Our Wedding & Honeymoon
Part One: The Prologue

How it all began ...
It's all Trevor's fault, or so the story goes. Trevor being Lesley's first cousin and Jonathan's best friend, it seems natural that we would have met eventually. Falling in love was a pleasant side-effect. It took a little while, though. Beginning in the fall of 1997, we spent a year getting to know each other before finally realizing, on Thanksgiving Day 1998, that we had fallen in love. In 2001, Lesley graduated from college and went home to New Zealand, while Jonathan decided to transfer to the University of Arizona and moved out to
Tucson, AZ. It was a year of big changes for both of us. It wasn't easy to adjust to Long Distance Relationship Mode, but we managed it. For one thing, it forced us to forge an open line of communication that has served us well so far.

Taking it to the next level ...

During his winter break at UA (2001-2002), Jonathan embarked on an incredible journey across the Pacific Ocean to visit Lesley in New Zealand. When he got there, he not only fell in love with Lesley all over again, but also he fell in love with her country. We toured parts of the North Island, going to
Rotorua and Taupo, as well as the Bay of Islands. For Jonathan, it was a truly magical experience. The climax of the trip occurred on Christmas night, when Jonathan asked Lesley to be his wife. She agreed without hesitation, even though we both knew the engagement would have to be a long one.

The betrothal ...
Six months later, during the sizzling month of June, Lesley went to see Jonathan in Arizona. We visited the
Grand Canyon, the Barringer Meteor Crater, Sedona, the London Bridge, and Bisbee. Back in Tucson, we were betrothed by Rev. Frank Rose in the "marriage garden" at Sunrise Chapel. Sadly, we had to part once again. Jonathan promised to visit NZ again in the coming winter, thus keeping our time apart to six month intervals. Shortly after Lesley left, Trevor arrived in Tucson to help Jonathan move back home to Pennsylvania so he could finish his studies in four years (as UA's requirements meant staying on for a fifth year), and ultimately so we could be together again that much sooner.

Another visit down under ...
During the winter break at Bryn Athyn College (2002-2003), Jonathan once again flew halfway around the world to NZ. This time, we drove down to NZ's capital of
Wellington then back up through Taupo and Rotorua, revisiting our old haunts. While in Rotorua, we took a 4WD tour up Mt Tarawera to see the nasty red scar of a crater left after the mountain erupted in 1886.

We also went to
Karekare Beach, on Auckland's rugged west coast. It later served as the location for our pre-wedding photo shoot.

L&J in front of the Tarawera crater.

The build-up ...
After Jonathan's second visit to NZ, we had our longest stretch apart to get through. He would be graduating from Bryn Athyn College in May 2003, and after that, he needed some time to pack and move to NZ. It wasn't until August 23, 2003, that we were reunited again, this time for good. After staying with Lesley's grandparents for a while, Jonathan managed to find an affordable flat in Auckland in mid-October. Wedding guests started arriving at the beginning of November. The first to show up were Jeff and Scott, who had made NZ a stop on their
world tour so that Scott could be Jonathan's best man. Once the other men in the wedding party had arrived, Jonathan took them on a whirlwind road trip as a sort of "extended" bachelor's party ...

All geared up to go "cave tubing" in Waitomo.

Trevor, Brent, Nathan, Mike, Jonathan, Jeff, and Scott in Matamata at the "Hobbiton" movie set from the Lord of the Rings.

Next comes the wedding! Read on for more ...
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