Weddings: Sara Hertz and Lee Meinicke

Lee and Sara had their lives all figured out. Then they met each other.

In 2006, Sara, who grew up in University City, was the Nature Conservancy's Pennsylvania director of philanthropy. Married for more than 20 years, she lived with her husband and their two sons in Whitpain Township.

Lee, who grew up in Portland, Ore., and came east for college, was a strategic planning consultant based in D.C., where she lived with her partner of 16 years. Sara's office hired her for a project.

"The first thing was I heard her laughing," Sara remembered, "I thought, 'That's a very cool person.' "

Lee was drawn to Sara, too. "She just had such a great energy, and she was so hip and funky."

They quickly became friends. But in ensuing months, Lee felt the beginnings of other extremely inconvenient feelings. She tried to ignore them.

In June, at what was supposed to be the end of Lee's Philadelphia engagement, Sara drove her to the SEPTA station. Lee felt high school-level awkward but was compelled to tell Sara how terrific she found her. Besides, it's not like they would ever see each other again.

"I think I have a crush on you," Lee said.

It took Sara a few beats to process her words. "I didn't think anybody would ever say that to me again," she told Lee.

Sara admitted to herself that she had been flirting a bit with Lee. "I thought it was safe," she said. "It turned out to be anything but."

A month later, Lee was back at Sara's office, her contract extended.

The more time they spent working together, the more their feelings grew. It was confusing for both of them. Lee didn't want to hurt her partner. Sara didn't want to hurt her husband or kids, and that was the hardest part. But she also had to rethink part of her identity - she had never before been romantically interested in a woman.

They talked and talked about their feelings and decided to fight them to honor the commitments each had made. Sara told her husband about Lee. Lee told her partner about Sara. Both couples went to counseling. Still, within months, Sara separated from her husband, and Lee from her partner.

In 2007, Lee, who is now 52, moved to Philadelphia to be closer to Sara, now 55. They were already in love.

Lee says the two balance each other well: She's more introverted, logical, and practical, and Sara is an extrovert who makes decisions from the heart. Beyond that was something she can't really name, but she sure felt it. "I was like a zombie, walking with my arms straight out in front of me, 'I must have her!' " she said, laughing at what a goner she was.

Sara admires Lee's competence and her creativity. "She's also just my best friend," Sara said. "She is totally reliable and steadfast."

Lee earned her MBA in sustainable business from the Pinchot Bainbridge Graduate Institute near Seattle, traveling monthly for classes. Her capstone project became a business, Philly Compost, and in 2009, when Lee moved into Sara's Ambler home, she brought the small trash truck she used to collect food waste from her business customers. A past board cochair of the Sustainable Business Network of Philadelphia, Lee has since sold her business and is now fiscal manager for the Friends General Conference in Philadelphia.

In 2007, Sara had left the Nature Conservancy to become vice president of development with the Philadelphia Zoo - a job that required less travel so she could stay local with her boys, Jeremy, who is now 26, and Nathan, now 21. In 2010, she became the Academy of Natural Science's vice president for museum operations, and in March, she joined Conservation International as vice president of development. Sara is an Ambler Borough councilwoman and cofounder of the Ambler Farmers' Market, and she serves on the Wissahickon Valley Watershed board of directors.

"When the time is right, I would like to get married," Lee said one day - they don't remember exactly when. At the time, marriage equality existed in only some states, creating legal uncertainties with things like filing federal taxes that the couple was not eager to tackle.

But in May 2014, on Lee's 50th birthday, they visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and there in the gift shop - and on sale! - were colorful silicone and diamond rings. They bought an orange and a red for Lee and an orange and a pink for Sara and exchanged them on the spot.

Both were home the day in June 2015 when the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal across the United States. They heard the news from neighbor Ben, then neighbor Joanne, who separately ran over to ask when the couple would wed.

Now they could have all the benefits of marriage, just like any other couple. "It was so exciting, and we got totally sucked up in it," Sara remembers.

Planning commenced.

Lee and Sara chose June 18 so Sara's brother and his family could fly in from Reno, but they also love that 6/18/16 is a numerical palindrome.

They wed in the garden of Lee's church, the Unitarian Society of Germantown, in a ceremony performed by Rabbi Elisa Goldberg that included many traditions from Sara's Jewish faith. Lee's brother, Bob, and sister, Sara, and bride Sara's sons held the chuppah, its poles borrowed from a friend who used them in his wedding, the cloth from Sara's great-grandmother. Lee walked down the aisle with her mom, Helen, and Sara walked with her mom, Adele, and her stepmom, Lee.

Seven friends said blessings for the couple, whose vows were based on the Book of Ruth. Each bride circled the other three times, then they held hands and circled together.

Each of the 55 guests signed the ketubah.

The brides wore colorful dresses, and their one guest-dress request was that no one wear beige or black, but to take inspiration from the colors of India.

Instead of gifts, the couple suggested donations to the Nature Conservancy, through which they met, or to GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD).

After the vows, Lee and Sara turned to face each other. Holding hands as newlyweds, they then looked out at their guests. "Seeing all these faces of people I love who have cared about me and cared about us, I got teary," Lee said. "It was just incredible."

Sara and Lee love to dance, but they had never really slow-danced together and planned no reception first dance. Then the DJ played "Essence," by Lucinda Williams - a song Lee had put on the CD she burned for Sara when they started dating. Sara made Lee abandon her plate of food. "We danced, and even though we had no idea what we were doing, we knew every word to that song, and it was so lovely," Sara said.

A bargain: Because Lee is a member of the Unitarian Society of Germantown, the couple paid about $500 for the use of the gardens, the kitchen, the celebration space, and the parking lot. The couple also bought their shoes at DSW for about $35 each.

The splurge: Sara's bejeweled bright-orange necklace, bought at a trunk show she happened upon while running errands.

A week in Bali this winter.

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Officiant: Rabbi Elisa Goldberg

Venue: Unitarian Society of Germantown, Philadelphia.

Catering: 12th Street Catering, Philadelphia.

Photography: Ben Bergman, friend of the couple.

Flowers: Cultivating Joy, Glenside.

Sara and Lee's attire: Trina Turk.

Sara's necklace: Sophy Curson, Philadelphia.

Music: Soundscape DJs, North Wales.

Do you have the date? Email us - at least six weeks before your ceremony - why we should feature your love story: weddings@phillynews.com. Unfortunately, we can't respond individually to all submissions. If your story is chosen, you will be contacted.

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