Free Republic

Officer Jesse Hartnett came prepared to Citizens Bank Park on Monday afternoon with a curveball up his sling. After tossing the first pitch at the Phillies' home opener against the San Diego Padres, Hartnett, who was ambushed and shot in January in his patrol car but managed to shoot his ISIS-supporting attacker, was joined on the field by his girlfriend, Lily. And then he dropped to one knee, and pulled a ring out of his sling.

More than 2,000 locals who were driven out of their hometown of Homs, Syria, returned on July 12 to witness a moment of sweet triumph as a young couple married inside the wreckage of their beloved church.The Daily Mail is reporting on the bitter sweet story of Fadi and Rana, 28, two refugees of the years-long Syrian civil war, who met in a refugee camp. Fadi, a university graduate who was working at a pharmaceutical factory in the city before he was forced to flee, fell in love with Rana while they were both working for the U.N. Refugee Agency.When...

A 79-year-old Norwegian has swum across a fjord in the pouring rain dressed only in swimming trunks and a bow tie to wed his 65-year-old bride-to-be on the rocks.Trygve Bernhardsen was accompanied by his two grandchildren as he swam the 800 meters in 14C (57F) water. Before his exploit, Bernhardsen joked with reporters that they were with him mostly to make sure that he didn’t swim off in the wrong direction. “If I decide to say yes, I will swim straight over. If it’s a no, I’ll swim off to sea, and I think the wife wanted some assurances,” he...

This is heartening. Makes me feel a little bit better about the country just knowing this couple is out there. Good Morning America has the story:A photo of a young Marine praying with his bride-to-be quickly went viral after it was posted on Facebook by the wedding photographer. U.S. Marine Cpl. Caleb Earwood wanted to pray with his bride Maggie before their ceremony in Asheville, North Carolina, on Saturday. So with the help of their family and wedding photographer Dwayne Schmidt, Caleb was guided to the cabin where Maggie was getting ready for the service, where the couple joined hands...

Bristol Palin and fiancé Dakota Meyer are calling off their wedding, which was set to take place this weekend. Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced the cancellation of her daughter’s nuptials in a Monday Facebook post, writing the couple has “informed loved ones that unfortunately the announced celebration planned for May 23 will not be held.” Palin wrote that, although it won’t be a walk down the aisle, a shindig of some sort will still go on: “Many friends and family still look forward to getting together that day in Kentucky anyway — and the Palins and Meyers...

Five-year-old Corey Edwards had one final wish – to see his parents get married. The youngster had undergone open heart surgery eight times at Bristol Children's Hospital for a complex congenital heart defect, which finally claimed his life this week. Corey had been at the hospital's Paediatric Intensive Care Unit for the past three months but doctors told his parents Craig and Jemma that there was nothing else they could do for the youngster.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Bristol Palin says she is engaged to Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer. The daughter of former Alaska governor and former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said in a blog post Saturday that Meyer came to Alaska to film the “Amazing America” reality show with her mother last year. She says Meyer is wonderful with her son Tripp. Meyer was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2011. The Kentucky native is credited with saving the lives of 36 Marines, Army soldiers and Afghan soldiers while providing cover for them to find their way out of a...

Sarah Palin's getting a new son-in-law! Bristol Palin is engaged to her boyfriend, Sgt. Dakota Meyer. The bride-to-be announced the happy news via Instagram on Saturday, Mar. 14. "Truly the luckiest girl in the world, cannot wait to marry this man!!!!" Palin, 24, captioned an Instagram pic of the couple kissing. In a second photo, she gave a closer look at her gorgeous cushion-cut diamond engagement ring....

This Texas police officer is accustomed to making traffic stops, but he’s never been through one like this one. Galveston Police Officer Gregory Parris arranged for other officers to pull over his girlfriend, Sara Wolff, so that he could propose to her in an elaborate ruse caught on dashboard camera.

He said “I do” while protests raged. Amid an uncertain future and an impending grand jury decision, Ferguson, Mo., police Officer Darren Wilson married his girlfriend, fellow Ferguson cop Barbara Spradling, last month. The 28-year-old, awaiting news on whether he will stand trial for fatally shooting unarmed black teen Michael Brown in August, tied the knot Oct. 24 with 37-year-old colleague Spradling, a 10-year veteran of the suburban St. Louis police force. The couple, who share a home in nearby Crestwood, Mo., applied for a license last month in Clayton and were married in Oakland, Mo., by a municipal judge.

FERGUSON, Mo. — Darren Wilson, the officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in August, has been out of public sight ever since. Yet last month, he stepped into a St. Louis County office building, gave his name and applied for a marriage license. Several days later, Officer Wilson married Barbara Spradling, a fellow officer in the Ferguson Police Department, public records show.

Darren Wilson, the officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in August, has been out of public sight ever since. Yet last month, he stepped into a St. Louis County office building, gave his name and applied for a marriage license. Several days later, Officer Wilson married Barbara Spradling, a fellow officer in the Ferguson Police Department, public records show. The couple obtained their marriage license in Clayton, Mo., outside St. Louis, in the recorder of deeds office on the fourth floor of the Lawrence K. Roos administrative building, steps away from the courthouse where the grand jury has been...

Mass murderer Charles Manson has gotten a license to marry a 26-year-old woman who visits him in prison....

They married in front of family and a host of celebrity pals in Venice, Italy on Saturday and now the first pictures from George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin's wedding have been revealed. The stunning 36-year-old bride wore a custom-made off-the-shoulder Oscar de la Renta French lace wedding dress with a veil while George, 53, chose his favourite designer, Giorgio Armani, to create his tuxedo. In pictures, which were sold exclusively to HELLO! and People for charity, all of the secrets of the wedding are revealed including the outfits, the cake and the famous guests and George told People that 'marriage...

The deed is done - George Clooney is a bachelor no more, having married stunning Amal Alamuddin in Venice. 'George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin were married today in a private ceremony in Venice, Italy,' a rep for the silver fox confirmed. And the news comes as all eyes have been trained on the glamorous Grande Canal, which was flanked by a cavalcade of police boats and photographers as he travelled to his lavish wedding reception.

A single mother, people who have been married before and couples who have been living together "in sin" were married by Pope Francis in a taboo-challenging ceremony at the Vatican on Sunday. In another signal of the openness of his papacy, Francis asked to marry 40 people from different social backgrounds who would be a realistic sample of modern couples. It comes three weeks before a major synod of the Catholic Church will discuss the divisive issues of marriage, divorce and conception.

The word family had a wider meaning both Aramaic and Hebrew than it does in our English word today. The Hebrew, ah and the Aramaic aha could be used to refer to those who were brothers and sisters, half brothers, cousins and even other near relations. Extended family networks were both insisted upon, and essential for survival. To have these ties and be dependent upon them, was every Jewish person’s duty, and an absolute necessity for survival.Marriage – Of course marriage is the heart of family. The very first order that God gave Adam and Eve, was that a man...

Nicky Hilton is engaged! Heiress is 'incredibly happy' after banker boyfriend James Rothschild proposed in Italy The couple met at Petra Ecclestone and James Stunt's Italy wedding in 2011 Mr Rothschild apparently flew from the UK, where he is based, to the U.S. to ask Ms Hilton's parents for her hand in marriage The heiress has been married before - she wed childhood friend Todd Andrew Meister in Las Vegas in 2004

It should be one killer wedding. Joran Van der Sloot, the convicted Dutch murderer and main suspect in the 2005 Natalee Holloway disappearance, will tie the knot with his pregnant Peruvian girlfriend while behind bars Friday, his lawyer has revealed. The 26-year-old, who's currently serving 28 years for murder, will exchange vows in an intimate, midday ceremony with his girlfriend, Leidy Figueroa, in Lima's Piedras Gordas penitentiary, his attorney Maximo Altez announced Thursday. The truly hopeless romantics met while Figueroa, 24, was working in the prison selling candies and cigarettes, said Altez. Conjugal visits are granted to all prisoners at...

William Nunn had to steady himself on a walking frame as he gave Jean away for a second time - she met Mike Garnham on a sailing holidayA proud father celebrated his 100th birthday by walking his 70-year-old daughter down the aisle. William Nunn had to steady himself on a walking frame as he gave Jean away for the second time. She first wed in 1976, but her husband died and she has found love again with widower Mike Garnham, 67. The couple, who met on a sailing holiday, married in a register office watched by 16 friends and family.