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AMANDA & ROGER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY VALLEY IMAGES PHOTOGRAPHY
Amanda knew early on that Roger was the one. “Initially I
admired his ambition and success. However, while dating,
I discovered that he is really talented and very intelligent.
He has all of the characteristics I was looking for in a
mate that I was not willing to compromise on,” she says.
“He was always the one for me. It just took me 33 years
to find him.”
For Roger, he too knew right away that Amanda
would be his wife. “It was obvious that we were going to
be married. I set my expectations about getting married
very early on because I knew I wanted to marry her,”
he says.
The two felt so committed to each other that they
didn’t want to wait to start their family. “We knew that a
wedding would happen eventually. We got pregnant and
decided to plan the wedding before the baby arrived,”
Amanda says. On New Year’s Eve, shortly after learning
Amanda was pregnant, Roger suggested that they find
an engagement ring. “Roger knew I did not want a traditional
ring, so he did the smart thing and invited me to
shop along with him for my engagement ring. We found
a jewelry designer we both liked and began to design the
ring. When it came in the mail, I put it on and from that
day forward, considered myself engaged!”
They played with the idea of eloping to Las Vegas.
“We both love Las Vegas and thought it would be really
cool to get married in an old chapel by an Elvis impersonator,”
she says. However, after sharing the news of a
wedding and a baby with their families, they realized they
wanted to share all this joy with those closest to them.
“We settled pretty instantly on the venue: our home,”
she says. “I suggested hiring a wedding planner since
we had a lot of landscaping and home improvements to
focus on before the big day, and I was pregnant. Roger
worked evenings and weekends to get the property
wedding-ready in just four months!” Amanda envisioned
an outdoor wedding under a tent with a romantic and
rustic theme. “It turned out spot-on in terms of what I
wanted,” she says.
They both got ready together at their house. “I wasn’t
worried about him seeing me before the ceremony and
I even showed him my dress beforehand. I didn’t want to
be too formal about those kinds of traditions,” she says.
Another tradition Amanda wanted to break? Wearing
white. “I went with a blush dress instead, and I didn’t want
a veil either,” she says.
As newlyweds and
new parents, the two
are still basking in the
love they felt that day. “It
was better than I thought
it would be,” she says. “It
truly was romantic.” OO
—Kourtney Jason
178 | REAL WEDDINGS WINTER/SPRING 2019 REALWEDDINGSMAG.COM