Lauren and Joseph at their March 3, 2013, wedding in Old Town Alexandria. All photographs courtesy of Wade Chi.
By the time Lauren Sugierski and Joseph Kuchta got married on March 3, 2013, they had been dating for almost a decade. Wanting to keep their nuptials intimate and personal, they decided to ditch many conventional elements of a wedding and instead focus on celebrating their love. “I will never forget Joe saying that he didn’t care where we got married—that the only thing that mattered was that we were marrying each other,” says Lauren, who works for the federal government.
The couple met at the Georgetown Waterfront over Labor Day weekend eight years ago. After they’d eyed each other from across a bar, Joseph, a DC Police officer, finally asked for Lauren’s phone number. A first date at Carlyle restaurant in Arlington, which would later serve as their rehearsal dinner venue, ultimately led to a proposal at the Winery at La Grange in Haymarket, Virginia.
Kimberlee and Matthew at their October 20 wedding in Oxon Hill, Maryland. All photographs courtesy of Carly Arnwine Photography
When Matthew Murphy first met Kimberlee Ryan, the chemistry was instantaneous. A public interest environmental lawyer by day, Matthew was bartending at Rhino Bar & Pumphouse where Kimberlee, then a senior in college, picked up a few waitressing shifts during her winter break. The only thing standing in Matthew’s way from asking her out was that their boss happened to be Kimberlee’s uncle. “Everyone thought he was crazy to go for the owner’s niece, but we were both smitten,” says Kimberlee.
Lucky for Matthew, it turned out to be a risk worth taking. After a first kiss on New Year’s Eve, the pair dated for two and a half years before a snowy proposal at the Georgetown Waterfront. They would be engaged for just as long—Kimberlee decided to go back to school to become a nurse, thus putting their nuptials on hold for a bit longer than initially planned.
Erin and Joseph at their October 6 wedding. All photographs courtesy of Amy Raab Photography
Erin Waetjen and Joseph Ferraro’s first date got off to a great start. Having met at a mutual friends’ housewarming party in spring 2009, the couple immediately connected. A first date at Ireland’s Four Provinces, where they chatted for four hours, led to a semi long-distance relationship—Erin, now a registered nurse, was finishing her degree in Baltimore while Joseph, a software engineer, was based in Virginia. A year into the relationship, Erin took a job in the District and moved in with Joseph. It would be another year before a romantic proposal at The Homestead Resort, where Joseph took Erin under the pretense of celebrating her birthday.
Photo Caption: Monica and John at their summer wedding at Meridian House in DC. All photographs courtesy of Jeff & Jane Greenough.
Monica and John are the quintessential DC couple. They met on the first day of law school orientation and got engaged the day after taking the bar exam almost three years later. When it came to the wedding, the duo decided on a June garden theme at the Meridian House in the heart of Washington.
The ceremony took place in the picturesque outdoor space, with a reception that followed indoors. Theme colors—purple, pink, and blue—were interwoven throughout the wedding, from flowers on the altar to elegant table settings, and fun decor details included Chinese lanterns and Mad Libs. The couple recalls their custom-made ketuba, and their personalized wedding vows. “It was definitely nerve-racking to pour our hearts out in front of our guests, but it made for one of the most memorable moments of the wedding,” says Monica.
Debbee and Adam share a kiss at the end of their wedding celebration. All photographs by Rachael Foster Photo.
Adam and Debbee didn’t need long to know they were meant for one another. They got engaged five months after meeting and planned their romantic winter wedding in another four. The couple met at a St. Patrick’s Day party, through a mutual friend, and when an illness landed Adam in the hospital just two days later, all he could think about was Debbee. He called and asked her out, straight from his hospital bed. They both knew they had met their soulmate.
“I always heard when you meet the right man, you’ll know immediately. It’s true, and when we found each other, we didn’t want to wait,” says Debbee. A native Texan who spent her childhood dreaming about a summer ceremony, Debbee scratched those plans and went with a season she didn’t have to wait quite as long to arrive: winter. “The idea to hire a wedding coordinator never really crossed my mind. I love planning events, and I prefer to do things myself,” she says. It helps that as a press secretary on Capitol Hill, she is accustomed to coordinating events and thriving under tight deadlines. For Adam, who is studying for his MBA at Georgetown University, the decision to wed quickly happened just as naturally as it did for Debbee—he secretly had asked her father for her hand in marriage a couple of months into dating. (Her father said yes, of course.)
-thumb-620xauto-50954.jpg)
Lindsay and Kyle celebrate their fall wedding at Lansdowne Resort. All photographs courtesy of Courtney Vogel Photography.
When Lindsay Gardner and Kyle Bacon’s photographer canceled a mere week before their wedding, citing a sudden family crisis, Lindsay was faced with every bride’s nightmare: one of life’s most important events, and no one to document it. Thankfully, kismet appeared in the form of Courtney Vogel Photography, who happily came to the couple’s aid and captured every celebratory moment of Lindsay and Kyle’s Halloween-weekend wedding at Lansdowne Resort.
Lindsay, a talent acquisition specialist from Centreville, Virginia, first met Kyle, a management consultant from Sterling, Virginia, in the summer of 2008 when they were introduced by the bride’s college roommate. A first date at a Bethany Beach bar followed, as did three years of dating and, ultimately, a romantic proposal.
Stacey and Don Goers on their wedding day at The Homestead Resort. All photographs courtesy of Natalie Gibbs Photography.
Things weren’t exactly going Stacey Skotzko’s way on the day she met Don Goers. It was December 2009, in the thick of “Snowmageddon,” and Stacey had returned to Reagan National Airport to try to catch a flight that had been canceled 48 hours earlier. Facing long lines, frustrated travelers, and general chaos, she couldn't care less when a random guy asked her if she knew where the line for American Airlines ended. She didn’t.
“Eventually, we started walking through the airport together, just by chance, and realized we were on the same flight,” says Stacey, who, like Don, was going to the Chicago area to visit family. Turns out their flight was delayed and eventually took off without them. It wasn’t love that made them miss the flight; they didn’t clear the security line in time.
The front of Locksley Manor. All photographs by Carolyn Monastra for Christian Oth Studio.
“It was my dream wedding,” says Danielle Kazmier Bradley of her wedding to Ronald Bradley, which took place in October of last year. “It was elegant, old-world, more like a 1940s dinner party than a typical bridal affair.” All told, it was beautiful. But, let’s back up, shall we? You see, the location of this wedding, Locksley Manor, in picturesque Millwood, Virginia, wasn’t a venue they booked—it was a sprawling estate they bought.
Claiborne Guy and Sarah Stockdale steal a moment for a kiss on their wedding day. All photography by Hay McKenna Documentary Weddings.
Starting on the night of the first presidential debate of 2008 and culminating at the altar just in time for the 2012 election season, Sarah Stockdale and Claiborne Guy’s love story has unfolded like a four-year term. Sarah, 30, is the manager of policy and legislative services at the Ferguson Group, a bipartisan federal government relations consulting firm. She grew up in Derwood, Maryland, attended Gettysburg College, and moved to DC after graduation. Claiborne Guy, 34, is a public policy analyst at WorldatWork, a global HR firm. He grew up in Alexandria, attended the University of Georgia, and lived in Key West and Charlotte for several years after college before returning to Washington.
Their respective moves back landed them five houses apart on the same street in Glover Park, where Claiborne often spotted Sarah hanging out on her front porch as he walked past with his dog. They had been introduced before—they shared a handful of mutual friends—and after a number of run-ins in the grocery store and at their favorite bars, and now these sidewalk sightings, Claiborne began stopping by Sarah’s for neighborly front porch chats.
-thumb-620xauto-48410.jpg)
Jessie and Rick on their wedding day. All photographs courtesy of Muriel Silva Photography.
When Jessie, who is in high-fashion sales, spotted Rick, an investment banker, from afar one night, she had a feeling she had to meet him. However, the evening slipped away without the opportunity to say hello, so Jessie had to pass along a message to Rick via one of his friends. It did the trick. By the next morning Rick had already called to set up a date, and later that evening the two met for dinner at Masa 14. A second date at The Source quickly followed, and the couple have been nearly inseparable since. An engagement on the tennis court at Kennedy Recreation Center sealed the deal, and the couple began to focus on envisioning their elegant nuptials, which took place in April at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
