A morning hike with boyfriend Steve Settle turned into a big surprise for science teacher Kathryn Morgan. “When we got to the top of the look-out [Settle] had already set out a blanket and his guitar,” Morgan said. “He proposed almost immediately and of course I said ‘yes’.” After the proposal, the day continued to go uphill for Morgan. “He had planned the rest of the day just for me,” she said.

Morgan met Settle two years ago in an incident involving beer. “He went to Romania for a church trip and came back with a German brand of beer that my father loved,” Morgan said. “He didn’t know my dad liked that beer and when someone told him that, he came over to the house.”

About 220 people came to the wedding. “We had a lot of people we wanted to invite, but we could only accept a limited number and so we chose people who have been important in our lives,” Morgan said.

When it came for Morgan to walk down the aisle, Settle cherished the moment. “The anticipation of having her walk down the aisle made me feel like a little kid in a candy shop,” Settle said. “I couldn’t understand why I was so lucky.”

The couple held the wedding at the Peninsula Bible Church in Cupertino, a church Morgan said she had grown up in throughout her life. The reception location like the church, was important to Morgan. “The wedding reception was at Stanford, a place with many special memories,” Morgan said. “My dad did his undergraduate there and I got my graduate degree there, so I have spent a lot of time on the campus.”

For the honeymoon, the pair went to Hawaii. “Steve and I went to Kauai for nine days right after the wedding,” Morgan said. “Kauai was the perfect place.”

As for adjusting to a married life, Morgan had no troubles. “We had a pretty smooth transition from dating to being engaged to being married,” Morgan said. “It is great to be able to share life with your best friend.”

Inspired by her lifelong love of the Beatles, English teacher Kristen Owen decided to have a wedding with an “All You Need Is Love” theme. “We had an acoustic guitarist who played nothing but Beatles’ songs for the entire wedding,” Owen said. “I walked down the aisle to Beatles music. My dad, who is in a Beatles cover band, also played at the reception while my sister sang.”

Owen married Mike Owen on July 4, 2008. “The ceremony was really nerve-wracking,” she said. “The moment when they opened the doors, and everyone was staring at me, made me really nervous but when I looked down the aisle and saw my husband waiting for me, all of my nerves subsided.” According to Owen, the experience was reminiscent of a movie scene.

The couple rented a 10-bedroom estate for the three-day occasion. “We did wine tasting and played golf,” Owen said. “There was a spa, so the ladies had manicures, pedicures and massages. It was really nice to have a pool on the premises because it allowed everyone to cool off from the hot weather.”

Mike proposed on Aug. 25, 2007 after they had been dating for four years. “I was shocked,” Kristen said. “He proposed to me in San Francisco at the Top of the Mark, where we had our first date, and then we went to a bar to celebrate [with friends and family].”

Owen said she tried to keep her wedding plans simple. “I’m not one of those bridezillas who has had my wedding planned since birth, so I just wanted good food and good music,” she said. “I wanted an awesome party.”

Juniors Tyler Ziebelman and Mark Monroe, who were in Owen’s English class last year, helped record the wedding. “[Mark] and I were joking around with her one time about videotaping her wedding, and then it wasn’t a joke anymore,” Ziebelmann said. “We really did it. It was a typical wedding, with lots of dancing. It was fun watching her group of friends with her because they acted just like us, only they were older. There was no cake, but they had a chocolate fountain. It was the fourth of July, so there were a lot of fireworks too.”

As for the future, Owen said she just wants to enjoy life. “We just got a puppy so that's been keeping us very busy,” she said. “We’re planning children for April or May 2011.”

English teacher and The Oracle adviser Kristy Garcia tied the knot with fiancé Grant Blackburn in a romantic backyard-style wedding in April. “It was as perfect as I could’ve imagined,” she said.

The couple first met at a district training workshop five years ago and officially began dating when they decided to meet after a training session. After four years, Garcia broke tradition and proposed to Blackburn with a skydiving trip as an engagement present. “We both talked about getting married,” Blackburn said. “Neither one of us was going to say no.” Blackburn accepted and then proposed to her the day they went skydiving. “He had a restaurant all picked out and following dinner he took me for a walk on the beach,” Garcia said.

A few Gunn staff members were involved in the wedding. Fellow English teacher Diane Ichikawa served as the maid of honor. Science teacher Lisa Wu and social studies teacher Alice McCraley served as bridesmaids and English teacher Tarn Wilson was the officiant. “One of the best parts was having everyone there supporting us,” Garcia said.

Although the wedding turned out beautifully, big cakes and flowery decorations were not the couple’s main concern. “We wanted to keep in mind that our marriage is more important than the wedding,” Garcia said. “Our wedding was definitely something that reflected our style—not too frilly but definitely personal.”

The pair decided on a Mexican menu for their reception. “The food was great and we had a fun time picking it out,” Garcia said. The handwritten vows were a definite highlight of the occasion, although by popular vote the funniest moment was when Blackburn jumped in to say “I do” before he was supposed to.

“My favorite characteristics of his are how straightforward he is and how is a good kind of goofy,”Garcia said. The Blackburns will be honeymooning next month in Kauai.