A heart-warming story in the news for all of you romantics.

A bi-national couple got married on a Zodiac raft in the middle of the Rio Grande this month.

The bride, Stephanie Guerra is a U.S. citizen, but her fiancé, Ruben Alfonso Fierro, is not.  The couple has four young children, who are all U.S. citizens. Fierro had been living for years in the United States but had not legally immigrated.

When he temporarily left the country, he was not allowed to return.  It seemed the fastest way for the family to come together again was to get married in the United States, except for U.S. border patrol coming in the way.

Here is where it’s good to know the details of the law.  There is an 1848 treaty that allows free navigation for both sides along the Rio Grande, which is the river that forms almost half of the U.S. border with Mexico.

Judge Hector Liendo from Laredo, Texas boarded the couple's raft which is both in the river but technically also in U.S. territory and conducted the ceremony.  Fierro’s family members, who had boarded from the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo, were also in attendance. 

Under the watchful eyes of the U.S. border patrol, the couple was legally married, an act which should speed up Fierro’s return to the United States and his family.  Hurray for love and the creativity it inspires in all of us!

For details: http://bit.ly/Zp3fgP