Tamara and Richard - The Wedding Luncheon

Following the ceremony friends and family were invited to a luncheon over at the Stake Center.

Don't they look happy!

Once again Tamara's friends had done a great job of fixing yummy food and decorating!

Jayna did a beautiful job with all the flowers!

Of course there were lots of opportunities for picture taking.

The Wilkes kids, spouses and parents!

And just the Wilkes kids, parents and the bride and groom.

They thought of everything - even a coloring table for all the kids - big and little!

And of course there was more cake!

My favorite part was the cake table - I love the tablecloth!
We headed back to the airport about 2:30 to catch an earlier flight home - we were able to get in to Portland 7:30 pm, arriving home at 8:30 p.m. instead of arriving at 10:30 and getting home at 11:30 p.m. which was so nice!

Now to get ready for Girl's Camp!

Tamara and Richard - The Wedding Day

Again the Arizona weather cooperated and it was below 100 so we could actually stand to be outside!

The sealing room was packed - standing room only. So many people were there to help celebrate with Tamara and Richard.

Tamara was very pretty in purple in a dress made by her dear friend Beth Baum.

Grandma and Grandpa Wilkes were very much the proud parents.

There were lots of people there to help celebrate!

All of Tamara's children, their spouses and the grandchildren were all there too along with Richard's two children, daughter in law and grandbaby Emma! Tamara's granddaughters all had matching purple dresses!

Being use to the beautiful flower gardens around the Portland Temple I was fascinated with the surprisingly beautiful cactus gardens around the Mesa Temple!
We headed over to the Stake Center for a luncheon afterwards.

Tamara and Richard's Wedding

We made a quick 36 hour trip to Mesa Arizona this weekend for the wedding of Tamara and Richard! Thanks to two frequent fliers tickets both Jim and I were able to fly down to celebrate with the family.

This was the first time in a few years that Jim, all his siblings and all their spouses had been together. There was lots of other family there too. It was fun to spend time with Julie White, her parents Max and Margene Withers.

It was a nice surprise to see Wynn and Emily and their three kids as well as Chersten and Scott and their three cute little girls. All of Tamara's kids and their spouses and kids were there too - Lots of Wilkes!

Jim and I flew in and met David and Tricia at the airport and shared a rental car. Tricia's sister who lives in Gilbert was kind enough to let us stay with them.

We had some time to waste when we first got there so of course Tricia and I knew how to fill it - we went shopping. We drug the guys along with us as we checked out all the cute stores and boutiques on Main Street in Mesa. We found a yummy little Mexican restaurant to eat at too.

We met up with all the family at the Open House Friday evening. They had the Open House before the wedding because Richard and Tamara were leaving for their Alaskan Cruise early Saturday evening.

Tamara's bishop hosted the Open House at his home. The weather really cooperated - we had expected triple digit temperatures but the evening was a cool 90 or so with a nice breeze. It was a beautiful evening to sit outside and get caught up with all the Wilkes.

It was fun to meet Richard again after so many years. Richard actually lived in Wisconsin and when he left on his mission my dad was his Bishop - small world. Richard was also my Sunday School teacher - at least according to him and my mom. I have no memory of it but Richard says he remembers me! Not sure that is a good thing!! I guess we use to give him a hard time in class so that he would turn red. It's better to not remember everything I think!

Richard and Tamara dated years ago, before they went on their missions and right after. Richard had actually proposed years ago. It is a sweet love story how they reconnected!

One of Tamara's friends had made a beautiful selection of homemade cakes for the event. Of course I took pictures and asked for the recipes.

Not only were the cakes yummy but the presentation was pretty too.

I loved the little sign that told you what type of cakes they were.

My favorite was the lemon! Yum!

There was also a yummy raspberry cake.

A Red Velvet one...

And two types of chocolate - dark and milk chocolate.

More about the wedding day next.