NENJI YILPET | senior staff writer

Dacia Keheay and Quint Davison's Skype cyber ceremony connects them from Amsterdam to their pastor in America.

As Dacia Keheay gazed into the eyes of her soon-to-be husband on their wedding day, she was not standing in a church, surrounded by family and friends, as a pastor in front recited the vows. She was not even wearing a wedding dress.

Instead, the bride wore a simple white summer dress and her groom, a grey polo in place of a tux. And they stood amidst place mats, in place of church pews.

Keheay and Davison were married not in a church but an apartment in Amsterdam. And the couple did not stand before a pastor at the end of the aisle but a laptop screen.

On July 10, Dacia Keheay and Quint Davison were married in Amsterdam. Their families watched from across the world in Centralia, Washington on a laptop screen as their pastor, Rick Ryding, performed the ceremony from Washington via Skype, an online video conferencing software program.

“Growing up, I envisioned a big wedding with close friends and family,” junior undeclared major Keheay said. “Yet, I wanted something unique for us as a couple. This is not like anything I ever dreamed of doing but I loved it because I still get everything I really wanted.”

Keheay never expected she would return home married when she flew to Amsterdam for the summer. She went to Europe as a nanny for her cousin’s children and discovered that Skype was a way to communicate with her parents and Davison at home in Washington State.

Davison flew to Amsterdam on July 5 to spend two weeks with Keheay before her return home.

Davison didn’t wait long and proposed to her just after he unpacked.

“I had originally planned to propose in Paris, but once I got there I could not wait,” junior undeclared major Davison said. “I had joked about us getting married in Europe but I never thought it would actually ever happen.”

The couple has known each other since third grade and began dating at a camp when they were high school sophomores.

Once they were engaged they asked themselves, ‘What now?’

“We knew we did not want to plan a big wedding, especially since we are in college,” Keheay said. “We really just wanted our wedding to be about us. We did not want to spend a lot of money on a ceremony when it only lasts so long.”

Although their parents’ gave them their blessing to get married in Amsterdam, Keheay and Davison discovered that it would be complicated to get a marital license.

“My mom had always wanted me to elope because it is cheaper,” Keheay said. “She was the one who suggested we get married through Skype.”

When a close friend of six years, Melanie Clauson found out about their marriage over Skype she was initially shocked, yet supportive.

“My first response was, ‘They did what?’ I did not even know it was legal to get married over the computer,” Clauson said. “Everyone knew they really wanted to get married for a long time and I think it is neat that they took the time to do it while in Europe.”

Pastor Ryding thought it was a great idea and he willingly performed the ceremony from a laptop in Keheay’s parents’ home. Only five days after their engagement, they were married. They signed the marriage certificate when they returned home.

“Our wedding was really special for us. We really just wanted it to be about us and spend time with one another,” Keheay said. “I don’t regret anything about my wedding.”

The couple went to Paris for three days for their honeymoon after the Skype ceremony before returning home.

This past weekend, they shared in celebration with family and friends at a garden wedding reception in Washington.

“It is still important for us to share this with people we care about and to know they support us,” Keheay said. “We decided to have a big reception with everyone we know. We did it later so there is not the stress that comes with having a reception after a ceremony.”

Dressed in the traditional gown and tux, Keheay and Davison had professional pictures taken around their hometown.

The couple has plans for another honeymoon in the future.

“Our parents both had set aside money for a wedding but since we did not spend it on the wedding, we are going to use it toward a really nice honeymoon,” Davison said.

But for the mean time, Keheay and Davison must continue adjusting to the big changes in their lives. This year is both Keheay and Davison’s first year in college, although they were able to transfer as juniors because of college credits earned from high school.

“We have had a little bit of a harder time meeting people since we live in Crestview. There are not a lot of other married couples on campus,” Keheay said. “It is really fun to have our own place. We may be busy all day long but then we get to come home and see each other.”