The Place: Corvallis and Yachats
The Ceremony: The Adobe Resort, Yachats, Oregon
The Reception : Oregon State University Alumni Center, Corvallis, Oregon
The Couple: Joan Demarest and Jonathan Pugsley
The Photographer Corvallis Oregon Wedding Photographer : Juan Carlos Torres
Congratulations
Here is the Wedding Announcement, Writen by Merrie Demarest, the Mother of the Bride:
Weddings Demarest Pugsley
On a bluff over the Pacific in Yachats, Oregon, Joan Demarest and Jonathan Pugsley were married on September 12, 2004. The Very Reverend Roy Coulter officiated. They were given in marriage by their parents Merry and Harry Demarest of Corvallis and Pam and Tom Pugsley of Stayton.
Joan graduated from Smith College in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government. She received her Juris Doctor from the University Oregon Law School in 1998. Joan is a Deputy District Attorney for Benton County and serves on the Corvallis School Board. She was selected 2002 Junior First Citizen by the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce.
Jon graduated from Bend High School in 1991 and earned Bachelor of Arts degrees from Southern Oregon State College in Political Science in 1995 and in American History in 1999. He received his Master of Arts in Political Science from Colorado State University in 1998. Jon is the Oregon Field Director for America Coming Together (ACT). He is the past chair of the Benton County Democrats.
Joan’s attendants were two of her cousins, Michaela McCord and Elizabeth Bouzis; law school colleague Tamara Brickman; School Board associate Sara Gelser; Smith College friends Kristin Cuff and Brenda Anders; and high school best friends Laura Cook Axon and Kate Coulter Kenemer whose father officiated.
Jon’s friend from graduate school, William Salka was best man. Groomsmen were Jon’s best friends from high school in Bend, Matthew Ovist and Robert Conard; another graduate school friend, Brian Barry; Jon’s political colleagues Grant Schott and Jeffrey Mazur; and the bride’s cousin, David Demarest. Illness while enroute from Prague, Czech Republic to Corvallis prevented groomsman Lance Eddleman from attending
Canine Attendants were the couple’s Black Lab, Sadie, and Belgian Shepherd, Sam.
Joan and Jon’s political mentor, Barbara Ross, read The Art of a Good Marriage by. Their friend Willie Smith read “The Blessing of the Hands” and the groom’s sister, Mari Stewart, read “The Song of Solomon.”
The bride’s grandmother, Mary Bouzis, born and raised on the island of Crete, Greece and now of Casper, Wyoming, performed a traditional Greek crowning of the bride and groom.
The small morning wedding at the coast was followed by a larger reception at the CH2M Hill Alumni Center in Corvallis. Guests celebrating the newlyweds were treated to Sara Gelser’s fast paced and often hilarious slide show of Joan and Jon growing up and eventually dating. The final frame was the Gazette-Times front page photo of Joan and Jon as the first couple to receive a marriage license after Benton County resumed issuing licenses on August 26. Cued by that photo, Juan Carlos Torres, the official photographer, surprised the guests with a brief and moving slide show allowing everyone to witness the tenderness and intimacy of the morning’s wedding.
Guests enjoyed good company, beautiful music, heartfelt toasts, food, drink, delicious wedding cake and three additional wedding traditions. In honor of Jon’s Welsh ancestry, a Celtic bell was used to signal guests wishes for the couple to kiss. Joan distributed individually wrapped groom cakes baked by her attendant Laura Axon. And at each plate there was an uneven number of white Jordan almonds (Koufeta) wrapped in tulle. In Greek tradition, the almonds symbolize fertility and the new life that begins with marriage. The white sugar represents purity and the sweetness of the newlyweds’ future life together. The bitterness of the almond and the sweetness of the sugar are reminders of the bittersweet quality of life.
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