Andy + Carrie

Paul & I played quite a bit of Scrabble when we were dating.
Love Scrabble!
Maybe that's why I especially loved when Andy mentioned that it was after an afternoon hike with Carrie and an evening of playing Scrabble together that he thought "yeah, I can do THIS for the rest of my life."

He'd found the girl.

How sweet is that!
On his wedding day Andy had Scrabble tile cufflinks ~ in his initials! (Plus, he's a HS English teacher, so that love-of-words thing seems pretty central to his life.)
But this cufflink detail, just the tip of the oh-now-THAT'S-clever iceburg....


Not only is Carrie witty & kind & a hoot to be around (plus she's our first Geologist Bride) ~ she has some amazing skills that were on vibrant display during the wedding celebration.


Carrie made their wedding invitations, programs & paper products;
she was her own florist and

sewed her own table runners & ring pillow:

But perhaps my favorite part...she picked the wedding color (orange!) based on the season of a native wild flower (tiger lily!) that she knew would be blooming along the hillsides in late June.

Wow.
I hadn't documented a wedding at Alpine Park & Gardens for sometime and it was great being back... ...ESPECIALLY being there with Carrie & Andy, their very cool families AND an amazing cast of friends. Here is the girlfriend group Saturday morning, a real "Team Wedding" start to the day:

Carrie's collected fabulous friends from all over: her undergrad days at Carlton College and master's program in Utah State are who you see on site Saturday morning, helping decorate the venue & prepare for the party. Oh how their banter & reminiscing made me miss my college & grad school friends. The whole event: Such fun!!


Getting married under the sky-tickling trees in Alpine's outdoor ampitheatre is a slice of heaven.
My favorite image of Carrie & Andy's ceremony photos is probably this one that Annika created:
Loving this one I captured, too, of both sets of parents & siblings looking on (Barry, the Alpine Gardens guy, has done a great job with guest seating ~ love how flowering plants are between each row of benches.):

No matter where we found ourselves, the grounds were downright lush:

You can see even more of their bright & happy wedding day with this link: Carrie & Andy's slideshow. And speaking of happy...I am adoring the song you'll hear with the slideshow.
Hasn't the web been amazing for access to independent bands and new music. The internet has downright democratized the whole music scene. I'm sure people all over must be saying that, but I'm still ecstatic about this kind of access to the "system".
It wasn't that many years ago that to hear something new, most of us relied on someone else (friend, record-store-guy, DJ) to point us in the direction of new song or new sound. Not anymore. Wanting a song to tie in & celebrate Andy + Carrie's Scrabble sub-theme, I googled "scrabble songs" ~ and yep, there are some. [One verse, not at all wedding-like, but funny as heck: "I hate the I's as much as I hate U" -- clever, but you know, not really what we're going for.]
BUT, look what turned up: THIS BAND out of San Francisco and I'm loving their sound. The band's name: S C R A B B E L -- the alternate spelling to thwart off any Parker Brothers copyright concerns.
From what I've read they still have day jobs, so I bet they'll really love if we all buy a CD or iTune song.

Some of my new Scrabbel (bAnD!) favorites:
their "I'm in Love with a Girl" -- click here for a clip
and this hilarious MASH themesong

For some of my favorite IMAGES from Andy & Carrie's wedding, take a look at their slideshow. You're in for a treat!

~ amy enderle