[caption id=“attachment_4202” align=“alignright” width=“249” caption=“Melissa McMillin and Jeremy Gebhardt got married on Rockefeller Plaza on Sept. 30. (Photo from today.msnbc.msn.com)”][/caption]

They became high school sweethearts three years ago and today they got married live on the TODAY show!  Melissa McMillin, 21, and Jeremy Gebhardt, 22, celebrated their union at Rockefeller Plaza after having won TODAY’s Modern Love Wedding competition.

But here’s the cool part: the groom applied via Skype while deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan!  Gebhardt is a senior airman in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in Anchorage, Alaska.  Most of the past three years, however, have seen the couple parted by tours of duty to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Once they learned they were the couple chosen - via Facebook voting - to receive an all-expenses-paid wedding, it was up to TODAY Show viewers to decide every last detail of the wedding, from the ring to the dress to the cake.  McMillan and Gebhardt didn’t mind at all.  “I think they’re all gorgeous,” Gebhardt told the TODAY show audience when viewing his bride’s ring choices from Afghanistan. “Any of these would be more than I could ask for.”

Their application videos say it all: ““We have waited three long years for each other and I’ve dreamt of the day that I can finally say, ‘Hi! I’m Melissa Gebhardt,’” McMillan said.  “If anyone deserves this, it should be [Melissa],” said Gebhardt, “…I can’t tell you how many tears she has cried or how many nights she has lost sleep worried about me or waiting for me to come home. I love her with all my heart.”

Join us in sending "congratulations” to this wonderful couple.  You can watch the entire ceremony below!

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