My fiancé David and I will be married on June 29, 2008. Before the wedding, however, we have to complete our tours in Baghdad, Iraq where we are working at the U.S. Embassy. I work in the Public Affairs section and David works in the Economic section. As career foreign service officers, we will spend our careers serving at U.S. Embassies all over the world. Prior to arriving in Baghdad, I served in Beirut, Lebanon (and was responsible for evacuating over 15,000 Americans during the war in the summer of 2006); Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Jerusalem. David served in Washington and Sanaa, Yemen. Planning a wedding from a war zone has been a challenge, to say the least. When I read wedding websites and blogs, I sometimes feel envious that I am missing out on all the extras that come with wedding planning—shopping with my mom and sisters, brunch with the girls as we pick out bridesmaids dresses, shopping for decorations, flowers, jewelry, shoes, going to stationery stores to feel paper samples, tasting wedding cakes, planning a shower. I have not yet tried my dress on—in fact, my sisters and mom went out and bought it for me. I hope it fits, and can be altered quickly (in the two weeks I have before the wedding)! All of the wedding planning has been done via phone and internet. I have had to trust friends and family to help me make decisions on colors, styles, fabrics as I don’t have the luxury that you all have of being able to go into stores and looking at things. While most days I can be a bridezilla “Dave, what do you mean you can’t tell the difference between mango and persimmon!” I have definitely come to appreciate so much more about us, life, and all the accoutrements that go with planning the biggest gala of our lives (did I mention we are expecting 300-350 people?).

We arrived in Baghdad in June 2007, just as summer temperatures hit 120 degrees, and just as attacks on the International Zone were increasing. We travel into and out of Baghdad via military aircraft (C-130) and via a helicopter from the Baghdad airport into the International Zone (also known as the “Green Zone”). We are required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) that weighs a ton whenever we travel. We live in a 10 foot by 20 foot metal trailer (think of a garden shed in the backyard) we call our “hooch,” that becomes a sauna in summer, an ice box in winter, and does little to shelter from rain and sand.. While we live in a trailer, we work in a palace—Saddam Hussein’s old Republican Guard Palace. Our work is interesting—I get to handle all aspects of our interaction with media and journalists, and Dave gets to work with Iraqis on helping develop their economy. I handle all the media for the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and therefore get to meet a lot of well known journalists and television personalities. I lent Katie Couric my blazer and pearls when she was in town, and got to help set up a CNN interview with Angelina Jolie during her visit to Iraq.

Stop by tomorrow to read the second part of this great story!

Julie and Dave next to their “hooch”

Julie and Angelina Jolie