Camp Pendleton Flight Line Wedding
“I knew that when I married Chuck, I was also marrying Marine Corps Aviation.”
This is why, among other reasons, Ashley and Chuck wanted to get married on the MCAS Camp Pendleton’s flight line. Their “big” wedding is still a year away but this one - the one just for them and their immediate families - was going to be just as important.
Chuck is a Huey pilot who recently returned from their second deployment as a couple. The pair is about to PCS across the country for a non-flying billet. Ashley, meanwhile, is a badass in her own right. She’s recovering from a kidney transplant, and the road to healing is winding and not without its bumps.
There’s a joke in the military that so many of us marry for Tricare but in Ashley’s case, about to embark on a cross-country move with a new kidney, the phrase is apt: Tricare will ensure she starts her married life as healthy as possible.
Having their “legal” wedding on the flight line felt like the perfect place. Without Marine Corps Aviation, they never would’ve met; Ashley is a San Diego native and Chuck’s orders to Pendleton were a total surprise. Now, they’ll move because of Marine Corps Aviation and maybe one day, they’ll return to this flight line because of Marine Corps Aviation.
In front of their closest family and friends, the pair committed their lives to each other in the shade of the huey.
After the ceremony, we stayed behind to capture intimate portraits, commemorating the spot that means so much to them.
