So I am sure you may have seen all the stuff on Facebook or Twitter or AirlineReporter.com about our wedding. Well they were just little teasers about it all. Let’s look at how it all went down, It may take a couple of installments but hey it will be worth it.

Heidi & I both agreed that we wanted to get married quickly for a few different reasons.

1. We wanted to make sure that our lives together were protected in case something bad happened
2. We didn’t want to cause any problems with Heidi’s Uni Work. She is in the final year of her Masters and with an upcoming Student Teaching and also the Holiday period at her Job, things could get messy.
3. Why wait?
4. Profit…? (sorry it always seems to be the way to end these kinds of lists).

So we wanted to get married soon, within a two week period. The first thing we did, before anything else (even before I had technically asked Heidi’s dad for permission) was get our marriage license. The state of Washington requires a 72 hour waiting period once this is done, so we just had to do it soon so that we didn’t have complications later. Then the biggest decision was where to get married. Neither of us wanted a big wedding. Did we go down the line of getting married in a park somewhere or the “beach”. Would we be better off getting married in the courthouse? So many options. We started looking around and the Courthouse thing just didn’t seem right, although the easiest, it was a hassle to arrange. Plus I had a friend who could officiate, so that could take away some of the hassles. But where to get married then? King County required a permit to use a park or beach etc for something like that. The prices ranged to as much as $400! All of that for what would be 15-20 minutes at most. PASS!

I had chatted with my friends at Future of Flight jokingly and they suggested if it wasn’t many people, we could get married on the Stratodeck. Sounded good, but I no longer lived up north. Being a south King County person, Everett was a long way to go! So in a random joking kind of way, after having read some stuff about the refurbishment of the 747 at the Museum of Flight being finished, I suggested we get married under it. Heidi being ever so smart said “What if it Rains?” We live in Seattle, it is October, it will probably rain the day of our wedding. Yeah… Very good point. Heidi then solved the problem herself “What if we get married inside the plane?”. I thought to myself “This is why I am marrying this girl!”

So the next morning we were over by Boeing Field. I was off getting a couple of photos of a plane departing BFI:

From Seattle Spotting 2014

That should keep the avgeeks happy.

So Heidi & I popped over to the Museum of Flight to see a contact I have at the Museum. While talking we talked about the 747 and then i dropped the ball. “How about a Wedding Inside the 747?” “Sure, do you know someone who would? “How about us?”. Seeing our contact’s face light up, the gears in her head just turning, it was glorious. We had to keep it quiet as it is a small space and couldn’t do much. So the plans were on, we were super excited at the possibilities of what it could bring, but mainly it was such an iconic venue, how could you not want to do it!

The wedding happened on Saturday and went off great. Heidi & I will update the blog more over the coming days/weeks with more information on that (yes Heidi will now be writing and apparently editing all my poor spelling/grammar mistakes). But let’s take a look back at to where this all began. Heidi & I had planned a trip to Spokane at the end of September. The day we were due to head off was a bit of a tumultuous one at work. I had some discussion with management that caused an unexpected hump.

On our way out to Spokane, Heidi & I discussed our future, we wanted to secure our future better together, I had been planning on asking Heidi to marry me for a couple of months now. I was going to do it while in Japan, either after dinner at the Park Hyatt Tokyo (where we were staying for a couple of nights) or on the flight home from Japan. After discussons on the drive out, we decided it was time we just went and did it. In essence it went with Heidi saying “Lets get married” with me saying “If it is what you want”.

In the end I officially asked Heidi to marry me at the Ryegrass Rest Area. A couple of hours outside Seattle on the I90 heading East (the Eastbound side for anyone who already knows it). Not exactly thrilling but with two people who had been in deep discussion, (possibly in tears along the way) it was more about the question than the location. Not having a ring, Heidi’s original ring was my black ring that I purchased in China a few years ago. This served as her first temporary engagement ring.

The weekend was a really great one visiting Heidi’s friend Jessica. We had a blast doing the Fall things like visiting harvest festival stuff, eating pumpkin this & that. Eating plenty of foods that were bad for us & so much more. I enjoyed running by the river every morning and Heidi ended up winning a decent chunk of cash at the casino (which was about the only good thing about the casino).

We had some fun trying to get Heidi her 2nd temporary engagement ring, and I will let her tell that story. Heidi’s actual engagement & wedding rings are being shipped over from Australia. They were originally from my Grandmother and keeping a historic ring like that in the family is something we both wanted and had discussed for some time. The ring itself unfortunately couldn’t make it over for the wedding (due to hold backs) but we should have it soon enough.

Our trip back from Spokane had a last minute visit, to a place a little more scenic, by the river in Spokane Valley. It was here we got a few photos of the proper on one knee proposal. Although this was the 3rd time that weekend that I had asked Heidi to marry me (the 2nd time was by Spokane Falls after a morning run) this one was photographed by Jessica. I think I will keep this one as a better reminder of when we got engaged.

As we drove home we had plenty of time to discuss more of what was coming. I had some time off work over the coming weeks so it meant that we could move fast in getting things done. We wanted to get married quickly, the sooner the better for both of us. With Heidi returning to University the next day, it meant stress was coming, so the sooner we got things out of the way, the less hassle it would be on Heidi. Also it meant that our futures would be secure. One bit of advice from a friend was “don’t screw around, just get it done, for both your sake”. So that’s what we planned to do. We had also decided at this point to keep things quiet, and under our hat. Keeping things on the down low meant that we were not going to be inundated with people wanting their say etc. The wedding should be about us, not everyone else right?

So I will leave this installment there and let Heidi fill in the gaps about the ring experience (it is a bit of a laugh). More to come!

Spokane Trip

Today is a special day. I have been fairly quiet online the last few weeks for a good reason, it is for today.  Today I marry the love of my life, my best friend, the person I can spend countless amounts of time with. Yes that is right, I am marrying Heidi today.

From that very first date back in January in a small little cafe in Bellevue to today’s wedding, my life is 1000 times different to how i expected it. I came into this year with so many goals, both travel & personal. But the only one I completed was going on a date. I am surprised that one date led to so many more.

From our second & third dates, my life was destined to be changed. Heidi’s passion & lust for life just opened my eyes to so much. We have so much in common but yet we have so many differences that we always challenge each other & find new things all the time.

As I stand in front of Heidi today, I say how my heart feels & promise to be with her for the rest of my life. I know that as I look in her eyes, I want to spend my life in her arms, with her for every moment. Heidi, I love you.

Over the next week of so you will see more details of the wedding. It is going to be unique, 100% like the both of us!