Wedding Day (in) blues

  • Published
  • By Samuel King Jr.
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  A lieutenant from the 96th Medical Group entered the hospital July 26 expecting a service-dress inspection, what she got was "married."

2nd Lt. Angela Anderson, 96th Inpatient Squadron, was met by honor guard, friends, family and her husband standing by a chaplain, ready to perform a military wedding. The ceremony was put together by her husband, Staff Sgt. Jake Anderson, 1st Special Operations Component Maintenance Squadron, to give her an official wedding for their one-year anniversary.

"I had no idea about the wedding ceremony Jake arranged until the very moment it was taking place," said the former enlisted reservist. "I was completely shocked. Everyone in the unit knew about the ceremony and did a wonderful job hiding it from me. Once in the cafeteria, I saw the honor guard and thought to myself 'am I up for an award that I was unaware of?'"

In front of their audience, Sergeant Anderson proposed to his wife, then the chaplain carried out their renewal of vows.

"This may seem like an odd thing to do and the manner may not be ideal for most people, but I love my wife very much," said Sergeant Anderson. "In the coming years, I plan on asking her over and over and will renew every year in a different way. There are hundreds of ways to get married. I just want her to know I'll find a way to make her feel special everyday for the rest of our lives."

Due to a hectic working schedule, the couple was unable to have a formal ceremony or honeymoon last year. They've scheduled their official honeymoon to coincide with their anniversary Aug. 3.

The marriage is still rather new to both. Shortly after their initial wedding, Lieutenant Anderson went to Commissioned Officer Training.

"Jake is an absolutely amazing husband, very thoughtful and a hopeless romantic," said the lieutenant. "We knew from the moment we started dating that we did in fact make 'the perfect couple.'"