We’ve posted wedding photos! Follow the photos link above.

These photos are from a handful of wedding guests; if you have photos to send us, please do! (We’d appreciate full-resolution versions.)

We have decided to celebrate our love with our family and friends at 4 PM on Saturday, June 6, 2009 at Ella’s parents’ home, Rancho del Valle, in Carlton, Washington, in the Methow Valley.

Ella and Alex met as fellow incoming graduate students in astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the summer of 2005. We both came from liberal arts colleges, shared an obsession with baseball, a love for the outdoors and activity and, it quickly became clear, a common outlook on life. We became close friends and started dating a little over a year later.

One of the many things we love to do together is to share our passion for astronomy and science through outreach programs, where UW grad students give public talks and show people around the sky with telescopes at state parks throughout Wisconsin. While on a Universe in the Park trip to Rock Island State Park in Door County, on a swim in Lake Michigan, Alex asked Ella to marry him. Her emphatic reply, “Of course!”, wasn’t a surprise for anyone who knows us and our love for each other.

Ella’s parents recently finished building their retirement home, Rancho del valle, in our beloved Methow Valley in central Washington state. We will hold our wedding there. The house is on eight acres that Byron and Wendy are turning into their ranch. Rancho del valle is down the mountain from the cabin Ella has always loved, and we are excited to share these magnificent places with our friends and family.

On Sunday, July 5, we’ll have a reception on the East Coast at Alex’ parents’ home in Wellesley, MA.