When Walter proposed to Jen on October 2, 2009, on the shores of Lake Como in Varenna, Italy, the roots of their three-year relationship were well established.

Their bond, born out of a shared love of soccer, was strengthened by several significant events. Walter’s serious illness and recovery from surgery. A temporary business-related separation. The diagnosis of Jen’s mother’s lung cancer in July 2009.

Weeks after their engagement, Jen’s mother’s health unexpectedly deteriorated, accelerating their summer 2010 wedding plans. Aided by friends and family, they quickly planned a December wedding in her parents’ hometown of Murrells Inlet.

With nearly 100 guests in attendance, some who traveled from as far away as Colorado, Walter and Jen were married on Saturday, December 12, at St. Michael Catholic Church. Completing what Jen says is a 40-year “circle of life,” the bride wore her mother’s wedding dress, handmade by her grandmother in the 1960s.

“It was very special to me that I could wear my mother’s dress,” Jen says.

The dress provided inspiration for the vintage theme of the rehearsal party and reception. To celebrate the decade of their birth, Walter and Jen, threw a 1970s themed dinner complete with bright prints, platform shoes, and leisure suits. Wedding guests were encouraged to dress in “classy vintage” attire and props like feather boas, a faux Tommy gun, and long strings of costume pearls were available for the reception’s photo booth.

Although her mother would pass away two days after the ceremony, she was present to witness her only daughter become Mrs. Beamer. A fact that made their special day even more so.

“She passed away…with her partner in life by her side, knowing I’m now married to mine. I hope this brought her some peace as it does me.”