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Mike and Anna Marry Wedding Day — 20 May 2006
	Mike and Anna married on a beautiful desert spring evening along the San Pedro River, where the couple decorated the trees with tiny white holiday lights for their reception, and where they exchanged vows as the sun set over the Huachuca mountains.

Preparations The groom's and bride's moms shore Mike up for the big event Cherie, the mother of the groom, Mike, and Angela, the bride's mother, keep Mike from floating off his feet

Racing against the sunset, Miranda helps pin the vail to Anna's hair (left). Once done and ready, Anna sighs with relief with her childhood buddies Teena and Hope.

Meanwhile, Cherie helps Mike prepare for his big day. Ah, doesn't the burden of a big wedding fall squarely on the groom's shoulders? :-)

The Sun Goes Down And A New Life Dawns Taylor, the ring bearer, begins his walk down the aisle as the light begins to soften

Anna is escorted by her two fathers, Larry, at left, and Hap at right. Both dads have a justifiable pride in bringing the young bride to this point in her life.

Pretty maids all in a row Anna's friends and family wait in anticipation for her at the bridal arch. From left, Teena, Hope, Noel, Rachael, and Miranda, the maid of honor.

The ceremony Scott, the officiant, presides over their exchange of vows Read their wedding vows.
Mike places the ring on Anna's finger	And Anna places one on Mike's finger
The marriage is sealed with a kiss
The couple walks back down the aisle as a the county's newest newlyweds

The Wedding Party
	Anna and Mike sign the marriage license after the ceremony in one of the Inn's guest cottages
The wedding party lines up for the obligatory mug shot, er, wedding party photo. From left, Javier, Saun, Jesus, Kevin, Anna, Mike, Miranda, Noel, Hope, Teena, with Taylor and Rachael in front

The couple's family joins them after the ceremony. Anna's family from left: Larry, Hap, Angela, and Mike's folks Cherie and Jamie

No looking back Anna wistfully reflects on what it means to be half of a life-time partnership.

Off to the Reception Pictures over, Anna and Mike stroll over to the open-air reception under the stars and trees at the San Pedro River Inn The wedding party had decorated the Inn's lawn with white lights strung from the trees, and put the food and dance floor under canapies. It was a beautiful evening for a party

Anna and Mike start the food line to get some energy for the long night of dancing ahead	The First Dance
The Toast Kevin offers a toast to a lifetime of happiness

All the married couples were invited on the dance floor. The DJ asked the newer couples to leave in increments. The last standing were these two gems of marital bliss Carol and John are friends of the newlyweds. What an inspiration Similarly, Mike's second cousin Nancy and husband Gary were boot-scooting past the 40-year mark

The Wedding Cake
Just like marriage, the cake cutting starts out sweet and civilized. But yep, just like marriage, there are smiles and smears, and what a better time to practise for the marital roller-coaster than that first bite of the wedding cake?

Anna and Mike weren't the only ones celebrating with cake. Teena's birthday was May 20th, too, and Anna surprised her with a birthday cake ... and a birthday lap dance by Mike's attendants!

The Bouquet and Garter Toss
	At left, Anna survey's the field of eligible bachelorettes and gauges the azimuth and range before turning to launch the much desired bridal bouquet One of Mike's colleagues from work is the lucky one to snag the bouquet. Funny how the shortest gal was able to outmaneuver the other envious gals

Garter Mania Mike retrieves the wedding garter from Anna's leg — yowsher, it looks like it was good for Anna, too
Anna's friend triumphantly holds the garter high, in anticipation no doubt, of putting it on one of the young damsels at the party

You know the drill ... the garter catcher gets to put it on the lovely younger sister of the bride. At least that's the plan.
The bride's father has a different idea	Hap takes Noel's place and rolls up his pant leg
Poor guy is enjoying this way too much	And raises his arms in victory — a little thigh action
We're glad the young man had a good sense of humor

Dancing the Night Away
	Cherie is in the thick of the celebration. If there's a wedding and a dance floor, she's there! Teena, Anna, and Hope complete the circle dance
Mike and Matt's friends John, Pete, and Kevin did a remarkably good job of imitating the three stooges

Sal, my friend from the Army War College and SPAWAR, took dance lessons at Carlisle while the rest of us were hitting the books. Apparently while we were learning about dirty bombs, he was learning dirty dancing. Nice goin', Sal. Sal cuts a rug with his date Paula, who was also an inspired dancer

Not to be out done by the younger generation, Jim shows off his stuff. It's almost scary when he's in the groove. Speaking of groovy, these 60's throw backs (or is that throw out their backs?) twist the night away

Odd couples don't mind intra-gender or inter-generation gyrations.	And even your's truly got in on the action
Around one a.m. the crowd thinned. Mike and Anna look for late night victuals, the die-hards continue the beat on the dance floor, and the rest drift off to the cabins (at right) And so the night ended and the marriage began. We wish the happy couple a long life of love, health, and happiness.

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