Southern Weddings

Shannon described her Maryland wedding at the William Paca House and Garden as “preppy chic,” and after seeing the crisp green + blue color palette, we couldn’t agree more! Special thanks to Jubilee Photography’s Kristen Hudson-Nichols, who photographed the Southern-inspired soiree. The bride wore a fitted Maggie Sottero gown and outfitted her ‘maids in bright J. Crew sheath dresses that were perfect for the couple’s outdoor reception. (We hate to say it, but the darling ring bearers and flowergirls just about stole the show!)

How did the two of you meet? Tell us your story. We both went to the same high school and college but never met each other. We met in the summer of 2006 through a mutual friend, Joe. I was trying to set up my girlfriend with Joe and Chris tagged along as the wingman. We have been together ever since.
Describe the proposal. We were out to dinner with friends and Chris was insistent on arriving early to see the sunset. His plan was to propose before dinner watching the sunset. He tried to get me to go catch the sunset and grab a drink at the outside bar but I was stubborn because it had been raining and I didn’t want my hair to “fro”. So he put the ring in his pocket during dinner. After dinner and once the rain had stopped, we all went to the outside bar for a drink. Chris pulled me away under the guise that he thought he saw his deceased father’s boat the “Morning Girl” docked at the restaurant. So we headed down to check out the very special boat and while walking on the dock and looking for the boat, Chris dropped to his knee and proposed.
Three word that describe the day are: Love, “us” and celebration.
Our favorite detail of the wedding was: The details were our favorite part and it’s hard to pick, but here are a few: 1) we pinned a picture of Chris’s father along with an anchor to my bouquet so he could be with us during the ceremony; 2) we only kept one secret about the wedding from our friends and families – Chris’s father’s best friend traveled from NY to give us a blessing during the ceremony in honor of Chris’s father; 3) my jewelry was my grandmother and mother’s; 4) instead of a guest book our guest’s signed oars; 5) instead of table numbers our tables were identified by cities that Chris and I had been to together; 6) instead of feeding each other cake we shoved it into my little brother’s faces; 7) the latitude and longitude of the garden where we were married in was engraved in Chris’s wedding band; 8) our guests took home pizza cutters engraved with “a slice of love” and our wedding cake was designed to look like a pizza in honor of Chris’s favorite food.