Anna & Wes – a Love Story from Montana
THE COUPLE
Wes is from Kila, MT. Anna is from Denver, CO. Now we live in Portland, OR. The wedding was held at the home of Cindy and Wayne Ercoline in Kila. Cindy and Wayne are old family friends and live just a short distance from the house where Wes grew up. We met in 2005, so it's been almost 11 years. We considered getting married on our 10th anniversary, but we didn't have the coordination to pull it off. We met at Reed College in Portland when Wes was a freshman and Anna was a junior. We lived in the same dorm. It only took a few months for us to start spending all of our free time together. We bonded over watching TV and we still watch plenty of TV together to this day. We love cooking and eating together, as well as gardening and home decorating. Anna has also taught Wes to quilt. We have similar styles and comfort levels–we love to nest and make ourselves comfortable in our home.
"Wes is a sincere, funny, thoughtful and caring person". – Anna
"Anna is a skilled, confident goddess" – Wes
THE PROPOSAL: When we had been together for a few years, we started taking it for granted that we would be together forever but didn't really worry about actually having a wedding. When we attended a cousin's wedding we got inspired and started warming up to the concept, but just a little. Wes said "Ugh, does this mean I'm going to have to propose?" Anna replied, "Please don't." We didn't need to have a proposal; we always knew where we would end up.
THE WEDDING:
Both of us wanted a wedding that was a chance for us to bring as many family and friends together as possible. We see weddings as a community ritual, so we didn't want to do it until we had the means to bring our whole community together. That's why we waited so long. Neither of us like being the center of attention, but we were incredibly touched by all the ways people came together to put us first. The ceremony was exactly what we wanted, though we didn't really plan it first. Walking down the aisle to the Princess Bride theme was unintentional but perfect.
An advice we would give to a bride planning a wedding? Without a wedding planner, be prepared to micromanage EVERYTHING…down to the number of trash cans and the placement of the centerpieces. If you choose to give this role to a family member rather than a professional, try not to make it your immediate family–they'll be running around trying to fix things rather than enjoying the day.
