Real Weddings | Katie Lucas and John Fitzpatrick
Photography by D. Bryant Photography
The Couple
“Do you want the short version or the long?”
Katie Lucas Fitzpatrick jokes. Their romance has spanned
fi ve years and two continents. John is from Limerick, Ireland
and met Anne Arundel County elementary school teacher
Katie in 2004 when he had a summer job in Ocean City,
Maryland, and was rooming with a friend of Katie’s. Katie
and John got along well enough for her to stay in touch
when he went back home and for her to plan a two-week
visit to Ireland. “It was like a very long first date…but it went
quite well,” Katie giggles.
The Engagement
Being a teacher, Katie could visit John
in Ireland during the summer. John managed to get to the
U.S. as well and on one of those visits, he proposed. “We
took a wonderful trip to the Eastern Shore and stayed at St.
Michaels Harbour Inn,” remembers Katie. Now that they
had agreed to share their future, they had to deal with the
logistics of that decision. Would they live in Ireland or the
U.S.? It wouldn’t be easy for either one of them to leave their
families. Katie couldn’t teach in Ireland, they discovered,
because the Gallic language is a mandatory subject in Irish
grade schools and it isn’t one of Katie’s accomplishments.
John, on the other hand, is in the I.T. field and technology is
an international language. But John needed something called
a Fiancé Visa to start his life in the U.S. The process can take
many months. Just to make things interesting, however, you
can’t get one too far in advance of the wedding date. John
managed to receive his with only three weeks to spare before
the ceremony.
The Ceremony
“We’re both very Catholic,” Katie says
smiling. “It just doesn’t count if it’s not in a church.” Father
Andy Costello, at St. Mary’s in Annapolis, was a big help
to them and graciously accommodated their complex
schedules. “He and John became best friends,” Katie says.
The whole 40-member Fitzpatrick clan made the trip from
Ireland for the wedding. “We rented a house in Eastport. It
was a perfect gathering spot and everyone could water taxi
into town,” she says.
The Reception
The bride and groom’s arrival was delayed
leaving the post-wedding photo shoot because their limo
wouldn’t start. Katie and John piled into photographer Don
Thompson’s car and headed to the Sheraton Annapolis
Hotel. When they told the good folks at the Sheraton about
the situation, the hotel sent its shuttle to pick up the rest of
the wedding party. Dinner was a wonderful buff et which
included Tuscany Grilled Chicken and Flounder Stuff ed with
Crab. They danced to Richard Marx’ “Right Here Waiting”
and, of course, multiple playings of “Galway Girl.”
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