“You only get married twice, right?” Marita said, referring to her not one, but two weddings to husband and U.S. Air Force navigator-in-training, Andrew.

The first wedding—a necessary affair so that the couple could live together on a Florida Air Force base—was short and sweet, and devoid of everyone they loved. “We got married in a courtroom with only four other people present,” Marita said. “We told everyone we were just engaged, and dove into planning for a big wedding the following summer in Jacksonville, Florida. But with Andrew being in the thick of training and attempting to coordinate with my family living overseas, we opted to tell everyone we were already married—sigh of relief.”

But with a custom gown on its way from Greece and photographer Andria Lindquist booked, the couple could hardly abandon their plans. Instead, they changed them. “We decided to have a small vow renewal ceremony in Seattle,” Marita said. “We eagerly started planning a much more low-key affair. This time around, we had 13 people present, and the judge who graciously married us at the last minute also performed our vow renewal ceremony.”

The ceremony, held in Seattle’s Discovery Park, had its hiccups. “Our engineer friends struggled to make our arch of bamboo and tissue paper pom-poms stay against the wind, and two of our party got horrible allergy attacks,” Marita said. “But we could not have asked for a more sentimental and intimate occasion to celebrate our ‘second’ wedding with our friends.”

She said, “Even though nothing about our wedding was conventional, we felt that it was the most genuine representation of our relationship, and now marriage. I feel blessed that we got to celebrate twice with those closest to us, and focus on the fact that we found each other. Andrew saved me, and I will spend the rest of my life letting him know how grateful I am for it.”

Inspired by Marita and Andrew? We are, too, and we’ve included some fantastic advice from the bride below.

Marita and Andrew’s second wedding was unconventional—and they say that’s OK. Marita passed along this advice for future brides: “Stick to your gut. Even though we were already married, we wanted photos to show our children, but also to mark the occasion in a special way. I knew I wanted something small and intimate, but that didn’t feel overdone or that we were trying to have an actual wedding.  I had moments of panic that the ceremony would be cheesy or awkward, but the entire day felt so natural that all my fears evaporated. We were really intent on focusing on vows and just celebrating, and we got exactly that.”