Arkadiy and Heather Lorin

Photos by Sonja Revells

Heather Mockler and Arkadiy Lorin met during their first week of their freshman year at New York University. Their mutual friend and one of the maids of honor, Emily Schlomann, introduced the couple. It was love at first sight . While it took a few weeks until they started dating, they have been together ever since.

Heather recently graduated from George Washington University School of Nursing with Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and started working at a High Risk Prenatal Unit at a Maryland hospital this summer. She loves being a nurse and getting to work in such an interesting field. In her free time, Heather loves reading, Netflix marathons, and exploring Washington, D.C.

Arkadiy is currently in his fourth year of medical school at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), a military medical school. As both an active duty officer in the army and a medical student, Arkadiy does not have much free time but, when he does, he loves playing guitar.

Heather remembers that they have been talking about getting married ever since they moved in together, about three years ago. But she was still completely taken by surprise when Arkadiy proposed to her at the Sculpture Garden in the National Gallery of Art in D.C.

Heather states: “One thing that I think is unique about our marriage is that it unites not only two different people but also two different cultures. My family comes from Canada and England and is Protestant while his family came to America from the USSR and is Jewish. It was interesting to see this mix of cultures combined at our wedding. Observing how my parents had to learn a whole new vocabulary to help plan a Jewish wedding ceremony was quite entertaining! My parents were great sports though, and watching both sides of our family reach across cultural gaps to welcome each other was proof that love and family can overcome all barriers.”

Despite different backgrounds, Heather and Arkadiy have always had similar views on the importance of family, love, and laughter in their lives and Heather states “In the end, the cultural differences have just been a bit of spice in our otherwise perfectly normal and average relationship.”

“One thing that I think is unique about our marriage is that it unites not only two different people but also two different cultures.”

Heather reflects about married life: “Since we were already living together, I didn’t think our lives would change much after marriage. To my surprise though, there are some differences. There is a “newness” in calling each other “husband” and “wife” that I’m still not quite used to, and there is also a difference in the way the world treats you. You are seen more as a unit and not as much as two individual people and that has both its upsides and downsides. The one thing that I think makes our relationship such a happy one is our ability to let things go. Personally, I think holding grudges is the quickest way to poison an otherwise happy relationship. Either the issue matters a lot and you both need to talk about it, or it doesn’t matter that much and you need to let it go and move on.”

In the future, Heather is planning on becoming a certified OB nurse and Arkadiy is currently interviewing for residency programs and hopes to become an Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) physician.

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Officiant

Rabbi Lynne Goldsmith

Grandparents of the Bride

Gordon and Lynda Mockler George and Nancy Proctor

Grandparents of the Groom

Anatoliy and Larisa Yagudayev Sonya Shamuelov

Maids of Honor

Christie Corry

Emily Schlomann

Bridesmaid

Lynda Mockler

Best Man

Eugene Levin

Groomsmen

Benjamin Lorin

Peter Angello

Flower Girls

Elizabeth Corry

Hannah Rozengurte

Eva Rozengurtel

Ringbearer

Asher Rozengurtel

Arkadiy Lorin walked to the chuppah with his parents

Roman and Eugenia Lorin

Heather Mockler walked to the chuppah with her parents

Raymond and Nicole Mockler

[/box] [box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]If you would like to have your wedding featured please send an email to wedding@panamacityliving.com.[/box]