A unique wedding ceremony coupled with an even more unique reception Saturday formalized the marriage of a United States army captain and his bride from Taipei.
Captain Michael Dotson and his wife Yuting repeated their wedding vows in front of family and friends in the park adjacent to the medical college at Chaffee Center Crossing Saturday morning. When the ceremony ended, the entire group proceeded to the reception which was held in The Arcade in the Quarry Shopping Center in Fort Smith.
"Unfortunately, GPS wasn't on our side (at the ceremony)," Captain Dotson said. "It kept wanting everyone to go down Coyote Trail and that's not an open road."
Captain Dodson said that he was born and raised in Fort Smith and that Yuting immigrated to the United States from Taiwan on her own a few years back. The couple met in Kansas City. Captain Dodson said they started dating, hit it off and then moved in together. And got a dog.
"We've actually been married for about six months, but the first ceremony was back in Fort Gordon and we didn't get a chance to celebrate with friends and family," Captain Dotson said. So we planned this whole wedding so friends and family could be a part of it."
Yuting's parents, who still live in Taipei Taiwan, took a 27-hour flight to come to Fort Smith for the ceremony and reception.
Dotson, a 2013 Fort Smith Northside graduate went through ROTC in high school and Whiley attended UAFS before joining the Army nine years ago.
Captain Dotson said he was stationed at Fort Riley Kansas and Yuting tagged along when he was transferred to Fort Gordon, Georgia. He said once he completed that deployment, and she was willing to stick with him through it, he decided that she was "the one".
Captain Dotson said his next deployment is at Fort Sill Oklahoma and the nine-year veteran says he plans to make the military his career.
Dodson said he picked the arcade for their reception because it was something "out of the norm".
"A lot of the things that we do are copy and paste and and we just run through the motions a lot, and I get enough of that in the Army," Captain Dodson said. "I just wanted something more personal...I wanted to share something for my family and friends where they could relax and have a good time that was from me."
Today in Fort Smith salutes Captain Dotson for his service to our country and wishes him and Yuting a long and prosperous relationship.
