PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – The bride wore camouflage and combat boots. The groom, 7,000 miles away in Qatar, forgot the ring. But nothing could stop the wedding.
Air Force Staff Sgts. Courtney Reynolds, 26, and Christopher Bowden, 25, exchanged vows via teleconference on Friday, kissing their respective video monitors when a chaplain pronounced them married.
“I always said I was going to be untraditional,” said Reynolds, who wore a white veil along with her uniform. She said she decided to forgo a wedding dress because she knew Bowden would be wearing camouflage.
The couple, both members of the 21st Security Forces Squadron, dated for five years, and with deployments threatening to keep them apart, they decided to marry over the phone.
The bride’s mother from Florida and sister from New Jersey joined her in a conference room at Peterson Air Force Base, headquarters for U.S. Northern Command, where Reynolds works. Her other sister listened in by cell phone.
Following the ceremony, Bowden cut into a cake, and Reynolds tossed her bouquet to her best friend, Staff Sgt. Barbara Brooks.
“This is probably one of the happiest days of my life next to, I don’t know, Atlanta losing the Super Bowl,” Bowden said. “I love you, sweetheart.”
Associated Press
Air Force Staff Sgt. Courtney Reynolds exchanges vows with Staff Sgt. Christopher Bowden on Friday. Reynolds was at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., while Bowden said his “I do” from Qatar.
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