Real Wedding: Erin and Joseph

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.

Fans of rustic chic, Restoration Hardware served as inspiration for the couple’s October wedding. Romantic arrangements of white and green flowers surrounded the Fairmont’s Colonnade Room, and elegant compilations of glass lanterns, floating candles, and birch-covered boxes served as centerpieces. Candles, branches with twigs, and moss and greenery details added to the woodsy feel of the fairytale-like wedding.

The ceremony was personalized and warm—a family friend served as the officiant and a literal tying of the knot took place to symbolize the joyous union. “Our mothers each presented us with our individual pieces of rope that we then intertwined,” says Erin. As the married couple was first introduced at the reception, Joseph broke into Robert Griffin III’s signature “Griffining” move, delighting Erin, a die-hard Redskins fan. More sophisticated dance moves followed during the couple’s first dance to Etta James’s “At Last.”

The icing on top of the asymmetrical chocolate and vanilla floral cake was the news the couple received two weeks prior to their wedding: they would be moving to Barcelona, Spain, for Joseph’s job. So after a honeymoon in Hawaii, they packed, said their goodbyes, and embarked on their first true adventure as a married couple.