Where to start this story? Let’s see, it was almost 39 years ago that I married the love of my life Heather Van Wessem in southern California. Life was exploding with excitement and the months passed quickly as we prepared to follow our dreams and move to Montana. Heather was nearly 9 months pregnant with our first child when I put her on a plane to Bozeman. I stayed over a few weeks to fulfill business obligations and pack the rest of our earthly possessions for my exodus. Push came to shove when I got a call late in the evening with news that Heather was showing early signs of labor. I scrambled to book an early morning flight and just before I left for LAX I got news that my first sweet daughter had been born. So I was in rare form on the flight, barely able to contain myself when people would say hello and notice that I was beaming!
So that was the beginning. The story continues… When we had married we received the wedding certificate signed by the Pastor and safely put it away. What we didn’t realize was that we should have gotten it certified or notarized in Las Virgenes before we left. Years went by quickly and the need to have a certified wedding license was forgotten. We had the paper and it was signed by the Pastor so we just thought we were all good.
Recently Heather was getting our paperwork together and when she pulled out the certificate as a form of ID, it was noted that it was not complete, and legally we were not married all these years.? yikes…
So, I came up with the idea to propose again and take all the steps to make this beautiful and solid. Heather was awash in joy and accepted. I suggested a simple little wedding with our adult daughters and their families and my dear sweet sister in law Marla.
We chose a place near our home where we have always played, ran & swam for all of these years.
So, why is this on my wedding blog? Simply because this is ‘our’ story. I have captured and shared so many other’s joyous stories and images for over 20 years of weddings that I have photographed. So now, I thought it time to share a bit of our story!
Thanks to my fine friend Carlie Breen for being our photographer and to my friend and officiant extraordinaire, Reverend Bradford Lartigue.
Enjoy the view!
We have always been married, just missed an important detail! Now once we get this piece of paper stamped we’ll be able to prove it!
In every walk of life, may your path be fruitful and solid! And… if you need photography, give me a call.
Photographs by the amazing Carlie Breen! Thank you Carlie, we love you.
