Caroline in Alexandra Grecco for her Coastal Inspired Wedding

Caroline and Julien married at The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Maryland, a place surrounded by water, sailing boats and that soft coastal light that makes everything feel a little slower and more beautiful. Their wedding drew on the textures and tones of the shore; pale blues, sea greens, woven rattan and wood – creating an atmosphere that felt relaxed and refined.

The museum, set in the heart of St Michaels, holds a special place in Caroline’s family story. Her parents were married in the same town over thirty years ago, so it felt fitting to gather everyone there again for a spring celebration by the water. Guests spent the weekend exploring the harbour, wandering through the historic buildings and enjoying the calm of the Eastern Shore.

Caroline wore the Harriet gown by Alexandra Grecco, a simple, sculptural design that suited the setting perfectly. Lauren Corrigan brought together the planning with her signature attention to detail. Talented photographer Rachel Fairfoxes documented the day with a light, intuitive touch that captured the gentle breeze, laughter and easy rhythm of this beautiful day. Enjoy!

This location is very meaningful to us because my family is from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and my parents got married in St. Michaels 32 years ago.

The town reminds me of the summers of my childhood and spending time with grandparents and cousins. We thought it was the perfect place to spend an early spring weekend and were excited to host our friends and family in this special place to show them the magic of the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

We worked with wedding planner Lauren Corrigan. Lauren is a seasoned wedding planner who was incredible to work with. She has excellent taste and helped us craft our vision and then bring it to life. She was professional throughout, engaged us as much as we wanted, and knew how to direct a team of vendors. Our wedding went off without a hitch, and we know she did a lot behind the scenes to make that happen. We’d 1000% recommend Lauren to anyone getting married in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Our close friend Andi officiated our ceremony. She was one of Julien’s roommates when I first met him and we spent a lot of time together early on in our relationship (during COVID lockdowns).

She had been lobbying us for a while to officiate our wedding and she did an amazing job crafting a ceremony that felt crafted so perfectly for us.

We each wrote our own vows. This was something that felt important for us to include in our ceremony because we love the idea of a wedding being a moment of emotional vulnerability where you are making promises to one another with your community as your witness.

It feels all the more meaningful if those promises pull in specific parts of our own personalities and lifestyles. I was very nervous to read mine in front of all our friends and family but I am so glad Julien pushed us to include this component in our ceremony.

We had several readings read by different family members as a part of the ceremony.  Julien’s sister Maya read ‘What is the Greatest Gift?’. by Mary Oliver. Julien’s sister Elle read a portion of ‘On Marriage’, from The Prophet byKhalil Gibran. My mom read a poem she wrote herself for the occasion. And a very special touch was that my brother Conor and Julien’s sister Ava performed “When I’m 64” by the Beatles. Conor played guitar and they both sang.

Julien wore a made-to-measure double-breasted suit made with the Bower Royal Deep Purple Sharkskin suiting fabric from Alton Lane. He went back and forth on whether to wear a purple suit, but we’re so happy he chose it! It had a lot of personality, matched our color palette perfectly, and he got a lot of compliments.

His silver tie was a thrifted Stafford silk tie and his shoes and belt were from Morjas. He wore a necklace and bracelet from Lebanon that he inherited from his father, tarnished silver cuff links with a traditional Incan design inherited from his great-grandfather, and a mechanical watch from Nomos.

My rings are from KATKIM. Julien picked out my engagement ring. I love the full bezel and its low profile. It feels very “me.”

For the wedding band we opted for a complimentary white gold band that was custom made by KATKIM to match the shape of the engagement ring.

For Julien’s ring we worked with Dejan Studio Jewelry, an independent artist in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

The ring has an inset diamond inherited from his great-great-grandmother and has a hand-hammered finish.

Our first date was over a morning coffee at a coffee shop in Washington, DC. I was a little nervous because I had never been on a first date that started before 5 pm before. I remember learning that Julien had three younger sisters, which I thought was a huge green flag because he is obviously comfortable around groups of women. 

We got engaged about 4 and a half years after we met. Julien proposed to me in the same coffee shop where we had our first date. He brought me there on our way to dinner and said we needed to stop in really quickly. When we went inside I saw the table where we sat on our first date decorated with flowers. He had shut the entire coffee shop down because I wanted our engagement to be private. It was just us and the barista who was making us each a cup of coffee when we came in. He asked me to marry him and I said “of course!”. 

We were engaged for a year before our wedding day. 

We worked with Barb and Skye at Wanton Poppies. They did an amazing job putting together arrangements that could be used in multiple places throughout the venue as the night went on.

The mixture of different vessels (ceramic, terracotta, and woven baskets) created a laid back and organic feeling.

I loved the potted herbs that were added to the tablescapes and all the different colours and types of flowers that they incorporated.

I think everything came out looking cohesive but not matchy-matchy or too structured.

We got our cake from Ruby’s Cake Shoppe in Easton, Maryland. I walked in and showed Ruby an inspiration picture about four weeks prior and she executed it perfectly.

It was lemon flavoured and delicious!

Our caterers were Chesapeake Chefs. We would HIGHLY recommend them for anyone getting married in the Mid-Atlantic region. They were exceptional.

Our stationery was by Melissa at Tankerville Press. She worked with us and our planner Lauren on the custom designs. She’s an independent small printer based in the UK and was awesome to work with!

Jacob at District Remix. We would highly recommend District Remix!! Jacob is a seasoned DJ who took a playlist we shared with him and created a custom set list. He kept the party going from the beginning to the end. The dancefloor was fully packed and high energy from beginning to end and our friends and family were “fighting for plank.”

Our first dance was to ‘Dog Years’, by Maggie Rogers. I have loved this song for years and to me it feels like a reminder to live in the moment and enjoy your life as it is passing by because everything happens so fast. It also has themes of enduring love and support and it felt like the perfect choice for us.

Maggie Rogers is also from the Eastern Shore of Maryland close to where we got married so I liked that connection as well.

The only thing I would have done differently if I could go back in time would be to feel less nervous the morning of the wedding. I was very nervous to walk down the aisle and read my vows in front of everyone. But as soon as I walked out and saw all our guest’s familiar faces, I was not nervous at all anymore. I just wish I hadn’t spent that morning feeling so on edge. Julien regrets that he was having so much fun on the dance floor that he didn’t get to try the desserts.

Our biggest piece of advice: planning a wedding takes a lot of decisionmaking, and for many decisions, you’ll have many options. We highly recommend that once you find something that you like, stop there! Otherwise you might get stuck on a treadmill of always looking for the next best thing.

Second: Pick the vendors that align with your tastes, give them the guidance they need at the beginning, and let them do their thing.

Third: do NOT forget to thank the vendors! At the beginning of our reception we said a few words to welcome everyone and to thank each vendor individually. We were surprised that several of the vendors told us it doesn’t happen often and that they really appreciated the recognition and gratitude.

Fourth: If you can, don’t get stressed! It’s a big and important day but what makes it perfect is not sweating the details and enjoying the day with your significant other and the people you love.

Fifth: throughout the day, we recommend pausing, taking a deep breath, looking around, and trying to absorb as much as possible through all your senses to take a “mental picture.” Those are the memories you’ll carry with you forever!

Finally: On our honeymoon, at every meal, we recited all the things we could remember from our wedding into voice notes, which our iPhones automatically transcribe.

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