Together on Every Level – The Wedding of Mirna & Danny

“Meant to be” is a feeling that comes to many couples. Yet rarely is that feeling so well-founded as between Mirna Tomic and Danny Pegg. They met in the shadow of the Harbour Town Lighthouse. They married at its top. And on the way, their story connects on levels that are part destiny, part hard work and commitment, and all their own. The ceremony they designed to honor this love took full advantage of what makes the Harbour Town Lighthouse unique, both as a symbol and as a structure.

Their story called for something rare to acknowledge it. Mirna and Danny came from far apart to Hilton Head Island as interns in hospitality. Danny arrived in 2007 for Vagabond Cruises where he is now Marketing Director, and Mirna got her initial experience at the Inn & Club at Harbour Town. She is now the training manager for Sea Pines Resort. It was on the beach near the foot of Harbour Town Lighthouse where they met in 2009.

Overcoming Time and Distance

Mirna returned to her home in Croatia. Danny visited her there and met her family. She went on to work in Shanghai. Again, Danny flew there to Mirna, to keep what they found alive, even on the opposite side of the world. Together they concluded that what they had in common was far greater than time and distance.

One thing they had in common was a particular friend, Nadia Wagner, the longtime lighthouse keeper of Harbour Town. It was Nadia who first suggested the Lighthouse, when Mirna’s and Danny’s wedding plans began to take shape. The Lighthouse proved to be the perfect venue for celebrating a relationship that navigated both sky and sea to be together.

A Story for Every Level

Mirna’s wedding procession rose through every level of the Lighthouse, and on each landing mementos of a chapter in Mirna’s and Danny’s relationship were displayed. Guests were arranged on every landing too, and as the bridal party passed, they joined the procession to the top of the Lighthouse. Danny and his groomsmen awaited at the top.

“As I saw Mirna appear at the top of those stairs – that’s the moment I think is my favorite,” Danny said. Followed by her bridesmaids and then by all their families and friends, Mirna’s arrival at the top of the Lighthouse embodied the end of one journey and the beginning of something new.

At the Top and Around the World

Their guests included people who made the climb to the top of the Lighthouse – 65 in all – as well as people who listened and watched from below by closed-circuit TV, and even relatives in Croatia who joined via webcam. The ways that Mirna and Danny discovered at the Lighthouse to include everyone were the best of the real and the virtual. Family and guests say they never will forget the ceremony and the meanings built into it.

“The whole day was like a fairy tale,” Mirna said. “No stress. Once we stepped into the Lighthouse I felt like a princess.”

The originality of Mirna’s and Danny’s wedding gave guests a new view of their dedication and the bond they pledged that day. That view stays on in a memory that endures and nourishes. It is recalled as something very special, not only by Mirna and Danny, but by their family, loved ones, and guests as well.