A few short months have come, gone, and led into the start of something new and beautiful. In January I walked into my first apartment with my beautiful bride, and I can already tell that things are going to be even more wonderful than I hoped. Things down here in Tucson are great; the weather is perfect, both of our jobs are going well, and nothing has been stolen or jacked since we got here ;)
The wedding, if you weren't able to make it, was just incredible. Camille, as you can see, looked too beautiful for words. My good looks could be singly attributed to the beautiful boutonniere which Camille's aunt Aida made (along with most of the other flowers and arrangements that night). Thanks also to her aunt Connie Connie for helping to pay for them and to Ed's friend Dave for bringing in some beautiful flowers of his own!
Both the wedding and the reception were held in the Hotel Congress, an historic and fascinating building in downtown Tucson. Many were wondering why we didn't just have it at a church, and it mostly boiled down to convenience. The availability/price/size of a church didn't fit our small Thursday ceremony, and we both believe that a wedding doesn't necessarily have to take place in a church for God to be present.
My best men were my long-time friend Jake Davis, who drove from Kokomo down to Tucson with me, my little brother Robert Goulet Jay Young, awesome college buddy Bill Dwyer, roommate/soulmate Matt Pipkin, and my new "lil' brudder" Steven Campos.
Camille's bridesmaids were her aunt Chon Shabou, cousins Jolee Downey, Chantielle Givens and Amelia Voorhees, and my sister Leigh Young. The flower girl was Anea, Chon's daughter. My aunt LuAnn Young prepared and performed the ceremony, Camille's grandfather provided some beautiful piano playing, Ray Albright snapped some pictures for us, Steve and Nadim took care of the sound, and Chon and her friend Cynthia handled the decorations (and more).
I should take this opportunity to thank Chon and Cynthia for their hard work. Lots of people from both of our families helped to pull the wedding together, but these two worked as if they were preparing for their own weddings. The reception turned out great, with my friends and family proving to Camille's side that Hoosiers aren't all boring. Thanks to my best men for proving that we aren't all normal, either.
After the reception, Camille and I ventured up to a small resort in beautiful Sedona courtesy of my aunt Laurie and uncle Craig. Sedona is famous for its gorgeous red rocks, and looked as good as ever. Besides a day or two of rain (which Camille enjoys much more than I do, since she only sees 7" a year) it was fantastic, and we managed to avoid the mudslides. Camille and I flew back to Indiana on Jan 7th, our first plane trip together. It was wonderful to go to the airport and board a plane together instead of saying goodbye, like we had become so accustomed to.
We discovered upon our arrival that the northern part of the state was mostly encased in ice, which you can judge as either very lucky or very unlucky, depending on how long you've lived in Indiana. Regardless, Camille and her family loved it. To top it off, it snowed on the day of the reception, making "winter wonderland" the only phrase we heard more than "how's married life?"
The Indiana reception went as well as the Arizona reception, thanks to the tireless efforts of my lovely momma and our small army of relatives. My aunts Laurie, Leslie, Andi and Dottie were on hand to help with the decorations while my rag-tag band of misfits practiced Beatles songs in the background. I originally hoped that Camille would bring her violin and play along with us, but a lack of time and shyness both contributed to her absence.
My brother Jay and his roommate Cameron Sprinkle provided most of the band's impetus, as they are both excellent at playing guitar and singing. Gregg Lockwood brought his drums and Davey Strus brought his guitar/piano/voice, rounding out our little ensemble quite nicely (and loudly). Dave Sr. joined in later in the night with his harmonica for some old-fashioned blues. Truth be told, none of us practiced together at all until the very day of the reception. In the end, things turned out well, considering the band was tossed together with little more than random emails and missed phone calls.
Matt Harger agreed to DJ the party for me, and we had quite a few emails and a meeting devoted to picking out some good songs for the reception. He was back in the corner and unfortunately didn't get much opportunity to flex his DJ'ing muscles since our Little Band That Could found its courage and played most of the night.
In addition to my family members, the wonderful folks at the reception spanned every facet of my life; my youth, high school, church, college, and more. I'd like to thank everyone who risked some scary roads to come see us, especially my Fairway brothers and lots of other friends from college. There was also a handful of people Camille and I have known through the internet who traveled a very long way to make it to the reception. This probably bears some explanation.
For the past six years I've run a website (Starmen.Net) devoted to an old video game called EarthBound. In these six years the website has been wildly successful, and gets hundreds of thousands of visits every month. I've made many friends through this website, including my lovely bride, who first made contact with me when she sent me some incredible art for the website.
For the past couple of summers I've organized "conventions" at which members of the website get a chance to meet each other and have fun for a few days. I've probably met around 40 people through these conventions, and all of them have turned out to be outstanding people. Many of them I now consider close friends; apparently the feeling is mutual, since ten or so showed up for the reception. They came from all over the country: Florida, New York, Ohio, Illinois, and even one brave soul from Canada. I can't thank these guys enough for coming out, and my only regret is that we didn't get to hang out for more than an hour or two.
After saying goodbye to them, Camille and I spent the rest of the late night opening presents with our families. The generosity and kindness showered on us is really beyond expression; regardless of the money, gift cards, and presents, we don't know what we'd do if we didn't have the support and love of such an incredible group of friends and family.
We flew home the next morning, ditching our former plans to drive a rental car from Kokomo to Tucson. The reason we were going to drive was because we had lots of great gifts from the shower and the reception which we hoped to bring back to Tucson. However, the cost was prohibitive, so Camille and I packed two giant suitcases with as many towels, small appliances, and dishes as we could fit. In a style Mary Poppins would have admired, I even managed to fit a floor lamp in one of the big suitcases. This, combined with the kitchen knives, was apparently enough to warrant a thorough bag inspection from the TSA. At least they were paying attention.
Upon returning, Camille and I busily ran all over Tucson, spending money and gift cards like neither of us has before (or will again for a very long time) on things for our apartment. We're now living in a small studio outfitted with a very comfortable queen size bed (which we got an incredible deal on), a sturdy coffee table, and lots of beautiful picture frames, glassware, and pictures from the wedding and receptions.
Camille is working her last few months as a decorator at Cookies by Design, a "cookie bouquet" company which you should check out if you're interested in sending someone a unique gift. I'm working for openBook technologies, a small marketing and design firm in Lafayette, doing web development and designing print pieces. I do all of my work over the internet, for those of you curious as to how I could be working from Tucson for a company in Indiana.
We appreciate everyone who gave us some kind of gift and/or came to our wedding, receptions, or showers. The combined effect of so many people showing us so much kindness all at the same time has been somewhat overwhelming for us both, and like with our new marriage, neither of us is quite sure when it will hit us just how lucky we are. Until then, we thank God for every day and for all of you.