Published on January 24th, 2005.
Viewed 1814 times.
Story rank of 27.
The Tiny Tale of a Modern Day Military Bride.
After being casual friends for over 10 years, Patrick invited me out
to introduce me to a friend visiting from Ireland. His friend ignored me that night, but Patrick
and I realized we could be more than just friends.
(Fast-forward 4-1/2 years)
We were planning on getting
married (eventually) when he was put on notice by the Army Reserve that he was going to be deployed to Iraq. So we planned a quick and dirty wedding in only two days. My brother, Gabe, (who had been ordained online) performed the ceremony and my other brother, Mike, was the witness. The reception was held at the house of my new sister-in-law, Sabrina. We ended up "performing" four separate ceremonies as more family members arrived (as they had missed the previous one).
Patrick ended up not going overseas, so we started planning a weding reception that could include all our family and friends. We saved money all year. We hand-printed our invitations on an antique letterpress. I looked
for a dress; we rented a location;
we planned the menu. It was
going great.
Then...Patrick again received orders to be deployed to Iraq.
As the Army Reserve has inadequate resources for the troops, we had to spend all of our wedding savings on supplies for his imminent deployment. The only good news was we hadn't mailed out the invitations yet, so we didn't have to formally cancel
the wedding. This deployment
consisted of Patrick having to spend Christmas at the mobilization station in southern California and was then sent back home.
We didn't bother re-planning a wedding for this year, as we anticipated another disappointment.
And, yes, he received orders again in December. But due to a recent promotion, he was no longer qualified for this deployment request.
We are happily about to celebrate our 2 year anniversary on January 25!!
We are disappointed that we have not yet had a wedding reception or a honeymoon. But we are thrilled that we are madly in love and that Patrick is still safe at
home with all of the people who love him!
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