We got married!

The bride is Kara Elizabeth Passmore, 37, an Assistant Director, J.D. Programs at Georgetown Law. Her parents, Kimberly Moore and John Passmore, met while training in the U.S. Army as Russian linguists. Kara was born in Germany and moved frequently during her childhood, spending time in Maryland, Massachusetts, California, and Alaska. She attended Swarthmore College and briefly taught elementary school before receiving a master's degree in Higher Education Administration from the George Washington University. She loves world travel, her cats, amusement parks, hiking, curriculum planning, and everything to do with weddings! The groom is Jason Alexander Kinikin, 41. He works in Facility Management and has helped manage such diverse facilities as libraries, a law firm, a former amusement park, and an airport. He is very proud of his local roots but also spent eight years living in Alaska and enjoys traveling both domestically and internationally very much. By his own admission, he has too many hobbies which include riding roller coasters (242 and counting), visiting Presidential sites (already visited sites for 41 out of 44), and studying World War 1 (too many books read, documentaries viewed, and battlefields visited to mention).

After chatting on OkCupid, we met in person for the first time in the lobby of the Hotel Monaco DC. Over drinks in the Dirty Habit bar, we discovered our mutual experience as professional carousel operators, reminisced about living in Alaska, shared our passion for travel abroad, and left knowing we would definitely meet up again.

Jason proposed 444 days after our first date, at Martin's Tavern in Georgetown, which has served every U.S. President from Harry S. Truman to George H.W. Bush. We sat in the Proposal Booth, where John F. Kennedy proposed to Jackie Bouvier. He had the waiters put a menu in front of the "Proposal Booth" plaque so that it was a surprise. After Kara said yes, our waiter brought us champagne to celebrate.

We got married at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in downtown Washington, DC. Located two blocks from the White House, the “Residence of the Presidents” has over 200 years of history and has hosted every U.S. president since Franklin Pierce. The main entrance on Pennsylvania Avenue opens onto the lobby where Ulysses S. Grant enjoyed cigars and brandy while fending off “lobbyists” and where Martin Luther King, Jr. put the finishing touches on his “I Have a Dream” speech. Look up at the ceiling to find the official seals from all 50 states. From the lobby, continue through Peacock Alley, named for those strutting through the hallway during afternoon tea, to the historic Crystal Room ballroom where our wedding will be held. On the way to the cocktail hour, pass through the small history gallery to see President Lincoln’s hotel bill and the wedding dress from the 1956 opera, The Ballad of Baby Doe. You might recognize a few parts of the hotel as the setting for the finale of the film Minority Report. If you decide to stay overnight as a guest at the Willard, you’ll be in good company. Just before dawn one morning in 1861, Julia Ward Howe sprung from her bed to write the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. The tables at our wedding reception will be named for each of the U.S. presidents who have spent the night in the hotel. Other distinguished guests have included Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, P.T. Barnum, Harry Houdini, John Philip Sousa, Buffalo Bill, and the official presidential turkeys that are pardoned each year at Thanksgiving.