Here's a surprise for you:

U.S. Rep. Peter Welch and and state Rep. Margaret Cheney got married Friday. The event transpired at Cheney's house in Norwich.

Justice of the Peace Curtis Koren of Brookfield and Sister Maureen Welch, an Ursuline nun and Peter Welch's sister, officiated.

Cheney said they decided on Christmas Day to have the wedding while family members were around and not many people knew it was coming.

She also acknowledged they won't have much time to celebrate. Congress and the state Legislature both convene next week.

"Peter's joke is that for our honeymoon I'm going to D.C. and Margaret's going to Montpelier," she said.

So where will the couple live when they're together in Vermont? That's up in the air, she said. She had a kid in high school still, so she'll be staying in Norwich, plus her legislative district does not include Welch's house in Hartland. Plus, he spends a lot of time in Washington and she in Montpelier.

"It's not your typical domestic situation," she said.

Cheney, 56, is a native of nearby Hanover, N.H., a Harvard grad who has lived all over the world and a former journalist. She has a daughter and two sons, according to her legislative bio. She'll be starting her second term in the Legislature next week. She served on the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee.

Welch, 61, a lawyer who was just elected to his second term in Congress, is a widower, with four stepchildren and one adopted son.

Congrats to the newlyweds.

- Terri Hallenbeck