We did!
As you all know, we met at Georgetown University in March 2015, began dating in July 2016, and got engaged in Seoul, South Korea on October 2023.
We agreed not to plan our wedding until after we got through our big move from SF to Denver in May 2024. We generally knew that we wanted to do a small immediate family ceremony in Muir Woods and then throw a party for our friends and extended family at some point after that.
While that is still the plan (we’re having the small Muir Woods ceremony on June 12, 2025) we did happen to get legally married on August 15, 2024 in a sudden turn of events.
In late July 2024, Derek and his family got the unexpected news that his father needed a heart transplant. The following weeks were a whirlwind for the Embry family, including a tenacious fight to even get Bruce onto the transplant list.
Once a hospital took his case and got him on the list, we didn’t realize how quickly things would move. In a world of things we cannot control, we wanted to live without regret and to make sure that Bruce got to see us get married before the transplant happened. The call for the heart could come in the next day or the next year, with no clarity or assurance on which it might be.
We all, of course, maintained the mentality that things would go well, but transplant recovery itself can be difficult and exhausting and there was no promise of when we might be able to get married with Bruce present.
We whipped together a plan that included getting our friend Connie (our officiant) and Lindsay’s parents to Boston so that we could get married. We planned to do it at the hospital, but thankfully Bruce was discharged early so we were able to shift the plan to the Embry's home for the evening of August 15.
That morning, we spent two very unromantic hours running between the courthouse and Boston City Hall, but finally left as a technically legally married couple but weren’t ready to consider it “real” until the ceremony at home.
If you can believe it, the second we walked out of City Hall we got a call from Derek’s mom. They had just gotten a call about a heart and we needed to take him to the hospital within the next couple hours.
We rushed home, decided that there was no time like the present, and got Lindsay’s parents on FaceTime.
We put on a suit and dress and did our vows right then and there in the living room with Derek’s mom playing impromptu officiant with Connie’s script in hand. We sobbed, laughed, hugged, and then immediately rushed to the hospital.
That heart on August 15 didn’t end up being “the one” for Bruce, but he successfully received a heart on September 2, 2024 and has been recovering beautifully ever since.
That is one of many reasons that this party is a bit more like a “1-year anniversary party” than it is a “reception” or “wedding” itself.
Just a month before celebrating with all of you, we finally got to do the Muir Woods wedding we had dreamed of.
Muir Woods means a great deal to us — The average age of the coastal redwoods at Muir Woods is between 600 to 800 years, with the oldest being at least 1,200 years old. When we lived in San Francisco, we would drive to Muir Woods and breathe in the crispy and damp air, marvel at the colored bark, and sit with heads tilted back at improbable angles to stare up at the treetops disappearing into the canopy.
The Redwoods make us feel small, in the best way. They put life into perspective for us. They remind us to be resilient against all odds. We were so grateful to get to be amongst them as we formalized our marriage and partnership with our immediate family.
We also had our Pae Baek (a Korean ceremony) the next day.
Spoiler: we'll be finishing the Pae Baek with you all in July!!
