We're so excited to celebrate with you!

Gary, in all his nostalgic and romantic glory, picked this day for us to marry. Because July 4th, 2022 also marks 18 years from the day we first met. Gary was house leader, working at a ranch in 2004. He was in charge of the group that my son was in when he was 10 years old. On July 4th we took all the kids out to a fireworks show. That's when we made our first connection. He reached behind his back and grabbed my hand.....that was the moment we knew we had something special. We were together for 3 and a half years from 2004 - 2008. We went our separate ways for almost a decade. Then, on his birthday, October 6, 2017, we found our way back to each other. It was almost 10 years since we saw one another and yet, it was as if our hearts didn't miss a beat. The pieces missing from our hearts are now back where they belonged all along. Don't misunderstand things.....this was never a sweet, peaches and cream fairy tale. HA!! We are great at annoying the living tar out of each other. We have seen the best and the very worst each of us has to offer and yet we have learned to love, accept & support the other through the worst of times. Love is so much more than just a fleeting feeling....it is a decision to make a commitment to love in spite of flaws, unconditionally. Now we are ready to celebrate our love, have all of you witness this final commitment & share one of these, and hopefully many more, "best of times" with our close friends and family.

Gary's daughter, Carmen, conceived a name to reference both of us. "GarMar" We loved the originality of that pet name, so we decided to incorporate it into our wedding hashtag.