Erynn & Phil

The energy at Erynn & Phil's wedding shines through each and every one of these photos. Down to the way Erynn tells her modern love story, we feel so fortunate to have been part of this truly special day. She is radiant in HB6565 (despite the ominous weather in the forecast!) From the handcrafted details to the parade of musicians, this quaint affair at Erynn's family home in Maryland is so obviously filled with love and genuine happiness for the couple. Thank you so much to Mike Buscher for sharing it all with us. Congratulations to a wonderful bride and her new groom, we wish you a lifetime of happiness! 
Saja: How did you meet?

Erynn: Phil and I met at a mutual friend’s house after I had a particularly awful day at work. I was there to vent, so I didn’t flirt as much as I might have… but I did notice he was attractive and note it when our friend told me Phil roasted his own coffee and spoke fluent Portuguese (both pluses in my book). According to report, Phil’s crush on me that night was immediate and “huge.” That always makes me smile.  Saja: How did he/she propose?

Erynn: Phil has received some intel from a good girlfriend of mine that I had a fantasy we would get engaged and then make something (like wine) that would age until the wedding. It was also suggested that he wait for a snowy day, when we could be cozy and warm in our home looking out at the falling snow. So, during the historic blizzard in late January of this year, Phil was already prepared with the ingredients to make Viryta, a Lithuanian honey liquor his Uncle had shared with him. Though I had no idea what it was for, we made the liquor together and then he lowered the lights and invited me to the window to look outside. He said, “I have a question to ask you.”Saja: Where did the wedding take place? What made you choose there?

Erynn: We got married at my parent’s house in Maryland. I grew up in Maryland, and so did Phil’s mother (should I mention that our second date was me driving him to his grandparent’s house in Baltimore for Thanksgiving?). Getting married there would be special to me, as it was my childhood home, and nice for a lot of Phil’s extended family who still live nearby. The land there is really beautiful, and the house sleeps 20 easily, so what more could we want? We decided have the ceremony in the woods, which I thought would be beautiful, as well as nice and shady for late July wedding. My dad suggested the clearing where we had our childhood playground (complete with tree house, still standing). He designed a beautiful stone platform that seemed to just grow out of the land. Our Chuppah, made from a canopy frame that used to hang above my bed and a tablecloth made by my great grandmother, floated above our heads like magic.Saja: What was your favorite part of the day?

Erynn: The ceremony, for sure. Our flower girl was ushered in by a friend with a violin who accepted the task that morning. We came toward each other from different paths leading to the clearing, accompanied by our respective siblings friends with trumpets calling our processional music back and forth. Our officiant and our toast master were both people we are close too and they spoke beautifully. Our connection to each other was strong and present, we weren’t nervous at all. At one point, we realized we didn’t decided who would give their vows first, so we did an impromptu round of rock paper scissors to decide. Best of all, we toasted with the Viryta we had made at our engagement, just as I had dreamed of. We were paraded out by a whole mess of our guests playing a second-line style march. So many friends and family were involved, it made that part of the day extremely sweet.

Saja: Is there anything you can point out about your pictures that we might not have noticed?

Erynn: One best part that can’t really be seen is that we did all the decoration ourselves, even picked and arranged the flowers, assisted by an army of helpers that worked their tails off.

But most of all, you can’t really tell what was happening with the weather. You can see in some of the reception photos that things are pretty wet. Turned out (though we didn’t know it at the time) the wedding occurred during a torrential rainstorm that led to flash flooding all over the county. In fact, our bridge flooded, which would have stranded us with 200 house guests if my dad hadn’t built an alternate route out only a few years before. We are so thankful that all of our guests got home safely, as two people died in the county that night. One of those people was leaving the restaurant that hosted our rehearsal dinner the night before. It’s a complicated feeling, to think that this night that was so magical for us was so destructive for others nearby. We were unbelievably lucky with timing, so for us the storm just raised the intensity of the night, keeping all of our guests packed tight in the tent, dancing like crazy until the rain slowed down.

Saja: Which of the photos is your favorite? Why?

Erynn: I love so many of them, our photographer did a great job documenting the day. He seemed to be everywhere at once, and yet I barely saw him. But one I keep going back to is the one of Phil and I with our arms raised to hug each other, our mouth both wide open to say “we did it!” We were so excited in the moment!

Special thanks to Four and Twenty Black Birds (in Brooklyn) for the pies!