Torrential Rain Interrupted This Blue and White Wedding in the Virginia Countryside

Two years after Sarah, from Middleburg, and Jon, from North Carolina, were introduced by mutual friends, Jon proposed at Sarah’s 30 birthday dinner on a group trip to Costa Rica. Though he’d stood up to make a toast, Jon had to switch gears when he realized the space was too loud for anyone to hear him. Instead, he knelt down, said “we’re going to keep this private,” and asked Sarah to marry him.

At their September wedding, they had to switch gears again when gust of wind and rain moved in on their outdoor affair, flipping cocktail tables into the pool and forcing their ceremony into the tent. (“To hell with Alanis Morissette’s lyrics of rain on your wedding day,” says Jon, “but we made it the best situation we could and ended up better than we could have dreamed.”) The resilience to overcome the day’s challenges ended up being Jon’s favorite part. For Sarah, it was the way their family and community contributed: the homes where they got ready and married belonged to family friends, as did the getaway car; the maid of honor made the chuppah; Sarah’s seventh grade english teacher officially married them during the rehearsal and her cousin presided over the ceremony. For decor, they used Sarah’s late grandmother’s collection of blue and white vases, plus a whopping 27 disco balls that hung over the dance floor and makeshift ceremony spot. In all, they described the day as “unexpected, chaotic, resilient, and perfect.” See the photos of their big day below.

The Details

Amy Moeller

Fashion & Weddings Editor

Amy leads Washingtonian Weddings and writes Style Setters for Washingtonian. Prior to joining Washingtonian in March 2016, she was the editor of Capitol File magazine in DC and before that, editor of What’s Up? Weddings in Annapolis.