A Special Announcement

Hello everyone,

Today I can officially make an announcement that I have been wanting to make for a couple of weeks now!

I sent out the following email to our friends and family, and think it just as appropriate to copy that message here, as I think it explains what I have to say quite well.

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Dear friends,

It is with great pleasure that I inform you that Jon and I will be getting married in Frederick, Maryland, USA on Friday 23rd August this year, at a small private family ceremony.

Once we are married, we are going to (finally!) begin immigration proceedings so that I can move to the US permanently, so we can be together.
We anticipate that this will take anywhere up to a year. We intend to move to near Jon's family in Frederick, Maryland.

This first ceremony is going to be a basic one, because we need to get the ball rolling for immigration, but also because when we have more time and money we would actually like to have a Disney Fairytale Wedding at the Disneyland Resort in California.
We really want to have the time and resources to plan this properly, and unfortunately we can't do that right now.
Of course we'd already be married, but would instead have a commitment ceremony, which would reflect our ongoing pursuit of happiness and being together.
At that point, our extended family and friends would be welcome to join us in celebrating our marriage properly.

We appreciate all of your friendships, kindness and ongoing support.

If anyone would like to send gifts, we have actually chosen a small selection of charities which we feel support worthwhile causes, which you can donate to on our behalf. We have everything we could possibly need already, so your support of an organisation that funds a worthwhile cause means more to us.
The charities we have chosen are included at the end of this email.

Thank you all,

Best wishes, and kind regards,

Dan and Jon.


Our chosen charities:

For our UK/EU friends and family, you might want to consider these...

The British Hedgehog Preservation Society http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/index.php (click the donate online button)
The Fox Project http://www.foxproject.org.uk/ (the right-hand panel has donation information)
Adopt an animal on our behalf from The British Wildlife Centre http://www.britishwildlifecentre.co.uk/planyourvisit/animaladoption.html (click for details of how to adopt)
Stonewall UK https://www.stonewall.org.uk/what_you_can_do/donate_to_stonewall/default.asp (lots of options for donating)

For our friends in the United States and Canada, you can donate to these...

The DOMA Project http://www.domaproject.org/donate
Animal Welfare Institute http://awionline.org/ (donate is on blue, on the left side)
Siamese Cat Rescue Center http://va.siameserescue.org/ (how to donate on the left)
The Trevor Project http://www.thetrevorproject.org/ (donate in the top right corner)
GLAAD http://www.glaad.org/ (donate in the top right corner)