There are two big news items in the life of D.C. United defender Marc Burch.  He returned to the field for United this past Saturday, and he just got married. Now, Marc has a ‘better half,’ and with the MLS season roughly at the midway point, he’s ready to make an on-the-field impact in the second half. Tomorrow we’ll talk about Marc’s return to the lineup, but since there are some events in life that are even more important than soccer, we’ll begin with his wedding day.

Marc and new wife Ximena tied the knot on Saturday, June 12, and Marc was gracious enough to share some of the details from his big day, in scenic Castleton, Virginia. “A friend of the family actually owns a country house out there. It had really good views of the country side and the Shenandoah Valley. We just decided to do it out there underneath a tent. My dad built us an altar and it turned out really nice. We got there and we were finishing up setting up everything and a big storm came through. It rained really hard for about 30 minutes and we were pretty nervous about it, but it ended up clearing up and being a great night.”

As many D.C. United fans remember, Saturday June 12 was the same day that the United States played England in the World Cup.  Unfortunately, for MLS players, the league schedule isn’t announced until a month or so before the season actually kicks off, which doesn’t allow a lot of options for planning events in the summer. Burch explained, “I waited until the day after the schedule came out to make our final plans for when it was going to be.  That was one of the only times I knew we weren’t going to have a game. So when I talked to Curt [Onalfo] he said, ‘That’s probably your best day to do it.’ I didn’t even think about checking the World Cup schedule until about a week later.” The day itself was a conflict, but with roughly a 2-hour drive from D.C. to Castleton, the 4:30 wedding made it tough for the invited guests to follow the England-U.S. match. Burch added somewhat apologetically, “It was exactly when everybody was going to be traveling out there.”