A quaint white chapel set in the coastal countryside of southern Maryland, with the bride wearing her mother’s wedding gown. Bouquets of bright sunflowers and hydrangeas, the bridal party in cornflower blue, and a waterfront locale combine to create a portrait of summer nuptials.
Jon and Emily met at a friend’s birthday party while studying abroad in Europe together. They ended up on the same trip together traveling to Lourdes, France for Easter that same year.
From the very beginning, the Blessed Mother played an important role, and answered prayers gave them confidence that the Lord was calling them into a relationship.
From the Bride:
When discerning whether to take the next steps in pursuing a deeper relationship with Jon, I decided to pray a special novena of prayers to St. Therese. I was very specific and asked St. Therese, with the intercession of Our Lady, to pray and ask Jesus for purity in mine and Jon’s heart and for a physical rose to be handed to me by the end of the novena.
After nine very intentional days of praying and discerning, Jon and I were at a classical music concert. That evening, a girl named Mary (who had no idea about the novena) came up to me and handed me a rose simply because she knew I liked them.
That same night, a girl named Theresa also gave Jon a rose. God has such a sense of humor!
After a lot of worrying and trusting and discerning and worrying some more, God had prompted two women (named after the very saints that I was praying to!), to present roses separately to Jon and I, inviting us to embark on a serious and romantic journey together!
Just over two years after that rose-filled night, we were married in a little white chapel in the farm country of southern Maryland.
The night before our wedding, we had a special Holy Hour prior to the rehearsal dinner. We asked our family and wedding party to be there to pray with us. Jon's sister and his friend led praise and worship and confessions were available.
But later that evening, everything that could go wrong did go wrong—including frozen flowers and stranded family members. At midnight, my maid of honor forced me to go to sleep and said that everything would be perfect in the morning. Sure enough, it was!
The morning of the wedding, the bridesmaids all got ready at my parents’ house. Hair and makeup were all homemade. I had my mother’s wedding dress specially altered to remove the puff and frills of the early 90’s and added little lacy cap sleeves.
My veil had been declared unusable just days before the wedding, but Amazon came to the rescue with a replacement. Free two-day shipping was a lifesaver!
While I and the girls were getting ready, Jon was leading his special hand-picked choir in the music rehearsal for the Mass. Music has always been a big part of both our lives, and Jon asked early on if he could take the reins on the music for Mass.
He carefully chose singers and musicians from both our families and dear friends. Jon formed a choir, emailed out music ahead of time, and held a special rehearsal to make sure the music would glorify God on our wedding day.
He picked a selection of favorite hymns, a friend’s original composition for our hymn to the Blessed Mother, and a favorite contemporary piece for the offertory song.
Looking back, one of the most striking parts of our wedding day was the gift of peace in my heart. I went to bed feeling all the anxious butterflies in my stomach. Yet, I woke up with an incredible sense of peace and joy.
I was getting married.
That was all. I was going to the one “whom my soul loves," as the repeating anthem in the Song of Songs goes.
Getting ready, traveling to the church, and putting on my dress were all moments of joy. Before the Mass, I prayed the rosary with my bridesmaids.
Both mine and Jon’s many siblings were employed in all different roles during the ceremony: bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girls, ring bearers, altar servers and musicians. I could hear all of my friends and relatives entering the church and greeting one another.
We lined up as a wedding party and each paired bridesmaid and groomsman entered one by one, until it was just my dad and I waiting in the church vestibule.
The music changed. I grabbed my dad's arm. I remember only then did I really start to get the butterflies again.
However, once the church doors opened, I immediately locked eyes with my beloved, and I felt myself beaming with joy.
My eyes were glued to Jon’s the entire way down the aisle. I was aware of everyone watching, snapping a picture or video as I went, but I did not look at any of them.
The Holy Spirit's gift of peace radiated through every pore in my body and soul as I walked down to my Love.
During our wedding vows, we held together a special nuptial crucifix gifted to us by Jon’s parents.
The ever-present themes of our relationship were highlighted in the details of our wedding day, including entrustment to the Blessed Mother, roses, and a wanderlust desire for travel.
The bridal bouquets were made of white roses, blue hydrangeas, and sunflowers. The bridesmaids were all dressed in Mama Mary blue and carried similar bouquets.
Each of our centerpieces consisted of a specially made slab of wood topped with a bucket of flowers, an empty wine bottle filled with a small string of lights, and a little sign with a quote or Bible verse.
In addition to traditional table numbers, we placed the name of a city that we had traveled to together on each table. Each card also had a handwritten story of our adventures in that particular city.
For our “guestbook,” we bought a world map and had everyone who attended sign it. The map is currently hanging in our home today!
Jon and I were both in households at Franciscan University. (A household could be considered equivalent to a Catholic fraternity/sorority.) Members from each of our households were able to make it to the wedding, and each group had a special little ceremony to “induct” the spouse with a special song and a presentation of household “gear” (sweatshirt).
This little piece of symbolism was a beautiful acknowledgement of the Christian belief that the two truly become one!
Early on in our engagement, Jon asked me if he could wash my feet at the wedding reception in lieu of the garter toss. Jon had a special silver bucket made with the words “Abide with Me” inscribed on it.
In his first act as husband, He knelt down and washed and kissed my feet. That moment was nothing less than sacred.
While Jon and I were dating and engaged, we had a fun little tradition. Whenever we were on a road trip we would stop at a new restaurant and test out their French fries. We decided to have various types of meat sliders served buffet style and a French fry bar complete with toppings!
My sister is an amateur baker and created a simple, small wedding cake decorated with actual sunflowers. The rest of the desserts included bite-sized cupcakes and cake pops made by various family members.
To finish off the night, Jon had one more surprise for me. He brought together his barbershop quartet from college and had them sing two songs as our last dance of the night.
One location that Jon and I had desperately wanted to visit before our wedding was Lisieux, France. We tried twice to get there while we studied abroad, but both times there were issues with the transportation system, and we were literally turned around on the train mid-trip.
St. Therese clearly was not ready for us to come visit.
However, two months before our wedding, I was browsing plane flights and saw the cheapest international tickets I had ever seen, and they happened to be from Baltimore to Paris. We were going to Lisieux for our honeymoon!
St. Therese clearly knew what she was doing, and God’s perfect timing ultimately allowed Jon and I to visit Lisieux in the first week of our married lives. The trip also included a visit to Notre Dame, and we were able to dedicate our marriage to Mama Mary, as well as St. Therese and her parents, Saints Louis and Zelie Martin.
Our wedding was rooted in faith, our love of the sacraments and Our Lady, and our love for each other. Every detail was carefully planned and curated to truly be a celebration of our new family.
