Bride & Groom

A Look At Ali & Ben & How They Met

Photo Gallery

A visual biography of our relationship

Ben and Ali’s fateful first meeting occurred on the afternoon of December 1st 2001 in the small ski town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado where they were both pursuing their dreams of being ski bums. Alison, being the blonde and sassy Californian girl, immediately took they eye of the impressionable young Australian but rumors of the partying antics of his countrymen kept her from giving him the time of day. It soon became apparent that her distance from him was easier said then done considering his charming good looks and that she was charged with the task of training Ben on the finer art of fitting ski boots to the hoofs of big Texan women at a job they both shared.

Despite taunts and teases, sparks were soon flying and so it was that exactly 2 weeks after they first met (and with the confidence of a few drinks at a party) that Ali and Ben began their love affair. The two became inseparable and they watched the harsh winter bloom into a beautiful summer from the comfort of their rocky mountain apartment, trying not to think of the realities of US immigration law and what the coming months might bring.

Unfortunately, their happy union was not to last long and in a mere 9 months after meeting Ben returned to Australia and they began the mother of all long distant relationships. As romantic as it sounded, the reality of enduring the two and a half year stint soon took its toll, both emotionally and financially as they attempted to afford trips overseas a few times a year and to be content with only a phone conversation a day. Like Chewy without his Han Solo, Ben was lost, a husk of his former self, and in a moment of clarity the decision was made to move to California to be with Ali. The rest as they say, is history.

The Engagement

The time had come to make Ali an honest woman and after getting the preliminaries squared away (ring, check; parents permission, check; bottle of Champagne, check) it was off to the family cabin up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, at Bear Valley , California for a weekend get-away. Ben awoke early after an estimated 43 and a half minutes total sleep their first night at the cabin. After fumbling through excuses of getting up early to take ‘a photo of the sunrise’, he hiked up to a local look out known as Blood’s Ridge, a challenging near vertical climb, made all the more precarious taken at a full sprint with a cooler full of food in one hand, a bottle of Champas, a blanket and 2 dozen roses in the other! After setting up the picnic it was back to the cabin where he nervously woke Ali and persuaded her to go for a morning walk.

Soon after making it up to the ridge Alison noticed a trail of rose petals which they both followed into a near by protected grove to find a morning picnic ready and waiting for them. After a lovely breakfast Ben popped the question and after waiting for several minutes on one knee, with only tears of unknown emotional initiation as a response, she finally exploded with a resounding YES!!