Wedding Date on Oct 17, 2019

Jorge & I met in high school. We’d always had a crush on one another but nothing ever came of it. We stayed friends through college and eventually, we both moved back home. When we started hanging out more regularly, our friendship turned into a much-anticipated relationship. We went to our 5-year HS reunion together and the next morning, waking up at my mom’s house, he asked if I’d be his girlfriend. Nearing our 6-year anniversary, Jorge put a hang-man style clue on our kitchen calendar dated September 30th, 2017 with eight blank spaces. I noticed it about a week out with only the letter “v” filled in, in the 3rd space. After a couple days of negotiating, I convinced him to give me a letter a day, filling in the blanks, leading up to the 30th. With only 3 letters filled in, I spent probably longer than I should have that day trying to figure out what the word could be but he promised I’d know as soon as I got home from work. When I got home, I co[advanced_iframe src="//www.tinywebgallery.com" width="100%" height="600"]uldn’t make it through the door fast enough and I ran straight for the calendar. It was filled in with “Savannah” and instructed me to pack my bag! We were leaving the next morning. I’d been dying to visit and I was so excited that I panic packed. (A term I’ve coined to describe the frantic nature with which I threw everything into my luggage!) We arrived early the next morning and spent the day strolling around Savannah, having brunch and waiting to check in to our hotel, The Marshall House. After dinner that night, we laughed about how we’re “getting old” and both wanted to turn in for the night. The next morning, Jorge and I were slowly waking up when he told me that 6 years earlier, asking me to be his girlfriend was the best decision he’d ever made. Then he asked if I’d marry him. He quickly jumped out of bed, grabbed the ring and got down on one knee. I cried and said yes. A million times, yes. When it came to planning our wedding, Jorge suggested that we have it in Greece, where my father is from. Our wedding consisted of three events which was very important to us. We wanted our wedding to feel like the big, wonderful, life-changing event that it is and having a destination wedding gave us the opportunity to do just that. We had three events over the course of three days; There was a Welcome Dinner, the Wedding and a Beach Day to recover afterwards. Each was special and significant in its own way. Once we received our wedding video and photos, something beautiful struck me. Without knowing who each person is, you’d very easily go through our photos and never notice it… from the very first night together at the Welcome Dinner, everyone from different parts of our lives, people who had never previously met, were having these special moments with one another. One of my mom’s friends from Queens, NY was captured dancing with Jorge’s Aunt from Colombia. My dad’s good friend from Greece is laughing with my coworkers’ husband. Our friend from high school is salsa dancing with my dad. Another of my mom’s friends from Poland is hugging and taking a selfie with my cousins’ husband from Greece. All different people, there to celebrate with us and each other. When Jorge and I wrote our ceremony with our officiant and friend, Sarah, we included a portion on why the marriage ceremony has been an important feature across nearly every culture, religion, generation, and society. We have thousands of important moments that happen throughout our lives, but this one is regarded as one so critical, we acknowledge its special status by sharing it with others. Sarah asked, “Why this moment?” and explained that it’s because “despite all of our differences, love is what we all share. It's the great unifier — our one universal truth. That no matter who we are, where we've come from, what we believe, we know this one thing: love is what we're doing right. We have all loved in our lifetimes, and in this moment, we're reminded that the ability to love is the very best part of our humanity.”