Kevin and Evi Orgeron have a very long-distance relationship.
The two were married on April 24 after a two-year courtship that included only one face-to-face meeting.
Kevin lives in Luling while Evi lives more than 10,000 miles away in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The two met through Facebook, a social networking Web site, in 2008.
After talking every day through online messaging and Skype, a video messaging program, Kevin decided to make the flight to Indonesia to meet Evi.
In July 2009 Kevin flew for the first time in his life, taking four flights each way to get to Jakarta and back, for a total of 60 hours in the air. He stayed for two weeks.
“We confirmed in person what we felt online,” he said.
After almost two years of dating online, the two decided to get married.
“We just discussed marriage and decided to get married,” Kevin said. “We’ve kind of done things our own way.”
So Kevin flew to Indonesia and met his bride-to-be for only the second time.
Evi, who teaches English for children, said that she is so happy she found Kevin.
“It’s more than a dream come true when a man’s willing to travel half of the world just to see the simple me,” she said. “It’s a blessing. I’ve never been loved by a man as much as (he) loves me.”
Evi is the middle child of five and was the last to be married. She never imagined that when she did marry, it would be to a foreigner.
“I pictured myself being around my family for the rest of my life…but life is so unpredictable,” she said. “I feel even happier. Wherever he is, that’s where my home is.”
In Evi’s ethnic group, Batak Toba, a man and a woman must both be Batak to marry. Despite Kevin being an outsider, Evi’s family was completely accepting of him from the first time they met.
Her sister and brother-in-law even adopted Kevin into their family, the Tobings, so that he could marry Evi. Kevin said that he does surprisingly share a resemblence to members of the Tobing family.
As far as the wedding, Kevin said that Batak ceremonies are elaborate.
About 600 people attended Kevin and Evi’s wedding, the vast majority being Evi’s family.
However, because the two are leaving Indonesia and because Kevin was not from the area, Kevin said that their wedding was an abbreviated version of a traditional ceremony.
For example, during the ceremony Kevin and Evi were wrapped in eight Ulos, or ceremonial blankets that symbolize long life and blessings. That was much less than the traditional amount that would be closer to 300.
After their wedding, they decided to stay in Jakarta for their honeymoon. During this trip, the couple visited Mini Indonesia, which combines aspects from all of Indonesia’s 26 provinces in one 250-acre theme park.
The newlyweds decided to settle down in Louisiana after Kevin became ill and was taken to the hospital when he visited Indonesia for the first time.
Kevin said that while he and his new bride have a lot in common, they do have a few differences.
“In some ways I’m more adventerous than her,” he said, laughing and citing the time he petted a Komodo dragon. “She didn’t want to pet it. She took the picture from far away.”
Evi is still in Indonesia while Kevin fills out immigration papers. They expect that she will join him in Luling sometime this summer.
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