My Wedding Pictures (Patreon)

Hey y'all!

As you know, I like to keep the focus on my comics instead of turning the spotlight onto myself.  But I just got married in June and many of you asked me to share some of the wedding photos when I got them. I've already shared a few that I got right after the wedding from our guests. But now we've finally begun to get some of the photos from our awesome photographer, Dennis Dizon, and I thought you might like to see them. :)

Originally the wedding was planned for June of 2020, but we needed to cancel it due to COVID concerns. So we moved the date to exactly one year later -- to June 21, 2021 -- and that timing turned out to be super-lucky, since that was the one moment here in the U.S. when it looked like things could really be getting back to normal. I mean, we had always planned on an outdoor wedding, and we and our guests were vaccinated, but the timing also felt like we could truly celebrate with our loved ones for the first time in over a year.

Fernando and I had spent over 3 years planning this day, and I wondered if it could live up to that build up. It did and then some. It wound up being the wedding of our dreams.

I got dressed up in a nice suit:

But no one looked more handsome on that day than my sweetheart:

Our theme was "the adventure of travel" since that's one of our favorite things to do together. As a wedding gift, Fernando's very good friend Dani designed our wedding invitations, programs and "escort cards" (so guests could find their tables.) She supposedly just does graphic design "as a hobby" but I was totally blown away with what she created. 

(The books for our vows came from a local art store and there's a brochure from the venue, but the rest is all her.)

These were our escort cards which she made look like plane tickets to places we've been:

We got married at the beautiful Black Butte Ranch in Central Oregon. These were our rings which I had bought when I asked Fernando to marry me four years ago. Blue is his favorite color so the stone I chose was sapphire.

We wrote our own vows into those "Let the Adventure Begin" books. (Can you see the cool thing our photographer did with the shadow of the ring?)

The photographer arranged a "first look" before the wedding ceremony. Fernando and I hadn't see each other fully dressed up in our suits, so this really was the first time. I was brought to him, eyes closed, by my groomsman, Michael, and Fernando was brought by his groomsman, Peter. (We'd attended their wedding just a few years before.)

And when we saw each other, there were some feelings. :)

We were both surrounded with so much love that day. Here are my closest friends who stood up with me at the wedding. We were all very happy.

We were at Black Butte Ranch almost a week and we planned a bunch of fun outdoor events to take advantage of the natural beauty of the area. There were a lot of moving parts, but our wedding party made sure we always had everything we needed. They were true superheroes, and we couldn't have done it without them.

When the big moment came, we were married by the awesome Reverend Chris Lewis, also known as "The English Gentleman." We met him in person twice before, and had been in close communication for over two years. He's a  straight guy, but he was just full of love, joy, and support for us.

We took our vows in front of snow-capped mountains and sparkling water under the beautiful Oregon sunshine.

And then it finally happened. We were married!

And we got to act like royalty for just a moment. :)

I'm a writer and I know that "happily ever after" is for stories. If you're one of the lucky ones, life keeps going and you're consistently faced with new challenges and joys. 

But I will say this, my life is happier with Fernando in it. Much happier. The challenges feel easier to handle, and the joys feel sweeter. 

And I am very grateful to have made him mine.

Thank you for sharing this day with me by looking at these photos. Hugs and love to all of you. I hope you're having a great holiday weekend! :)