Love and liberty was the theme of the recent wedding of Benjamin and Hillary Courter in Maryland. Several D.C. area television stations carried the story. Benjamin’s dad, Pastor Doug Courter, tells the back story:
Benjamin (a Sergeant in the Marine Corp) and Hillary had planned on a late 2011 wedding, so she ordered her dream dress as well as all the bridesmaid dresses. Then, they found out that he was going to be deployed much earlier than anticipated, so they had to decide whether to get married much earlier at a small family ceremony or wait until he returned from his deployment. They decided to have the small wedding, so in about 6 weeks they put it together and got married on February 19, 2011.
Several months ago, Hillary’s mom, saw that Musket Ridge Golf Club was going to give away a wedding on September 11th to a deserving couple. This was the third year they had done this. The applicants had to be in active military service or a first responder. Michelle (Hill’s mom) laid out the whole story and they were so touched that, even though Ben & Hill had already been married, they would give her the big wedding she had always dreamed about. They donated the facility, the meal, the hair-dressers, the DJ, etc.
Click on the link below to see the story on Fox 5.
Doug, who was the officiant at the wedding, is the associate pastor of church ministries at Valley Grace Brethren Church in Hagerstown, Md. (Dan Pritchett, senior pastor).