Wedding surprises

I was born in Eugene, Oregon. My family lived there for about a year after I was born and then we moved to California. I don't remember Oregon at all. I have always wanted to go back to Oregon, but just never seemed to get out that way for any reason.

Some of you may remember this story, when I met this cute girl, Debbie, and all of our adventures as we traveled America together.

Needless to say, I love Debbie! She is the British little sister I never had and after the enormous amounts of chaos dumped on her leading up to May 8th, I wouldn't have missed her wedding day for the world.


This isn't your typical "wedding" blog post, so I hope you will stay with me for the next 5 minutes it will take you to read this:

Quick "how they met" story:

Derek served the end of his mission in Congleton branch/ward in the England, Manchester mission (Deb's home ward). How convenient that right when Derek was finishing his mission, Debbie was also heading to BYU. He assured her parents he'd "look out for her" once they both were there. Did he ever! They started dating right away in the Fall 2008 and after a long and occasionally bumpy road-they were married May 8, 2010.

This is the part where it gets really good:
Debbie is from England. Derek is from Medford, Oregon. Derek was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints when he was a teenager. He is the only member of his family, so he's never really had a preference in which temple he wanted to get married, just as long as it was a temple. Debbie always dreamed of her wedding day: being married in the Preston England temple immediately following her fantastic civil ceremony/reception/party, fully equipped with all of her closest friends & family, who of course would be all decked out as members of her wedding party on her big day. (That's the way they do it in England). So, now for the catch...well just the FIRST of quite a few "catches," actually.


#1 Debbie being British + Derek being American = No wedding in England. Unless Derek wanted to leave Debbie in England for the 3 months after the wedding and come back to the USA to do the paperwork to bring her over, they HAD to be married in the USA. Oh the tears! Well, Debbie graciously sucked it up, and she and Derek decided they didn't want to spend their first 3 months of marriage on separate continents. They decided to be married in the Medford, Oregon temple. After all, the most important part was being IN a temple. It didn't really matter which one. No, there would be no civil ceremony in England, but by golly they would fly out right when school ended and they would have one heck of a party with all of the other wedding festivities in England on May 1st. Debbie's Mum and Dad bought the plane tickets to be able to attend the sealing in Oregon on May 8th, and the rest of her family decided the "pre-reception" bash in England would have to suffice.

Catch #2

Finals ended, and many of you probably knew about the Iceland volcano situation that caused problems with a lot of European travel in May. Debbie was nervous she wouldn't get home. In order to keep herself busy in those days before their flight to England (rather than constantly watching the volcano situation), Deb and Derek decided to get ahead on some immigration things and start some paperwork for medical stuff, etc. Good thing they did. Two days before leaving for England, Debbie received a phone call from a lawyer telling her not to leave the country.

Catch #3 Debbie could leave the USA, but in order to return she would need a VISA. As a BYU student, she had a student VISA, which would easily get her back into the USA. The catch- her wedding date would be within just days of her re-entry date into the USA, and therefore she would technically need a "Fiancee VISA." Why had no one told them this in the ridiculously frequent visits they had made to the immigration offices?!?! It wasn't as if they hadn't done their homework on the matter. The lawyer told Debbie if she went to England, YES she could come back to the USA on her student VISA, however, when the time would come for Debbie and Derek to do the legal paperwork for her residency, etc, the re-entry date and wedding date would flag as being too close together , meaning she had illegally entered the USA on the wrong VISA, since the dates clearly would show she had entered the USA with the intent to marry, not to study. The result would be thousands of dollars in lawyer fees, plus it would be on both of their records. The lawyer suggested they move their wedding date to August and apply for the Fiancee VISA. (Did I mention they were leaving for England in 2 days?)

Catch #4 They weren't going to change their wedding date. Debbie accepted the fact that she would not be going home to England AT ALL, or at least not until the end of the summer. She was still marrying Derek in the Medford temple as planned, and for her THAT was the most important thing. It was an added bonus that her parents already had tickets to be in Oregon, and that wouldn't change either. They would be there...and so would I!


I flew to Medford, Oregon excited to see Deb's parents again and excited to help in anyway they needed me. I anticipated it would be a quaint gathering with just a few of us, so I was ready to really get to work. I WAS SO WRONG!

Debbie's parents flew in, and for the surprise of a lifetime so did her sister (Jenny), her brother-in law (Nigel), Their two daughters (Lily and Abby), Deb's brother (my friend "Jazz"), his wife (Rohaise), Their daughter (sophia) and son (Sebastian), another brother (Ben) and his wife (Becky) as well as Debbie's best friend (and maid of honor-Rachel). Talk about tears! Holy cow. It was AWESOME!


Knowing both Derek and Debbie from England, Derek's mission president & wife flew in from Salt Lake City as another surprise. It was such a great day to be in the temple! Here were all of us outside the temple just after the sealing:


And for Derek's family, the ring ceremony was as beautiful as can be! I have never seen a church gymnasium transform into such a perfect wedding venue. GO TEAM!





Deb's Dad walked her down the aisle, her nieces were the flower girls, Rachel was there as maid of honor and everything was brilliant!


...and now they're living happily (and legally) ever after!