Weddings are a great occasion to unite friends and family in a joyous celebration.
Jeff and Teisha Hawley decided that their wedding would be celebrated with their RSL Family.
Last October in Portland, Jeff decided to make the trip memorable and proposed to his girlfriend Teisha. Happy with the good fortune already brought by the Rose City – and the beauty of the nearby ocean – they decided their wedding would be in Portland, too, and set the date for March 7.
When Real Salt Lake’s schedule came out and the Claret-and-Cobalt couple learned that RSL would play its season opener on March 7 in Portland, it initially left Jeff with slumped shoulders. He texted back and forth with his friends and seatmates at Rio Tinto Stadium that he would have to miss it.
With tongue firmly planted in cheek, he also asked Teisha about having an afternoon wedding and bringing the wedding party to Providence Park for the match against the Timbers afterward.
“Really, I just wanted to be the coolest wife ever,” she laughed in a phone conversation while on their honeymoon. “I was a little bit worried that it would turn into a boys’ trip and it would take away from the wedding. But I figured what the heck? It would be special and we just went with it.”
So while Real Salt Lake was in Portland preparing for the match on the afternoon of March 7, Jeff and Teisha Hawley became husband and wife in nearby Pacific, Oregon. After their first dance, the wedding party broke out in the RSL anthem “Believe,” bringing the whole reception to song.
The party continued at Providence Park, with fans from both Salt Lake and Portland approaching them for pictures. And now, every time they attend a match at Rio Tinto Stadium, they will have the chance to be reminded of their wedding day when over 20,000 fans sing the song that opens each match.
