Each year, Desert Botanical Garden showcases a new facet of its beauty. Cactus flowers. Exciting new exhibitions. Breakthrough research aimed at conserving and protecting the unique flora of the Sonoran Desert.
So, when seasonal workers Grant Stanford and Alanna Gillespie met at the Garden on a chilly November day in 2018, it came as a delightful surprise that their budding friendship would later flourish into something more.
Love often blooms in the most unexpected places.
That year, the Garden came alive with a kaleidoscope of desert flowers by day and the immersive light-and-sound exhibition Electric Desert by night, serving as the backdrop for Grant and Alanna’s blossoming companionship.
Grant and Alanna forged a strong friendship at work, bonding over shared laughter and playful banter. In the summer of 2018, they took advantage of their employee museum reciprocal admission cards to explore various museums throughout the Valley. They were truly inseparable.
Their bond endured even after their time as seasonal workers at the Garden. Alanna moved to Texas for college, but when she returned to Arizona, Grant was there to pick her up from the airport. They kept in touch over the years, and in the summer of 2022, they began dating.
“We were really good friends for many years. One day you see something you didn’t before,” Alanna reflected on their relationship.
The couple got engaged in January 2023 and wed a year later at the Garden, bringing their story back to the place where it all began.
“It was a full circle moment,” Alanna said. “The Garden is a really special place for both of us.”
Photos courtesy of Alanna and Grant Stanford.
