Arlington residents Katie Lettie and Vincent Bauer have the kind of love story you read about in books. That’s part of why the Arlington Public Library hosted their wedding on Saturday.
Lettie and Bauer were the winners of a contest the library held earlier this year, taking submissions from couples in the DMV and gifting a free wedding hosted at the Arlington Central Library to one lucky couple.
And it makes sense: After more than a decade together, sometimes on opposite coasts, sometimes an ocean apart, according to the library system, there’s no doubt that they’re dedicated to each other.
The couple met in college in Chicago. They would chat between classes back in 2012, getting to know each other, then getting lunch together, then seeing movies. That eventually led to romance, the couple said.
But after graduation, they moved to opposite coasts: Lettie got a job in Boston, while Bauer went to school in California to get his PhD.
“We tried to visit each other at least every six weeks, though,” Lettie said.
If that wasn’t far enough to travel, at one point during his studies, Bauer was based in Jordan, he told the library system.
“And so I, being based calmly in Boston, consistently in Boston, had to go back and forth kind of all over the world to spend time with you,” Lettie said, smiling.
When the pandemic hit, and Lettie’s job in the hard-hit hospitality industry seemed at risk anyway, the couple decided to make the move to Arlington. Lettie’s sister lived in Ballston, and Bauer got a job in the area after his graduation — creating a base for the couple to start building their lives together.
“Arlington was the first place that we were ever able to live that was permanent,” Lettie said. “Or had a sense that like, the future could go on, as the current moment was.”
The couple says they’re grateful to the friends they’ve made and the community they’ve become a part of.
As for the library patrons, staff, volunteers and local vendors that pulled together the couples’ wedding, they said, “It’s a wild thing.”
“This is such an amazing gift,” Lettie said. “It’s such a magical experience. It’s so cool.”
In the weeks before the wedding, the library hosted paper flower making workshops and a flower arrangement lesson, open to anyone who wanted to help with decorations for the happy couple.
A guest book was also placed in the lobby of Central Library in the weeks before the wedding, for library visitors to leave their well wishes and advice for Lettie and Bauer.
Local vendors provided the free food, cake, furniture rentals, decorations, flowers, photography and music.
Library Director Diane Kresh officiated their ceremony on the first-floor lobby of Central Library. Seats were reserved for the couple’s guests, but members of the public were also invited to stand and witness the wedding ceremony.
While the ceremony was public, the reception was private, and reserved for Lettie and Bauer’s closest friends and family.
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from Local – NBC4 Washington https://ift.tt/3vnW68m
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