Hello there
Maggie and Justin met in junior honors English at Broad Run High School in Ashburn, Va. She had just transferred from elsewhere in Virginia, he from a small town in central Texas. "I was intimidated by her," Justin confessed. "She wears long, flowing skirts. She has beautiful, fierce eyes. And she's really smart."
Maggie had noticed Justin, too. Not only was he cute, but his presence at Christian club meetings clued her in to his values, she said.
She was horrified to be at her locker when he and his then-girlfriend had a huge fight nearby. But Maggie overheard enough to know Justin was single. She sent him an e-mail: "I'm praying for you." She hoped the gesture would show him that she cared, and also open the door to more communication.
It worked. A few weeks later, he bought her a ticket to see a concert with him, his older sister Tiffani, and his cousin Jaralei. That was in October. Trips to parks and smoothie shops ensued. In January, Maggie found a question posted on her locker: "Will you go to the prom with me?" One photo showed Justin with a big smile and a sign that said "yes." He held a "no" sign in a frowny photo.
After she accepted, Justin opened his button-down shirt to reveal a T-shirt: "She said yes!" it said.
Their couplehood was established. But it would be rocked before anyone said yes to a larger commitment.
How does forever sound?
Justin and Maggie, who now live in Wayne, came to Delaware County in fall 2006 to major in Christian missions and cultural anthropology at Eastern University.
The June after sophomore year, Maggie left for a study-abroad program in India with a ticket to visit Justin at his program in Uganda that fall.
Justin and his study-abroad classmates took a 10-day trip to Rwanda, where they delved deeply into the genocide that happened there. Thinking about the human capacity for evil saddened Justin deeply, and it made him think about what darkness might reside within him.
Justin's biological father left when Justin's mother, Linda, was pregnant. It's not that he's been without fatherly guidance - to Justin, the man who raised him, Roger, is his dad. And he calls his mother's third husband, Nicholas, his father.
But Justin wondered if he was doomed to fail at commitment. He began to think he would be unfaithful to the woman he had talked of marrying since high school.
In August, he broke up with Maggie. "You deserve better," was all he said.
It wasn't until spring of junior year that Maggie began to feel like herself again. Still, when she saw that an archbishop from Rwanda was giving a lecture on campus, she thought of her ex-boyfriend, and wondered why, exactly, he had ended things. She sent him a text - if he was going to the lecture, could they meet somewhere off campus to talk after? She just wanted closure.
What Maggie didn't know was that Justin had been thinking about her, too - even though he was casually dating someone. He saw a guy talking to Maggie earlier in the day, and he did not like it. "I had been totally fine [with the breakup], I thought," Justin said. "But I had not allowed myself to face the issues." At Bible study, Maggie was all he could think about. He accepted her invitation to talk after the lecture.
The next day, Justin told the woman he was seeing that he could not date her anymore. Maggie told him he had to be sure, because she could not go through another breakup. He was sure.
But their renewed happiness didn't prevent bumps in the road. Two nights before graduation, Maggie was frustrated. "Tell me what you want from this relationship!" Justin knew what he wanted - marriage. But he also believed he had too often set the terms of their relationship in the past. He wanted an egalitarian future. "It's totally up to you," he said.
The next day, Maggie had an answer for him. Their families were coming to town for graduation and everyone was having lunch together. "If we're going to get married, let's tell them all tomorrow," she said.
Justin was stunned. "Can I sleep on it?" he asked. But then, five minutes later, he turned to Maggie and smiled. "Let's do this!"
Neither thought even a conflict-free diamond ring would be appropriate, considering that they intend to work in some of the world's poorest countries. So both Maggie and Justin got ring tattoos.
It was so them
Justin, now 23, and Maggie, 22, were married at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Burke, Va., and held their reception for 230 in the church's reception hall.
Justin's mom and dad escorted him down the aisle, and Maggie's parents, Debbie and Fitz, escorted her.
She made her dress from a collection of colorful saris, and also sewed his blue tweed vest and pants.
Justin's three little sisters, Lila, 4; Lauren, 6; and Ella, 2, were the flower fairies - they wore colorful wings.
Guests ate Indian food made by the caterer and Chinese and Chick-fil-A from local restaurants.
This was unexpected
To keep costs down, the couple did without a DJ - Justin's computer took care of the music. The night before the wedding, Maggie asked Justin to make sure the Avett Brothers' "January Wedding" was on the play list. She needn't have worried. He sang it to her at the reception.
Awestruck
Justin said he had been thinking for years about seeing Maggie on their wedding day, but nothing could have prepared him for the real thing. "I just started crying, I was so happy."
Maggie felt something akin to that at the reception, when the couple and the bridal party were seated on the social hall's stage, and "everyone I loved was there, including my best friend and partner, who is now my husband," she said.
Discretionary spending
A bargain: The handmade wedding clothes. Maggie's dress cost $500, Justin's pants and vest about $40.
The splurge: Professional photography and videography.
At work
Maggie is a server at Teresa's in Wayne. Justin is working on his master's degree in international development at Eastern, where he also works full time as a security guard.
The getaway
Two days at an Irish B&B in Virginia. The couple will be spending three months abroad volunteering with a development organization as part of Justin's master's program, and they plan to do some extra traveling afterward.
Love: BEHIND THE SCENES
Officiant
David Keasler of University Baptist Church of Miami, Fla., assisted by celebrant Eloise Meneses, a professor of anthropology at Eastern University in St. Davids
Venue
Church of the Good Shepherd, Burke, Va.
Catering
IndAroma in Alexandria, Va.; Hunan Village in South Riding, Va; Chick-fil-A in Fairfax, Va.
Photography
JPG Photography, Philadelphia
Music
The couple's laptop, operated by their friend Anthony
Flowers
Grace Dickerson, Washington, D.C.
Invitations
Written by the bride's aunt, Michelle Stewart; designed by the bride.
Planner
Emily Newlin of Wayne
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Love: DO YOU HAVE THE DATE?
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