By Gretchen Crowe
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 2/10/05)

Sisters Kristina and Kathryn (Katie) High decided years ago that each would be the other’s maid of honor. So when the girls decided to share the same June 5 wedding date at St. Joseph Church in Herndon, things got complicated.

"Kristina had picked the date about one year in advance and made the arrangements with Father David" (Bonarrigo), said Jeff High, father of the brides and longtime St. Joseph parishioner. "Kathryn was engaged first and trying to figure out when (she and her fiancé) could get married."

Because Katie and husband-to-be David Moretti were in the military and trying to work around their deployment schedules, Jeff suggested the girls take advantage of the convenience and have a double wedding.

"We kind of laughed it off at first," said Kristina, who now lives with husband James Myrick in Herndon.

"But later they called and said maybe it’s not a bad idea," Jeff added.

The sisters’ wedding, however, was not a typical double wedding. Because each wanted the other as her maid of honor, the "double feature" was split into two parts with what their father called "halftime" in between.

During the break in the action, the girls quickly swapped places — with Kristina switching out of her wedding dress and into a simpler gown and Katie getting promoted from best lady to bride.

Despite the more complex ceremony, the girls never considered not having each other as their maids of honor. That was the idea "from day one," Katie said, "from when we were little. It turned out she was my matron of honor at the time. For the two of us, that made it fun."

The sisters had two separate wedding parties, two separate photographers and two separate presiders, with Father David, pastor, officiating at Kristina and James’s short Catholic ceremony, and family friend Father Jerry Deponai, chaplain at West Point Military Academy, presiding over Katie and David Moretti’s Catholic Mass.

Using the same bouquets, the first wedding party wore traditional tuxedos and the second were donned in military attire.

Kathy High, mother of the brides, said in order to make the reception more efficient, the girls made compromises. One threw the bouquet and one threw the garter. They took turns cutting the cake.

At the reception, the girls planned a special surprise for their father: a joint father-daughter dance. Kristina, the older daughter who was married first, started the dance, and Katie cut in halfway through.

"He twirled me off the floor and Katie twirled on," Kristina said. It was a "special moment that we both got to share."

While weddings can often be focused solely on the bride, the dress and the big after party, Kristina and Katie centered the day around the whole family. June 5 was also their grandparents’ 58th wedding anniversary and their brother’s birthday. Even the in-laws got into the spirit and threw a joint rehearsal dinner.

"We pretty much bonded three different families," said Katie from her South Carolina home. "That’s what made it special."

"Everybody had a special day — not just the two couples," Kristina added.

Because of the unique circumstances, Oprah’s cable TV network, the Oxygen channel, actually called to cover the ceremony, but Kathy said the family turned down the offer, worried that all the hoopla would detract from the religious ceremony. She added that it was important for the family to preserve the sacredness of the marriage sacrament.

"Once you go into the church, (the sacrament) was the purpose," she said.

Katie said it was very important for her and her husband to be married during a Catholic Mass. "We scheduled everything around that so we could have the whole sacrament," she said. "We both really wanted that."

Reflecting on the ceremony seven months later, Kathy said she was amazed at how well everything went the day of the wedding.

"It was an incredibly emotional day for me," she said. "God blessed us."