We get married, you party.

People we knew knew each other. Then we started hanging out with those people plus each other. And then we started hanging out with just each other! After our first date, we were inseparable...until Leah had to leave for college. We survived four years of on and off long distance between Fairbanks and Anchorage, then it wasn't long after coming home that we got engaged!!

After about 2 years of dating, Mark decided to bring me along to his annual family fishing trip at the Russian River opener. He described it as the most fun trip where everyone camps out alongside the river and cooks while others are catching their limit in a hurry. Excited, I packed up my bags and headed out to the falls with Mark and his family. We got there at midnight to a dark, cold riverbank, with pouring rain and NO FISH. I was thinking that this was one of the worst trips I had ever been on. Thinking that this annual event couldn't possibly get any worse, I continued to tag along year after year, and it did get better! For the 2017 opener, I considered staying home because the weather was really looking bad, but Mark was persistent that I went. So we headed out to Cooper Landing. On the drive out, I noticed that Mark kept looking out the window to see if the rain was clearing up at all near the Russian River. It wasn't. I remember that he was acting stranger than normal. We show up to the parking lot and started hiking. As we went along I could see the clouds starting to part and the sun coming through, but Mark only showed a little relief. By the time we got all the way down to the river, it had turned into the most beautiful day! The sky was clear and sunny, the bugs were down, and the river was sparkling and thick with salmon. The family trekked ahead of us to get their gear on, but Mark held me up, saying he needed to fix his backpack. I turned around and he was down on one knee with a small box in his hands. Everything leading up to this point now made sense! He proposed right there and it couldn't have been more perfect.

We are so excited to share our special day with you! The wedding reception and ceremony will take place in Palmer at Paradise Alaska. The parking lot is an extra large open field, so you can either just park for the day or stay all night and setup tents, RV's or hang your bivy-hamock (Kevin). The property is reserved for the full weekend. We would love to have as many guests camp out under the midnight sun on the night of!