Vandiver Inn Wedding by Muriel Silva Photography

07.04.12 by Serena Jae

Today’s Havre de Grace area wedding comes to you from Muriel Silva Photography. Caty and Jim were going for an ‘Americana’ theme, so we thought it’d be perfect to share on July 4th.

Caty is from Virginia and Jim is from Philadelphia, so a midway location like Havre de Grace seemed like a good compromise. Every little feature shown in this wedding was created by Caty: the table numbers, name cards, and bunting. Throughout this post, we’ve shared a snippet (written by Caty) about their relationship and engagement.

“Jim and I met in the Peace Corps in the Kingdom of Tonga. Jim was there about 8 months before I arrived. He came with a big group of guys and when our group finally showed up (a big group of girls), Jim said he saw me and emphatically declared to his friend Steve “She’s mine!” 6 months later, after I went through training and Jim came back from a trip to the States, he finally got his ‘big break’ when I asked to hear about his work at the school (I was going to take on teaching as a secondary project). He invited me over to his ‘hut’ for dinner and a discussion. I thought it was going to be solely a chat, but when I got there I saw he had spent his ENTIRE month Peace Corps stipend (about $250 US dollars), buying food to make me an authentic TexMex meal… since food like that was no where to be found on the island. Such a sacrifice made me realize what a quality guy this man is, and we quickly became inseparable… until he finished his service and mine had to continue.”

“Jim had moved back to Pennsylvania and I was still teaching and working in the South Pacific. For 8 months, we emailed and called each other once a week. One of our choice activities was adding to our list of ‘things to do in our lifetime.’ When I finally finished my service and moved back to be with him in the States, the list was merely something collecting dust in my inbox.”

“I was at work, waiting for Jim to come get me for lunch and he was 25 minutes late for my lunch hour. By the time I got in the car, I was a bit upset. I figured he would drive around the corner and we would grab a quick bite so I could get back for my 1:00 meeting. To my chagrin, he kept driving further and further from my office. Confused, I reiterated that I had a very important 1:00 meeting and he asked me to call my boss to see if that was still the case. I called my boss, who informed me that “if I asked nicely” I could skip out on the meeting. Meanwhile, Jim got on the interstate and got off at the airport exit… in the departures lane… international. He had packed my bag and was taking me on a trip to Europe. I just didn’t know where. On the plane, he presented me with a printed out copy of our list from when we were apart. My first line item was to take a trip to the Alsace region of France during Christmas time. That’s where he was taking me and, on our first night there, he proposed. And now, we can also cross ‘get married’ off the list!”