How did the two of you meet?
On a cliffside in Smith Rock State Park, Max walked through Aileen’s campsite to check out a bald eagles nest and found her sitting near the edge. They spent the rest of the night watching the eagles and talking under the moonlight.
Give us the proposal details! When? Where? How?
Every full moon we camp, no exceptions. We happened to be visiting Max’s parents on a full moon in August so we drove our camper van 45 minutes up the road to a spot in Tajique, NM. The minute we parked the moon started to rise over the mountain so we tossed blankets and pillows on the roof of the van and jumped up to watch the show. A minute or two later, Max spontaneously jumped back into the van, grabbed the ring, climbed back up and proposed. After months of trying to figure out how to customize his grandmother’s ring, he decided he couldn’t wait any longer and threw his plans out the window. We went into town that week to customize it together!
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
Picking out the food for the catering menu. Yum!
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
Aileen’s a natural planner, the “pressure” hasn’t really been a thing. In fact, it’s been fun! She has an app or website for everything: WedHappy for ToDo’s, WeddingWire for budget & seating, HotelPlanner for hotel blocks, Joy for communicating important details with guests, and Trello for overall wedding project management!
What is your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
The ability to track RSVPs and the Q&A section!
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
Customize everything! We edited and added questions, changed section headings, and uploaded a lot of photos. We picked Joy because it wasn’t a cookie cutter website or one that required a hefty fee. We were able to completely personalize the website and we’ve had nothing but compliments about it.
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy lasts forever. What does that mean to you?
Our wedding is an awesome day to share with our favorite people. Wedding or no wedding, we want to spend our lives together because we lift each other up. We’re joyous because we’re together before, during and long after the wedding.
