full of conversations spanning commutes and gazes spanning evenings. I'm a person of action. I try to show my commitment to you every day by loving you with everything I have, and I will continue this for the rest of our days."

Read by Stephanie, to Denise: "To quote one of my favorite authors, 'Today I feel that my love for you has more density in this world than I do, myself: as though it could linger on after me and surround you, keep you, hold you.' ...And as we stand here this morning, I am overwhelmed by the journey that's brought us to this moment, and honored to be your partner, your best friend, your wife, on the journey that stretches out before us."

Our ceremony ended with the Native American Wedding Blessing and a kiss. After the ceremony we all drove down to the Ahwahnee for lunch. Everyone enjoyed calamari (including Savvy), wine, entrees and dessert. Since we opted not to have a wedding cake, we made everyone order something different from the dessert menu. My boysenberry pie ala mode was to die for. Our reverend, Autrey, had a brother (Richard) that took our pictures for the day. We were very happy with the result, and I hope you will be, too. I hope you can feel the excitement and love pouring out from behind these photos... we're thrilled to share our special day with you.