At the Great Wall of China - Photo by Dara Wissinger Pütz 

Believe it or not, I never had a wedding plan in mind. I was never a little girl imagining how my wedding had to look someday. I had sure ideas but never a drawn-out plan or true heartfelt desires. I just knew I wanted a wedding where my friends and family could relax, have fun and I would walk down the aisle to my best friend. I did indeed have that for my wedding it just so happened to be at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. A true happily ever after wedding location.

Even though I am a former cast member, I never thought having a wedding at a Disney Park was in my cards. When we got engaged, we were still living in Shanghai with my family in Delaware and his in Germany. We started researching the paperwork process and discovered getting married in America was worlds easier than in Germany. I would have loved to have gotten married in America, but I didn’t want the planning burden to fall on my mom since we were not in the country. So, we started looking at destination weddings and Disney just so happened to make it onto the list.

Now, before you ask, I did not receive any incentive or discount to have my wedding at Walt Disney World for being a previous cast member. Of course, I love the company, and I love the parks. With easy to plan and affordable (at the time over 5 years ago) options having a destination wedding in Walt Disney World made sense. Our families would be travelling on somewhat equal journeys, and the parks provided a great way for them to bond together. It also completed our full circle journey of us visiting every single Disney Park across the globe (a story for a different day). For us, having a magical fairytale wedding made the most sense and I would plan the same way all over again.

Our Disney Wedding - Photo by Dara Wissinger Pütz 

Our happily ever after as newlyweds began right at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the heart of Asia – Singapore. We moved to Singapore two months after we said, ‘I do’ and we expected our first year of marriage to be largely separated as my husband was scheduled to travel majority of the year. What a blessing for us that lockdowns were imposed for months across the island. We were able to start our new marriage with quality bonding (albeit COVID-19 anxiety ridden) together. To us, COVID-19 was a huge blessing in giving us the gift of time to have deep conversations and meaningful time together. I truly believe this helped us to start our marriage off on a great foundation.

Don’t get me wrong, being quarantined and in multiple lockdowns together for months and months really tested our marriage. Having these tests early on though really taught us how best to handle these challenges. We were able to create impactful and constructive habits that we have carried through our marriage. We leaned into very open communication about anxiety and fears as it felt like our lives were surrounded by it for years. We relied solely on each other as we couldn’t reach our families for years as well. We strengthened our bond by wanting and loving being around each other 24/7.

​I know this is not everyone’s COVID-19 newlywed story and I know ours could have gone very differently as well. I recognize my blessings in having a spouse who is the perfect fit for me and works hard every day to strengthen our marriage. As challenging and scary as living through the pandemic was, I am so grateful I was able to do so with my husband by my side in a brand-new country.

I hope and pray we both live to be over 100 years old and die together peacefully in our sleep at the same time. We soak up all the time we can together and are constantly planning our future. I love living a life where I am excited to wake up and go to bed with my favorite person in the whole wide world. Our next chapters will hopefully be filled with not only joy, prosperity and good health but also endless travels and someday a family of our own. I hope for you, dear reader, you are blessed enough to find the same early on in life like we did.
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​Join us for our next adventure to Tanzania in a few short weeks via my Instagram @daradew
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