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Two Brides Planned Wedding As Voters Legalize Their Union

Photo courtesy of Sonja Yearsley

RICHLAND, Wash. – This week, many same-sex couples in Washington will line up to get marriage licenses beginning Thursday at 12:01 a.m. In southeast Washington, two brides were planning their wedding ceremony for the weekend after Election Day, just as Washington voters were deciding whether legally sanction their union. Anna King spoke to Sara Belchik-Moser about her wife Annie.

“Six years ago, we actually met in a bar for the first time. And I didn’t like her. She’s a blue-eyed blonde and I never thought I’d be attracted to the ideal woman of the blue-eyed blonde.

"She doesn’t make me feel weird, ‘cause I’ve always been weird. She makes me feel normal even though I always play video games and read comic books. She asks me about what’s going on in the comic book whenever I’m reading it, as opposed to making fun of me for reading it.

"We’re two grown women and we both want things. Neither of us are crafty and neither of us are really girly girls. But for some reason, both of us wanted this wedding to be perfect. And exactly how we wanted it to be.

"And so ... the wedding outfit did cause problems. I got mine figured out early, I knew I wanted to dress up. I wanted to wear a vest I wanted to wear a tie. She wanted something that separated her outfit, something that didn’t just make her look dressed up. So we found this big bridesmaid jewelry online. It’s this huge necklace and these big earrings. And the necklace was turquoise, and they just helped her eyes pop so much. I felt she looked very nice and very dressed up. Where she felt it was just a shirt and pants compared to my vest and my tie. So we went back and forth on that, back and forth. In the end she did end up wearing it, and it looked beautiful.

"So I walked into the kitchen from the dining room. There’s a very important vote that I kind of want to check on. And I was standing there with my phone, you know because that’s what I was using to check the news. And I saw that it had gone through and that it had passed, and I started to cry. And then I fell down on the chase lounge and Annie came over and started hugging me, and she started crying too. I had so many people come up to me that week and say, ‘Hey, I voted for your referendum.’ And it’s not just mine. But the fact they were thinking of me whenever they voted. Obviously that shows that people like me, that they want me to have a union with Annie.

"I’d like to start a family, when we go to the grocery store it’s an adventure. I’m just excited to live my life with her and to have her by my side – for it all.”

Anna King calls Richland, Washington home and loves unearthing great stories about people in the Northwest. She reports for the Northwest News Network from a studio at Washington State University, Tri-Cities. She covers the Mid-Columbia region, from nuclear reactors to Mexican rodeos.