Ryan and Lacey's Wedding

This past weekend we had the opportunity to fly up to Lake Tahoe

for Ryan Worrell's wedding. Ryan is one of James' best friends.

They met while at the Academy, and went on a road trip to see a baseball game in every major league stadium before heading down and starting pilot training in Del Rio. While in Del Rio, both James and Ryan became good friends with Greg Balzhiser, who introduced Ryan to his younger sister Lacey. They started dating a few months before our wedding in 2008 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Luckily, James managed to get most of the day on Friday off so we could fly up there in time to catch the end of the rehearsal dinner. All of the wedding festivities took place at the Northstar Resort at Tahoe, which is a pretty ritzy ski resort. All of the wedding party had hotel rooms up there, and the rehearsal dinner was held at a restaurant there in the village complex. Because it's the off season, we had the entire resort to ourselves on Friday night, which was really cool.

Ryan and Lacey gave each member of the wedding party a very unique but useful gift. They are both very outdoorsy people, so they had some fleeces embroidered with a little double knot symbolizing their union. That definitely came in handy as James refused to pack a legitimate coat even though we knew it would be in the 20's and 30's there at night.

After the rehearsal dinner, we all headed up to the giant suite that Greg (who got to serve as the best man) reserved to hang out with friends as they arrived. It was great to see many of our other AF friends who went to other bases after Del Rio. We also got to meet some new people and make new friendships, which is always fun. Ryan and Lacey are such silly, fun people that it would have been really hard for someone not to enjoy the weekend. =^P

James' and my good friend Ren Cowan was commissioned to do Lacey's hair and make up, just like she did mine for my wedding, so we got to spend a good amount of time together this weekend. I also had a special treat on the morning of the wedding. Apparently their official photographer was only hired to take pictures of the ceremony and reception, so I got to be the one who took all of the pictures of Lacey and the girls getting dressed. You can check out the photography blog for all of the nice pictures of the wedding. Lacey has already looked through all of them and loves them so I think it was time well spent.

The ceremony was held on a grassy area overlooking the ice skating rink at the resort. Thankfully, it was warm in the sunshine so the ladies were able to comfortably wear dresses. It was a beautiful ceremony that was specifically designed to honor family. Lacey's father not only walked her down the aisle, but he actually officiated the ceremony. They had Ryan's father read the scripture and pray for them. Also, the first thing the bride and groom did upon reaching the altar was give a large, red rose to each other's mothers. Greg got to be the best man and support the union of his little sister and one of his best friends. Over all it was very touching. James and I were so honored that they asked us to take a part in their wedding.

After the ceremony, I stuck around with James until the pictures with the wedding party were over. We amused ourselves by taking some pictures in front of the beautiful fall foliage. It was so refreshing to see real trees and experience my favorite season - if only for 2 days. Then we rode the Gondola up the mountain to a lodge where the reception was held.

While we waited for Ryan and Lacey, I got a chance to hang out with all of the other wonderful AF spouses/fiancees. We are very blessed to be a part of such a great community of Christian couples! When the happy couple finally arrived, they did a traditional saber arch, and then proceeded inside for a delicious Italian buffet, dancing, cake and making memories! As wedding favors, they gave everyone a little packet of smores ingredients and a fleece blanket so, if you needed a break from dancing, you could head outside and sit around one of the many fire pits up there and make a tasty snack!

One of James' favorite parts of the weekend was being reunited with Luke Rogers, who was one of his closest friends at the Academy. We haven't seen him since the night before James and Ryan took off on their baseball trip, so James made sure to spend lots of quality time catching up. Hopefully it will be less than three and a half years before we see him again!

The morning after the wedding, we woke up late, had a hearty breakfast with our friends, and wandered around the village shops before driving back to the Reno airport. It was not a cheap weekend by any means, but it was 100% worth it to be there to celebrate the union of two or our favorite people.