When you know, you know! Laura and Aaron met just over four months ago, and now they’re planning their wedding. Read about their perfect Bend summer proposal, how they stay sane during wedding planning, and how they find and cultivate true joy in their relationship.
Give us the details! When? Where? How?
Friday, September 2, 2016, was one of those quintessential, blue-bird, Bend, late summer days. The prospect of packing a homemade dinner and trekking along the cascading, tumbling successive waterfalls of Tumalo Creek was a convenient distraction to the inspiration of the event. A three and a half mile ascent became a magical journey within the groves of fragrant, towering pine and fir, through the sights and sounds of water dancing and cascading through the mossy boulders, and the settling coolness of early evening. A respite on a luscious, grassy perch alongside the rushing creek, thundering of the adjacent waterfall, saw the advent of 24 candles glowing warm in the darkening evening.
It was in this moment, wholly sensuous, exhilarating, heart-beating, that Aaron took to a knee, presenting affirmation of love, dedication, commitment, and sparkling symbol. Laura’s resounding “yes” and illuminating aura shone ever so brightly in that space and time, two souls embracing across a myriad of dimensions. A look into the infiniteness of space and the brightness of the ever-brightening Milky Way, that night portrayed the power of two souls in the midst of a vast universe.
The significance of a single day in dedication to a wedding celebration in comparison to the vastness of time and space is trite; however, the power of joy is as infinite and timeless as the universe itself.
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
Brainstorming together about the type of day, (and weekend experience), we want to share with our family and friends. Most will be traveling to Bend from elsewhere, so we want to be sure to incorporate some of the quintessential Bend summer outdoor activities. So far we would like to include floating the Deschutes River, exploring the trails via foot or bike, seeing the diversity in nature, experiencing the vibe of the town.
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
We decided that our main priority is having fun with our guests, before, during and after the wedding. We want the overall experience to be a fun weekend of activities, rather than a singular event.
What was your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
We love how easy it is to use and manage, while still feeling it’s completely customizable and has every possible feature we could ever want. It has the best UI, mobile experience and layout options, so you’re never lost trying to find what you’re looking for. The built in example wedding to refer to is very helpful as well. Having a wedding website and app in one is awesome and we look forward to how easy we’ll be able to communicate and interact with our guests through the app!
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
Go through every section and play around. Check out the example site and click on everything! Use Intercom to ask questions and check out the help guides if you have any questions! We haven’t used it yet, but there’s also a community forum where you can see the questions/answers other users have asked. Have a general idea about what you want to share with guests when you start, (though with the privacy settings you can always change and share more later on), and take advantage of all the customization options!
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy lasts forever. What does that mean to you?
Joy should resound in every single aspect of our lives, being the inspiration and motivation for cherishing each and every experience. When two people create a joy-centered life together, the power of their energy crosses all dimensional realms, perhaps even shaping the energetic imprint in a continually expanding universe. What could be more powerful than sharing joy with numerous others in celebration? The significance of a single day in dedication to a wedding celebration in comparison to the vastness of time and space is trite; however, the power of joy is as infinite and timeless as the universe itself.
