Getting Married at the End of the World
- February 14, 2013
- Patagonia, Chile
Story added by
Alexandra Townsend
One couple creates a Facebook Page to let their friends and families -- and you! -- follow their wedding in remote South America.
Toby Past remembers the exact moment when he first saw Lisa Jordan.
“It was like somebody dimmed all the lights in the place and threw a spotlight on her,” Past says. “I saw her long red hair and sparkly blue eyes and just thought, "Who is that?"’
Before the party ended, Past gave Jordan’s boyfriend his business card, but it was Jordan who called a month later to ask if he wanted to get a drink and talk some more. Right around Valentine's Day 2003, they started dating.
Instead of typical milestones -- first date, first kiss -- Past and Jordan measured their relationship in adventures. First there was a day spent at the beach, followed by camping trips, road trips and international vacations. They went sailing, learned to snowboard, stood on cliffs and sought out ancient ruins.
“Being out in nature is the closest I get to going to church,” Past says. “[Lisa and I] connect with each other most when we're out in nature. It's where we feel free.”
After Past proposed, the pair wanted to plan a wedding that was a little different, something that paid homage to the trips that helped bind them together. Eventually, they decided to marry in Chilean Patagonia, a dramatic landscape of mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It wasn’t meant to be a typical destination wedding, and the trip was just for two, meaning family and friends wouldn’t be there for the ceremony. At first, people were a little hurt.
“I have been married before,” Past says. “My first wedding was a traditional production. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's so not about you. It's about everybody else. We wanted this to be about us. Once we explained that to our friends they understood.”
To include the people they care about, Past and Jordan set up a Facebook Page they plan to update throughout their three-week trip through Patagonia and the actual ceremony on Valentine’s Day (at least as well as Wi-Fi and mobile service allow.) “Before Facebook, this kind of storytelling wasn't possible,” Past says. “Now, we can share the biggest moment of our lives together in near real time."