Dudley Payne and Paige Johnson at their beachside wedding ceremony in the Bahamas. Photograph courtesy of Shelia Johnson.
How does Washington royalty tie the knot? If you’re Paige Johnson, the 27-year-old daughter of BET cofounders Sheila and Bob Johnson, you do it with four days of partying at the One&Only Ocean Club on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
Reached by phone yesterday in New York City, the bride’s mother said she was “just trying to recover” from the long weekend’s extravagant celebration. The part-owner of the Washington Capitals, Wizards, and Mystics said her daughter chose the tropical destination for her nuptials because she’s “a James Bond freak” and parts of Casino Royale were shot at the Ocean Club.
Angela and Andrew at their October 20, 2012, wedding in Falls Church. All photographs courtesy of Nat Wongsaroj Photography.
The first time Andrew Woo asked Angela Pan for her phone number, following a brief encounter at a party, Angela said no. Not because she didn’t like the Bahamas-born app developer, with whom she felt an instant connection, but because she thought she was being cute by playing hard to get. “However, he didn’t think it was so cute, and he walked away,” says Angela, a landscape and nature photographer.
As fate would have it, the two ran into each other again a few months later, and by that point Angela had learned her lesson; she didn’t hesitate to share her contact information. A first date at Coastal Flats quickly blossomed into a relationship that grew over six years, until Andrew made it official with an over-the-top romantic hot air balloon proposal.
Kathleen and James at their September 1, 2012, wedding in Arlington. Photo courtesy of Dominique Fierro.
Kathleen Schneider knew that before she even thought about her wedding dress, she wanted to pick out her wedding shoes. “The dress was easy. But I wanted the shoes to be memorable and unique,” says the business developer of her seriously fashionable wedding to James Dyson Jr. on September 1, 2012.
The bride and groom met in 2008 when Kathleen was looking for a host for a music event at a local club. Even though James, now a recruiting director, turned down the hosting gig, the couple spent the next four hours talking on the phone before agreeing to meet face to face.
Ashley and Bradley at their September 29, 2012, wedding at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. All photographs courtesy of Kristen Gardner Photography.
“Harvest Moon” by Neil Young filled the room as Ashley Kircher joined G. Bradley Laken II for their first dance as a married couple. “The lounge seating by the dance floor really allowed everyone to be part of the moment, even if they weren’t dancing themselves,” says Ashley, an attorney at Seyfarth Shaw, who adds that the intimate setting was one of her favorite wedding details.
The bride and groom met during new student orientation at Georgetown University Law Center and immediately clicked. A year of dating turned into a long-distance relationship when Bradley, an attorney at Kirkland & Ellis, moved to Chicago for work. In the spring of 2011, the day before Ashley’s birthday, Bradley flew back to DC to see her and celebrate—with a surprise. “My ‘birthday gift’ was in a small box within a larger box within a larger box, and I didn’t realize what was happening until I got to the smallest box and Brad got down on one knee,” says Ashley, who three months later moved to Chicago to be with her fiancé.
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.)
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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.
