Michelle & Chris at the Providence Public Library

Excerpts from TODAY Show article: Since medical professionals, Michelle Ciarlo and Christopher Jones met as passionate academics, their wedding reception in a majestic library proved to be an appropriate chapter in their love story.

But while the couple is confident they'll live happily ever after, geographical distance has yielded a bit of a cliffhanger. After their March wedding, Ciarlo, an OB/GYN, lived for six months with Jones, who works as an Air Force physician’s assistant in Biloxi, Mississippi — but a job opportunity prompted her to relocate to Rochester, New Hampshire. Ciarlo told TODAY.com they hope to be living together again by July 2016.

“Our love gets us through,” added Ciarlo, who added they’ve been visiting each other two weekends of every month. “So far, it has been working out great.”

While not ideal, perhaps it’s fitting for the well-traveled couple to have some miles between them for the time being. Jones, 36, is a Texas native, while Ciarlo, 32, hails from Rhode Island. Their journey began overseas, when they met as new students attending Ross University School of Medicine, on the Caribbean island of Dominica, in the fall of 2006. And fateful encounters would follow in Miami, Atlanta, and Indianapolis.

For the reception, the couple invited wedding guests to the Providence Public Library, just one block away from the cathedral.

Ciarlo agreed. “We wanted all of our guests to have a good time and feel like they were a part of the wedding,” she said. “We were able to hang out and talk to our guests, and that was important to us.”

Dining in one of the library halls, guests ventured into the next room, where balconies above a makeshift dance floor gave attendants a bird’s-eye view of revelers shaking their groove things. But before the wedding DJ opened the dance floor to everyone else, Ciarlo and Jones shared their first dance as wife and husband to “Making Memories of Us,” by Keith Urban.

Jones said he’d been a little stressed about the wedding since many of his relatives would be making the trip from Texas for the big day, but he was thrilled with how everything came together. “It couldn’t have worked out any better,” he said. “It was, without a doubt, a magnificent wedding. It was perfect.”

Ciarlo was equally pleased by their storybook wedding. “I think our wedding describes who we are,” she said. “We’re fun, outgoing and traditional."

Here is a recap of some special songs they requested:

Introductions
Forever - Chris Brown
Safe and Sound - Capital Cities

First Dance
Making Memories of Us - Keith Urban

Last Dance
At Last - Etta James

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Venue: Providence Public Library in Providence, RI 
Catering: Russell Morin Catering and Events
Photography: Pure Style Photography
DJ: Arpeggio Wedding Entertainment