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Real Weddings

By Jenny Fiore
Photography by Once Upon A Time

They say you can hear a smile over the phone. Erin Adrain, 23, sounds like hers goes ear to ear every time she says "Jeremy" and "husband" and, yes, even "mother-in-law." Until one month earlier, she likely hadn't uttered all three of these words in the same breath. Now, they are summing up her plans for the next day: Get married and live happily ever after.

"I'm quite the dreamer," says Erin, a professional figure skater from Canada. "I'm an Aquarius. I always loved reading Danielle Steele—you know, the whole fairytale romance. That's exactly what this is: my dream come true. Jeremy is my dream come true."

Erin met her fiancé, San Antonio native Jeremy Leonard, 24, at a local restaurant. He had just finished a four-year tour with the Marines and was back in his hometown regrouping. It was the third night of Erin's four-month stint in San Antonio.

"As soon as I came to here, I loved it," Erin says. "The people are so friendly. I love the food, the atmosphere." And, of course, there was the guy at the restaurant. She knew right off there was something special about him. She even believes you could call it love at first sight.

"It was one of those things," she says. "My mum came down [from Canada] to see the show, and she later said to me, 'I just had a funny feeling that I should come to the show in Texas. I just knew, for some reason, that I should.'" She was right. There she would meet her future son-in-law and see Erin's last performance in the Hollywood on Ice Tour. Erin had been traveling worldwide with the show for four years; when it came time to move onto Chicago, four months after meeting Jeremy, she just couldn't go.

"We talked about it," says Jeremy, "and she decided she wanted to stay here. I was glad. We wanted to be together." They knew then that this was the real thing and started discussing the idea of a wedding for the next year. But there was a wrinkle in the plan, and it was a big one: Erin's leaving the tour also meant losing her work visa. To acquire a new one, she'd have to go back to Canada and wait six months. Jeremy, who now works in San Antonio as an insurance adjuster, says neither one of them wanted that. They even discussed their options with a lawyer, who suggested they wait the six months. An unmoved Jeremy formally proposed to Erin right outside the office.

"There was no option," says Erin. "This was it, and I wasn't leaving." So, the couple decided they'd have two weddings. The first would be one month later: an intimate outdoor affair at the Plaza Hotel in downtown San Antonio. The second would be the following year: a bigger ceremony in Canada with Erin's entire family in attendance.

Only Erin's immediate family and an aunt and uncle could make it on such short notice to the Texas wedding. The rest of her would-be guests got creative and sent a telegram. Erin decided to have it read aloud at the ceremony. She also decided to carry two roses in her bouquet in honor of two of the most important guests of the day. "One for my mum, and then, after the ceremony, Jeremy and I will together give the other one to his mum."

So, how did this savvy couple manage to organize this, the first of their two weddings, in just one month's time? "We did it with the help of Jeremy's mum and grandmother," Erin explains. "And, actually, this magazine, San Antonio Weddingpages, helped quite a bit, too. I just had my ideas, which were basically what I always wanted as a young girl, so I'd look through the pages and find those things, and then that was it!"

"Have money to spend," Jeremy says, half-jokingly. "Make sure you have people who know what they're doing. And, keep in mind, if it's meant to be, that's how it's going to be."