My Tucson Wedding

Tucson in the Summer can be rather warm (hot).  Here is an idea to help your guests keep cool during your outdoor wedding ceremony. By making your wedding program into a fan that is handed to your guests as they arrive, your guests can not only read the program they can cool themselves off with the program.

Young children get bored at weddings. There’s alot of adults, waiting around, picture taking, etc. Parents are usually busy mingling with the other guests and not paying attention to their children. One solution is a child care service. We use “A-1 Sitter Service” that does a wonderful job in keeping your children safe but also entertaining them. “A-1 Sitter Service” is a licensed and Bonded Childcare service who are CPR Certified. They bring arts and crafts for the kids as well as games and videos. You children are safe and being entertained while you have the freedom to visit, dance and enjoy the evening. Their information is (web site) and phone number: 520.881.1578.

Erik and Danni were married at Saguaro Buttes on July 25th, at 7:10 PM. They chose to have most all of their photos taken before the ceremony and therefore were able to have a much later ceremony than usual. (We usually suggest an hour and a half before sunset which was at 7:25 PM) More of their photos can be seen on Facebook (click here)

Karrie and Hanjalika were married at Saguaro Buttes on July 24, by Pastor David Hallstrom. They had wedding guests from Georgia, Colorado, California, New Mexico, and Texas among other places. Their colors were blue and white. Karrie and Hanjalika met in Tucson in June 2005.  They included a sand ceremony which also included their son Nick. You can see more photos on our Facebook page (click here)

Wedding rehearsals are a great way to iron out all the details of your wedding ceremony. They usually take about one hour for the rehearsal, thirty minutes to do the actual rehearsal, and the other thirty minutes for people to find the wedding venue, bring in the extras, meet and greet, etc. One thing to realize is many of those at the rehearsal are meeting for the first time so it is good to have some kind of introduction. I like to have people introduce themselves, where they are from, how they know the bride or the groom, and if they have a word of encouragement or piece of advice. This is a great way of breaking the ice as well as help everyone to get to know each other. It is also helpful to provide basic instructions, such as “always face the bride”, “bend your knees”,  “how to hold your hands”, etc.  Finally, it is good to make sure everyone’s on the same page, that they know what time the wedding starts, when they are suppose to arrive for photos, and where they should park when they get here. Generally those included are the bridal party, parents of the bride and groom, flower girls/ring bearers and their parents, pastor and sometimes even the photographer.

Cheralynn and Jedidiah were married at the Presbyterian Church on 22nd St. on July 17th, 2010 and held their reception at Saguaro Buttes. Shortly before their wedding reception there was a short 15 minute monsoon rain that cooled things down and provided for some great sunset pictures. You can see more photos from their wedding reception at Saguaro Buttes on Facebook. (click here)

This photo was taken at Saguaro Buttes at a recent wedding by photographer Lorraine A. DarConte. Having grown up in the Chicagoland area, I never cease to marvel at the beauty of the Arizona landscape and the colorful sunsets.

Weddings can be very stressful, so many details, so many things to coordinate. Saguaro Buttes has a wedding package that takes most of the stress out of the process. It is what we call our “Concierge Package”. It really makes it easy for the Bride and Groom, as it literally takes care of everything from Ceremony, Reception, Food, Catering, DJ, Photographer, Cake, Flowers, Minister, etc. Usually all of the vendors and planners will be scheduled for you on one long afternoon or morning, usually around 5 hours of your time. You will meet with the Wedding Coordinator, the DJ, Florist, Baker, Minister,  and have most everything planned and organized and taken care of all in one day. We originally designed this package for the out-of-town brides, but it has become more and more popular for those brides here locally who lead busy lives or are just not detail oriented and are stressed just thinking about the wedding. Our goal is to make the wedding planning and special day less stressful and therefore more enjoyable for all involved.

The Bouquet Toss is a time honored tradition at weddings that goes back to a time when ladies thought themselves very ‘lucky’ to be getting married. So that some of this luck could rub off on their friends, they would toss their bouquet and according to tradition the ‘catcher’ would be the next to marry.

Saguaro Buttes was at the “I Do in Tucson” Bridal Fair held at the Marriott University on Sunday, July 11th from 11:oo am to 3:00 pm. Cindy and Courtnay were there visiting with brides and grooms answering their questions and telling them about the packages we offer. Watch our web-site for the next Bridal Fair coming in October.

Mathew and Vanessa were married on a beautiful and balmy July 10th evening in Tucson by Pastor David Hallstrom. This is Monsoon season in Tucson which brings in the afternoon clouds which can make for some beautiful sunset pictures and cooler temperatures. For Mathew and Vanessa they got both cooler temps and beautiful sunsets.   You can see more photos of their wedding on our Facebook page (click here)

At Saguaro Buttes we are continually working on improving the property in both small and more significant ways. This last week we finished putting in new flagstone on a walkway leading to the ceremony site. It is surprising how much a little flagstone can beautify the property.  If you have not been to the property in a while, you are more than welcome to stop by and take a look. We have many more projects we hope to see done in the future.

Lamont Arthur (pictured to the right) is in his own words, a “One Man Band”. He recently played at an event at Saguaro Buttes and was very well received. On his business card it reads, “Compared to the world’s best, I’m simply average. Compared to the average, I’m simply the best”.  Lamont bring in an array of various key boards and instruments to complete his sound. Here he is pictured playing the Baby Grand Piano provided by Saguaro Buttes and which is included as part of the packages. Mr. Arthur can be contacted through email: lamkey88@yahoo.com or by phone at 520.870.9270

A very elegant look to your wedding reception is a simple Black on White with red napkins. Saguaro Buttes offers both silver or white  chivari chairs with ivory or black pads included in our standard packages. Here the bride and groom chose the white chivari chairs with black pads, a black linen with silver charger plates and fuchia napkins. They also added a white sash to the back of the chairs and coordinated the wedding cake to be black and white to match the the room.

Rope lights and Christmas lights can add some ambiance for your wedding reception at night. Saguaro Buttes has many hundreds of feet of rope lights and has recently added thousands of tiny white lights that set the evening’s mood. It literally changes the look and feel of the place at night and also makes for a beautiful backdrop for wedding pictures. Every Tuesday night through the Summer we have an “Open House” in the evenings from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm and you are welcome to come out and enjoy the evening at Saguaro Buttes.