Courtney & Eric
Fort Collins, Colorado
Larimer County Courthouse
09.20.19
Their celebration was simple: they chose a courthouse ceremony, with an intimate gathering of people present. Courtney + Eric didn’t need anything to prove their love–they just needed each other.
Back in 2009, Courtney + Eric had mutual friends that lived together in Fort Collins, who they were both visiting at the same time. Eric explains, “Courtney had gotten in a tiff with her friends she was visiting + she was out front in an uproar. I was trying to cheer her up with a stupid joke + she glared at me with this stank face + she was like, ‘you know what, you’re not funny.’”
“She thought I was just stupid. And I thought she was a nasty stuck up *beep*. So we did not like each other when we first met,” laughs Eric.
“Another night, I was going into Stakeout Saloon with some friends + she was leaving, so we passed each other in the doorway. I don’t know what possessed me, but I turned to her + said, ‘Hey, sorry I think we got off on the wrong foot. Do you remember me?’
She said, ‘Yeah, I remember you.’”
So I asked her out to dinner. She had this look on her face like she was just dazed.
“I was just surprised that a guy was being genuine about the fact that he actually wanted to get to know me,” Courtney says.
So she let Eric get her number + that was ten years ago. Well, nine years + three quarters to be exact (he’s a Harry Potter fan).
Every time they would talk about marriage, Courtney would break out in a sweat. “My mom had always raised us to be strong, independent women. So it was more of a societal thing I had to work through,” Courtney explains.
Being of Pakistani descent, their officiant, Judge Blanco, introduced a middle eastern wedding tradition to their ceremony. As the first act of marriage, both partners stuck their pinkies into honey + fed it to each other, symbolizing the sweetness to come in their marriage.
Eric got permission from Courtney’s parents at last to put a ring on it. They were surprised she was even ready for it at this point. But he brought her to Disney World because Disney is super important to Courtney.
He was trying to figure out when he was going to propose to her–a friend advised Eric to propose the first day of the trip, so he decided to do it in front of Cinderella’s castle. While Courtney had her Minnie ears on, he got down on one knee.
Courtney had mentioned in her vows that Eric was a Harry Potter fan, so the Judge got out her Harry Potter pen for the two to sign their marriage license.
A family style dinner at one of Courtney + Eric’s favorite Fort Collins restaurants, Canino’s, followed the reception.
