TWO WEDDINGS?

Continuing with the unconventional theme, we will actually be celebrating our marriage twice, once in April in Washington D.C., and once in October in San Antonio, Texas. We know this is completely unorthodox to most people, but it is actually quite common with the crowd we have joined, when Phil accepted a job in the Foreign Service.

In order for Sara to go to China as Phil's wife, there is a fair amount of paperwork that needs to take place. We also need to allow time for the government to process the paperwork. We have been told to allow an average of six months to get everything done. As we are scheduled to leave in December, that would give us until June 1 to complete everything. There was no chance that was going to happen. So instead, we have elected to do what many before us have done, and hold two weddings.

The first took place April 26th in Washington, D.C. This is when we were legally be married. We celebrated with friends and had a fantastic ceremony at the FDR Memorial in D.C. Our friend, Max, was the officiant and we had a group of 20 close friends with us to celebrate at the ceremony and many of Phil's classmates came to celebrate with us after the ceremony. We had to limit the number at the ceremony in order to be within First Amendment regulations since we hadn't obtained a permit.

Phil giving Sara her ring

 Some highlights from the day included:
- Phil's Ring: About 15 minutes before people were due to arrive at our apartment, Phil decided he wanted us to exchange rings. With only 15 minutes to prepare, Sara and Lindsay, Sara's best friend from college, ran to Claire's in the local mall and picked up a lovely ring that is 100% real plastic and cost a whopping $4.50. That is what he gets for deciding things last minute!
- Ceremony: Our friend Max officiated the ceremony at the FDR Memorial. It couldn't have been any better and more personal. He did a fantastic job, despite introducing us as "Farrah Guthrie", and we were so thankful to have him doing the ceremony.
- After party: We met up with lots of Phil's classmates at a rooftop bar in Arlington who came to celebrate with us. We were honored to have so many of them show up for our special, unconventional, day.

The second, will take place October 11th in San Antonio, Texas. This ceremony will be more traditional and we will have family and friends in abundance and we couldn't be more excited. We have wonderful wedding planners in the form of Phil's sister and brother-in-law, who live there and know the city better than most. We intend this wedding to also be fun and unique, although a bit more traditional.