Amy Rebecca Beyer, daughter of Bruce and Donna Beyer of Tucson, and Thomas Allen Brannock, son of Thomas and Billie Brannock of St. David, Arizona, were married on Oct. 20, 2018, at Skyline Country Club with Rabbi Batsheva Appel officiating. Attendants included Lisa Beyer of San Francisco, sister of the bride; and Billy Brannock of Tucson, brother of the groom. Amy is a district manager with Arbonne International and a business analyst with Conduent, Inc. Tom is a systems integration engineer at Sunquest Information Systems. Tom and Amy will be taking a cruise through the Panama Canal in September for their honeymoon.
How they met:
We met and became friends at work, but didn’t start dating until after Amy left the company. We discovered that our birthdays were three days apart, and became birthday buddies.
The proposal:
On the one-year anniversary of our first date (which also happens to be two days after Tom’s birthday and the day before mine), Tom took me out for a nice dinner at Hacienda del Sol. I had thought that it was possible he might propose that night, but when it didn’t happen at dinner, the thought left my mind. After dinner, we headed to Tohono Chul for the annual Bloom Night, which just happened to fall that night (almost a month later than usual). Unbeknownst to me, Tom spent the entire time looking for a good opportunity/place to propose, but alas, it was not meant to be. So we headed home, where he decided to go with his fallback plan of enlisting the help of my cat, Toby. Again, I’m completely oblivious at this point. We sat down to exchange anniversary gifts, and as he was trying to unwrap his gift, Toby (a huge fan of ribbon) was all over him trying to “help.” Tom seemed to be getting a little more frustrated than I would expect for the situation, but still, I had no clue. At some point I noticed that there was something around Toby’s neck. (Still no suspicion, just worried about the cat.) I asked about it, wondering what he had gotten into. After several unsuccessful attempts to ignore my questions, Tom gave up, picked up the cat, handed him to me, and said, “Your cat has something for you.” At this point, I finally suspected what was happening, so I ran my fingers around the string on Toby’s neck, and felt a ring! I don’t remember the details from this point, but I do know that Tom asked me to be his wife, and if I remember correctly, my response was, “I’d love to!”
Wedding planning triumphs:
• Getting all our vendors and venue lined up over a year in advance
• We both planned everything together (it wasn’t just her)
• Having a wedding planner really made the day-of stress-free and fun
• Everyone loved the LEGOs at the cocktail hour and the LEGO-themed cake topper and favors
• Tom danced (if you can call it that)
• Taking a few days off at a resort to decompress was priceless (though not free)
• Everything really went as planned.
Wedding planning challenges:
• High winds tried to take the chuppah (it collapsed after the ceremony, but fortunately all the guests were already at the reception)
• We really wanted to stage the sparkler exit but the photographers had to leave by 10 and the exit symbolized to most guests that it was time to leave (two hours earlier than expected)
• Family are always a little challenging during a wedding, especially when you aren’t having +1s or children at the reception
• Tom was the one person who ran late in getting to the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort and getting dressed (at least he remembered the rings). We took some photos at Ventana prior to going to Skyline Country Club and taking even more photos.
Special memories of the day:
Amy: Special time with my girls; practicing our dance, which is how we spent our yichud (seclusion); laughing our way through our first dance as we did every time we practiced; the bridemaids’ speech
Tom: “Absolutely” seeing Amy emerge at the top of the stairs with the spotlight on her (she was angelic); our first dance (I can’t believe I did it and correctly, I totally felt like the man); the father of the bride’s speech
Wedding attire:
Amy: David’s Bridal
Tom: Jos. A. Bank
Wedding planner:
Rackel Gehlsen Weddings
Florist:
Alexis Grace Florals
Photographer:
Steven Palm Photography
Caterer:
Skyline Country Club
Wedding cake:
Village Bakehouse
Music:
DJ Raza
