Wedding Reception

Reception

Ceremony

Married April 2, 2025  Sagle, ID

Our Wedding

&#65279;Celene's Version ("Just the Facts, Ma'am!"):
We met in a college cafeteria (Pacific Union College). You may know the place. :) Celene was sitting and eating with some mutual friends of Gregory's. Suddenly, her soda glass was missing. She looked up and saw Gregory drinking out of it, purposefully. "What a jerk!", Celene thought and asked why he was drinking her soda without asking. His response was just as aggravating. "Because I was thirsty." Okay, Celene was not impressed much.
Over the following weeks, Celene and Gregory began to spend more time in groups with mutual friends. There was a definite spark between the two of them. They started spending more time alone without the friends; walking around the trails near campus, "studying" at Davidian Hall, trips to St. Helena and Napa, and eventually home to meet his Mom and Dad. And so that's where this part of the story began; because of a stolen soda!
 
It has been 40 years since we first met. We married different people, both had two children, and our lives went on in different locations.
We reconnected again in 2014 for a short time, with a break-up until 2021, when we saw each other in Vegas. Celene was convinced that we needed to work on a stronger friendship than a romance. Gregory didn't always agree, but patience may be his best quality! For three years, the "friendship" continued, at a rate of watching paint dry! Some trips were taken, phone calls made on an almost weekly basis. Celene was not sure she wanted to uproot and remarry, even for the right guy.
In 2024, the relationship began to accelerate. Gregory had come up for a 10 day trip to Portland, OR in August 2024. A few days later Celene was hospitalized for emergency back surgery. Gregory was a true saint, taking her to ER, doctor appointments, caring for the indoor (and outdoor!) pets, and especially coming to visit at the hospital. (While on morphine), Celene asked him, "Do you really want to do this with me? Move with me from California and Portland and get married?". Gregory leaned over to the bed and stated "Have I ever given you any reason to doubt that?". He was already down on his knee, leaning over the hospital bed. We joked about how that would be the silliest proposal ever! However, Gregory stayed down on his knee and asked Celene if she would marry him. Celene said yes and the nurse took a picture to prove the engagement! She stated "I've never seen a patient both do work on her computer and get engaged the day after surgery." Well, the story goes to show surgery can be a good choice after all! And even off of the morphine, the engagement continued!
We made a move to Sandpoint, Idaho and are acclimating to our new home, town, and jobs. Our official wedding date was April 2, 2025 on the banks of the beautiful Pend Oreille Lake in Sagle, with our children and their significant others. So far Gregory is enjoying the lake, property, and weather. But winter is coming...brrrrr!
 
 
 
Gregory's Version (what really happened)! : 
The rumor about the stolen (borrowed) soda is accurate! I spotted her from a distance. Love at first sight has been a societal debate since cave men were hunting wooly mammoth. I cannot claim that is what occurred here. She looked amazing in her Wham! concert T-shirt! I clearly remember a visceral reaction. I just knew I wanted to get close and learn more. Thus the soda incident. Seemed scandalous at the time. Who knew that a scant forty years later I would marry the love of my life?
 
Things progressed well until Summer break. Celene resided in North Idaho at the time. (more on that later.) She stayed on campus during the summer to work and I assumed we would resume our relationship in the fall. Mistake.
 
Keep in mind, this transpired on a historical timeline somewhere between the Pony Express and texting. I would love to blame technology. Truthfully, I was clueless and did not communicate. She moved on.
 
Somehow, through shear force of will, I was determined to regain her attention.
 
Time passed. Several highlights stand out. I was in Spain, "studying" language. I would call home on weekends to chat with the folks and check on Raiders highlights. (more often lowlights). I received one call the entire school year. Suddenly, "Gregorio, telefono!", "Gregorio, telefono!" echoed through the halls. Guess who? The second indicator that she was also on board came later. On multiple occasions, she would drive her tiny Honda Civic sans A/C up from Southern California in mid Summer! If that fails to impress, you don't know Celene. Her aversion to heat is legendary!
 
For some inexplicable reason, (greed), I moved North for work. Celene was finishing her Master's. Ultimately, we did not survive the distance.
 
Following a broken engagement, we entered a twenty year hiatus. Essentially radio silence. Four miracles took place during this otherwise dark time. Sydney, Alexander, Joel and Nicholas!
 
In 2014, our paths crossed again. Unfortunately, Portland is even further from Modesto than Loma Linda. The boys being eleven and thirteen, the idea of moving never even registered.
 
And so, a second time out ensued. Intermittent calls and texts kept hope alive. I finally sent a message that read like a Faulkner novel. A not very well disguised ultimatum. This resulted in our first face to face (masked) in COVID infested Las Vegas. This was not the instant success I had hoped for but somehow trips to San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo and Tahoe followed.
 
Now another miracle. A painful back injury resulting in emergency surgery. Stay with me here. If ten days out of an eleven day vacation were not spent in the ER, hospital and recovery, it is likely that I would still be single. Hopelessly trolling Match.com for a shot at romance. Despite intermittent proclamations of love and devotion over a thirty nine year period, she would not have fully appreciated absolute conviction on my part to a future together!
 
Location, location, location. Alaska was a deal breaker for me. Wild horses could not drag her to California. (despite my dream job of twenty six years). So here we are in North Idaho! We both agreed to surround ourselves with beauty. Check! We wake up each day in our own private forest, greeted by deer, squirrels, rabbits and wild turkeys. All of which she regards as pets!
 
And so this story ends. But we start a new chapter. Celene is now my wife! (in Greek, her name literally means Goddess of the Moon) and she's with me forever!

Our Story

Wedding Photos/Previous Years

Wedding Party

Q + A

Travel

Things to Do

Registry/Gifts

Address of Reception: Michael and Deanna Garcia's Home5706 American AvenueModesto, CA 95356 Directions: From North 99, exit

Traveling

Wedding Ceremony

FLOWER Blown down a flower from Idaho North, to steal my heart away, and now the truth for what it's worth, it's still with her today.The theft of her soda, so crisp and cold, a ploy for attention, quite stupid, but bold.And so the story takes shape, a princess and wanna be super hero, without the cape.Quite suddenly unfolds this great romance, the grand finale unseen in advance.Boy meets girl, life in college, blind quest for love, and for knowledge.But then a rash decision, a move away, a lack of vision.So many miles, too far to drive, conflict and tension, a failure to thrive.Separate lives, a great divide, broken dreams, Cupid lied.Was that to be the final kiss? Staring at the great abyss.Moving on with kids and spouses, different states, different houses.And then a word from Randy, life in Portland, not so dandy.Could this be a second chance? Another try, another dance?Brought forth a wish and hope aplenty, so many years, exactly twenty.A rush of trips, a rush of flights, a new discovery, all earthly delights.But all too soon, this too did end, a terrible cycle, a vicious trend.To move away from kids so young, don't even think it, bite your tongue.Sporadic contact, a treasured text, a dare to hope for what comes next.A desert rendezvous with our friend Chris, a dash of hope, but hardly bliss.So throw the dice, it's academic, to take the risk, amidst global pandemic.Yet time rolls on with no conclusion, boy catches girl, a mere illusion.A trail of crumbs, the meaning hidden, more online dating, you must be kiddin.Then suddenly her resistance did crack, a major surgery on her back.His countless hours by her bed, a new acceptance in her head.A painful time, a blessing in disguise, for now she saw him through fresh eyes.All these years, the chase was over, discovered in Kaiser, a four leaf clover.On bended knee, on tiled floor, a yes from her, the one I adore.And so it ends, this ebb and flow, it's why we're all here, in Idaho.To Alexander and Nicholas, to Sydney and Joel, a new blended family, our aim, our goal.Now in front of God, in front of friends, we pray this story never ends.This precious journey we call life, My one and only, Celene, my wife!

Gregory's Poem

Celene & Gregory

Celene & Gregory

Wedding Photos/Previous Years