Wedding Day

Ceremony

Reception

Please see more about our story in the other tabs: How We Met, First Date, Falling in Love, Engagement, and Our Blended Family!

In lieu of gifts, we are welcoming contributions to our honeymoon fund! We are planning on a cruise in Spain during the eclipse next year. We are so excited! Any help would be greatly appreciated! Bonnie’s Venmo; @Bonnie-Roberts-15<a href="https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2605612902907904337" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2605612902907904337</a>

Our Wedding

I don’t have a picture because we had no idea the role we would play in each other‘s lives when we met. Jarom and I met eight years ago in the spring of 2017 at a personal development event. Both of us were in our first marriages at the time. Jarom was staffing the 3 Key Elements event, and I was a participant. He had a feeling to go up to me and make me smile, because I was grumpy that day. We only talked for a few minutes, but it worked! He made me smile. I remember being impressed with and commenting on his hair, which was much longer at that time. But even more impressive was his energy. I felt struck by his powerful presence. I remember thinking, who IS this person?” It was not attraction in the traditional sense, but a resonance. Something in my soul was recognizing something in his, but at the time it was all very mysterious. It was fun to look back and remember that initial feeling after we had started dating. It served as a confirmation many times that this was right, even when I had strong doubts. We ended up as Facebook friends maybe a couple years after that, and commented on each other's posts a little bit. We had two brief exchanges over messenger years ago. When Jarom's divorce was final, he called me (on the phone!) that very day to ask me out! Thinking he was a huge nerd (based on his posts), I put him off for a month. Read about our first date in the next section!

How We Met

Jarom asked me if I'd like to do blacksmithing for our first date. Keep in mind, I hadn't seen him in the 7 years since we'd met. I'm always up for anything, so I agreed. Then he asked if I thought it might be fun to go to dinner dressed in armor. I knew he was serious, too. Well, I already agreed to the blacksmithing, so why not another weird thing? (I hadn't known at the time that he was actually the new King of Random on YouTube!) He brought over chainmail which was very heavy. We looked awesome so we found a spot and a friend to snap some photos. Then we ate at his favorite Thai restaurant. A 6-year-old girl there was entranced with the armor and her parents let her try it on! I loved seeing how Jarom interacted with them.

After that, we headed to his "smithy," just the workspace in his storage unit. I made a silver leaf pendant while he showed me how with a steel one. I was actually pretty good at it! We had some remarkably deep discussions throughout the process, applying the principles of metalwork to life, and he even gave me some amazing coaching. I was impressed! At one point, I left my project in the forge a bit too long and it broke in the thinnest spot. Jarom reacted immediately, dumping the forge over to save my leaf. Then he helped me fix it as well as we could. I actually liked it better with a much shorter stem! Made for a lighter, less-bulky pendant. The whole experience, we realized months later, was actually a microcosm of our relationship, and this date became a stanza in the poem he wrote to later propose to me. I thought he was fascinating from that first date. Of course I wanted to go out again. We had lots of amazing dates, including the Ice Castles and Moon's Rare Books.

First Date

This was the day I fell in love with this man of mine! 💞 Valentine’s Day, which I know sound cliché… He had hired the talented Phillip Enkey to serenade us with a selection of acoustic tunes that were just wonderful! 🎶 The weather was warm, the view was gorgeous, and the surprise was so much fun! I felt so special. 🥰 But as super-romantic as this date was, it was what came right after that sealed the deal for me. I got a really upsetting phone call that caused a whole avalanche of emotions. And Jarom just held space for me. He was compassionate but calm and steady.&nbsp; He was my rock and didn’t get pulled into emotional extremes himself. He could have gotten angry on my behalf about the unjust situation, or felt bad that that potentially could’ve “ruined” such a perfect date.&nbsp; But he didn’t. I’m so glad that happened so I got to see what kind of man he is, and experience a kind of care and love that helps me thrive. 🥰 I didn’t know it was possible to be loved like this!

Falling in Love

Jarom surprised me by taking me on a hike to Cecret Lake last year where he proposed with a beautiful poem he wrote about our relationship, I was distracted by all the chipmunks and salamanders and totally did not see it coming! It was perfect though, and so meaningful,

This was a little photo shoot we did at the spot we got engaged. We call it the "Cleave Rock" and it's on the way to Cecret Lake in the Albion Basin. It's such a meaningful place to us. “Cleave” was actually my word for the year last year! I got it from another poem, so neat to see how that manifested this way! Jarom was not even in my life yet when I picked the word. But I had a feeling I would get engaged in 2024, the year before. The wildflowers were gone by then, but it was so special to be back there, and in our wedding clothes, too! I surprised Jarom by memorizing and reciting the poem he had written earlier that year for the proposal.

I'm excited to share this special poem with you below--the poem he wrote and read to me on a mountain to propose. It was such an amazing gift from his heart to mine. Memorizing it and then reciting his words back to him at the same spot later was my way of returning that gift, from my heart to his. The poem goes through the first six months of our relationship:- Our first date, blacksmithing and forging a silver leaf pendant.- Our Valentine's day date, in which he hired an acoustic guitarist to serenade us.- Our breakup and coming back together a month later.- The storm in which God spoke to us. Just so you can understand it a little better:"The Only" = Jarom"The Other" = Bonnie"The Two" = our relationshipAND it references 4 special songs for us! "Lovebug" by the Jonas Brothers"Under Your Scars" by Godsmack"Dos Oruguitas" from Encanto"Second Chance" by Shinedown Glimmerings of the Two by Jarom Rush. Read it here:https:/<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dlh4uYtEaqRoPKG54nXbze-MWSyCmgVgtRkhGtE3jRQ/edit?usp=sharing" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">/docs.google.com/document/d/1dlh4uYtEaqRoPKG54nXbze-MWSyCmgVgtRkhGtE3jRQ/edit?usp=sharing</a> Or watch me reciting it here in this video:https<a href="https://www.facebook.com/1379506204/videos/pcb.10236468958328875/1198058748680090" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">://www.facebook.com/1379506204/videos/pcb.10236468958328875/1198058748680090</a>

Engagement 

We don't have photos of all 8 of our children together, but will get some at the wedding! Jarom has 4 and I have 4, and they are all pretty similar ages. We each have 1 daughter and 3 sons! I have custody of my children every other week, and Jarom will have his every other weekend and Tuesday nights. We will live at my home in Herriman, where I've been for the past 10 years. We are excited to have lots of family time all together, but still have lots of time for just the two of us as a newlywed couple. Blending families is a unique challenge, but we are looking forward to it!

Jarom & Bonnie

Jarom & Bonnie

Our Blended Family