Chesapeake Bay Wedding - Spring 2021

wedding Chesapeake Bay

BUDGETING DELICACIES COUPLES

A look at some of the area’s finest wedding venues

The difference between then and now, 1981-2021

Choosing the right treats for you and your guests Inspiring weddings from around the region

Growing up around weddings, I often thought the worst part was the cleanup afterwards. And was I a part of a lot of cleanups. For as much fun as weddings were before and during, if you weren’t the two headed for lifelong bliss, you were likely headed for a change of clothes, trash bags, and a vacuum. Little did I know that such a challenge would only prove to be trivial once the pandemic happened and it was so... 2020.

In the last issue, as we spent all spring planning, we kept hoping and praying that COVID-19 would just go away. We were joined by brides and grooms in that wish. Yet, here we are, another edition later and couples are still battling the same restrictions and constraints.

Yet, love prevails! The challenges a global pandemic brings are no match for true love, something we believe pops off the pages in Chesapeake Bay Wedding. So join our couples, our venues, our advertisers, our photographers, and the CBW team as we traverse through the stormy and uninviting waters of the coronavirus. We are armed with bouquets and cameras and corsages, and we know that love will triumph over all.

We hope you enjoy these pages — or rather — what is on these pages. I am so grateful to be a part of a fantastic team that can bring you and your party the ideas and inspiration that you need to make it through the happiest day of your life.

Thank you for reading!

PRESIDENT

Jim Normandin jim.normandin@adamspg.com

PUBLISHER

Betsy Griffin bgriffin@chespub.com

EDITOR

Eli Wohlenhaus ewohlenhaus@chespub.com

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Jennifer Quinn jquinn@chespub.com

ADVERTISING

Brandon Silverstein bsilverstein@chespub.com Brook Ash bash@chespub.com

Michelle Wagner mwagner@chespub.com

William Cotter wcotter@chespub.com

CIRCULATION

Doug McAvoy dmcavoy@chespub.com

CONTRIBUTING CONTENT CREATORS

Caroline Shively Sucher, Brian Shane, Arden Haley, Laura Olson

DISTRIBUTION:

Chesapeake Bay Wedding will help couples plan their special destination wedding around the Bay.

Cecil

Kent

Queen Annes

Caroline

Talbot

Anne Arundel

Prince George’s

Calvert

Dorchester

Newark Baltimore Charles

St. Mary’s

13,000

Target dropped in high traffic locations.

3,100 home delivery inserted in the Cecil Whig.

Full list can be viewed at chesapeakebaywedding.com

52,000 emails sent to couples and bride’s mothers residing in the Washington DC and Baltimore area who have asked for information on Chesapeake Bay weddings

Eli Wohlenhaus

About the Cover

It wasn’t hard to smile gazing out from Maria’s Love Point Bed & Breakfast on Kent Island toward the calm waters of the Chester River. The water sparkled beneath a warm, sunny sky that would eventually turn soft shades of pink and orange as the sun set on the day of our spring styled shoot.

BY CANDICE SPECTOR STYLED SHOOT | PHOTOS BY IN HIS GRACE PHOTOGRAPHY LOCATION: M ARIA’S LOVE POINT, STEVENSVILLE, MD

Photographer Laura Olson worried that the natural light would fade too quickly, but she wasted not a single moment in her quest to capture Kennedy and Jenny Siaw at golden hour on the river view mansion’s east-facing lawn. The fun-loving essence of the couple shone through each frame.

“Let your face melt into my face,” Kennedy said to Jenny, smiling. He was trying to relax Jenny and make her laugh. She did. Their bodies synced as they walked the mansion grounds, from the riverside beachhead to an open air dining table that was decorated with earthy-toned blooms from local florist, Kalyn Barrow, of The Flower Shop.

Hannah Dann of Hannah Belle Events styled the table-scape and its accompanying backdrops to reflect an “elegant spring,” defined by soft, subtle and inviting hues she hand-picked to elicit a “comfortable and homey” feeling — a sort of balancing act between fancy and casual, she said.

The ambiance matched Kennedy and Jenny’s easygoing mood. The pair — their love a testament to the power of online dating — met on OkCupid in 2013 when they lived in California. They had their first date in a Starbucks coffee shop and were married exactly one year later on November 22, 2014.

One of Jenny’s biggest regrets, she said, was not getting professional photos of their wedding ceremony. “Being able to do it now was such a great experience, and to have my kids in it made it even better,” Jenny said.

The couple’s children, Ellie, 4, and KJ, 3, liked the photo shoot, too. When the tots weren’t stealing the show on camera, they were eager to play with the cooped chickens that clucked playfully nearby. They could be heard letting out spontaneous giggles and exclamations as they stopped to point out jellyfish in the river and draw with their hands in the sand.

The distractions of nature were welcomed by the family of four and helped create an undoubtedly unforgettable experience for all who played a hand in the collaborative photo shoot. Moments like these are truly the fabric of fairy tales. CBW

PLANNER & DESIGNER: Hannah Belle Events hannahbelleevents.com hello@hannahbelleevents.com

PHOTOGRAPHER: Laura Olson - In His Grace Photography inhisgracephotography.com laura@inhisgracephotography.com

FLORIST: The Flower Shop flowers4youtoday.com orders@flowers4youtoday.com

WEDDING ATTIRE: Betty’s Boutique bettysboutique12@yahoo.com

WEDDING RENTAL: Pretty Little Wedding Co. prettylittleweddingco.com missy@prettylittleweddingco.com

HAIR & MAKE UP: Jackie’s Design Hair & Skin Studio jackiedesign.com jackiesdesignstudio1@gmail.com

EMBROIDERY: Sweet C Baking Co sweetbaking.com sweetbaking@gmail.com

LOCATION: Maria’s Love Point mariaslovepoint.com info@mariaslovepoint.com

PHOTO BY IN HIS GRACE PHOTOGRAPHY

Farm to Table wedding

By Caroline Shively

Sucher |

Photos by Carina Danielle Photography

Farmer Amanda Heilman planned and prepped her October wedding down to the last detail, from growing the flowers to raising the food to handcrafting and aging the cheese for the cocktail hour.

It was the pregnant cow she didn’t plan for.

It all started when Wes Miller, Amanda’s husband-to-be, got a special wakeup call after he spent the night before the wedding in his childhood bedroom at Chesapeake Gold Farms.

“About five that morning I hear a cow grunting and I thought, ‘Ah, it sounds like you’re in trouble but maybe you’re just being fat and preggo,’” Wes recalled thinking at the North East, Md., farm. “Then after a few more minutes, I said, ‘No, you’re in trouble,’ and out I went. She did have herself in trouble. She ended up having a breech calf and needed some help.”

Amanda had helmed the wedding planning for months, but much of the day-of activities were supposed to fall on Wes’s shoulders.

“Saturday morning, I was armpit deep in a cow when I was supposed to be putting the last bits and pieces of the wedding together,” he said, laughing.

At many weddings, that could have ended in disaster. But not this one. The friends, family and wedding party are all farmers and as Wes put it, “Adapt and overcome is the way of the farming world. ‘No’ is not an acceptable answer just because you can’t do it the planned way.”

As Wes spent hours trying to help the cow move its calf into position, he said, “My brothers and the groomsmen did an awesome job pulling in all the loose ends. They did a tremendous amount of work.”

But the teamwork from their farming family and friends started many months earlier when Amanda gathered together the women who she calls her “tribe.”

“People in the farming world, in agriculture stick together. They’re there for you no matter what,” she explained. “We have so many skills because we are farmers. My maid of honor is a florist and flower farmer and so artistically talented. She’d come over and do these amazing sketches. My matron of honor is a winemaker and she’s a wedding venue owner at her family farm, so she knew all about logistics.”

Amanda, Wes and their friends turned an empty field overlooking the Susquehanna River into a wedding paradise at Mt. Ararat Farm in Cecil County, Md., where Wes’s family also raises crops and some of their cattle.

The attention to detail was remarkable and the knowhow they used to get it done, incredible. The couple and their friends grew nearly every piece of food and flower at the wedding and reception.

“For the menu, I wanted to stay seasonal. I wanted green beans and a fresh salad. I grew the beans and I wanted to grow the salad, but it was a super rainy season coming up to the wedding, so we sourced that from our neighbors. We had sliced beef from our own cow, and I grew the horseradish for a cream sauce. We molded the butter from our dairy cattle into little cows on the tables and we had a cocktail hour with a charcuterie of beef and artisanal cheese that I aged in the house.”

That’s right. In addition to being a farmer, Amanda is also a full-time cheesemaker at the University of Delaware’s UDairy Creamery.

“Right after he asked me to marry him at New Years, I started aging my Romano and Asiago cheese for the

“Our friends own Milburn Orchards, so we had fresh apple pie. I work at a creamery, so we had ice cream.”

The couple and their friends also grew everything for the decorations, bouquets and boutonnieres and made sure it all had a special University of Maryland color scheme. Amanda graduated from Maryland with an agriculture degree and wanted the colors of her wedding to reflect her alma mater.

“I wanted to have those colors of red and gold and black and white, those rich fall colors, she said. “Zinnias and dahlias were my reds, cosmos were my white. Wes grew wheat so I harvested it early on and hung it in our basement to dry. We cut and harvested alfalfa to have in my bouquet and we had wheat heads and straw flowers for the boutonnieres. Walking up the aisle we wanted milk cans filled with arrangements and I went with dried pampas grass which I took from my parents place in Ocean City, and we dried sorghum to give it a rustic look.”

Amanda also wanted to take some of their photographs in a field of sunflowers.

“I thought that might be interesting to try because I’d never grown sunflowers before,” Wes said. “I asked the photographer how many sunflowers we need for

What Wes couldn’t grow, he and his friends built.

“We literally got married in the middle of a field so Wes and his brothers and the groomsmen got together and carved the two wooden [liquor] bars and the arch to go out there,” Amanda explained.

From the rye they grew that a local distiller made into white whiskey to the pigs they raised for the sausage in the marinara sauce, every little detail was amazing on its own but put together, they showcase a way of life for a sixth-generation farmer and his wife who was born a city girl but is now a farming, cheesemaking, flower-growing farmer.

“We wanted to showcase that we’re passionate about agriculture and we’re passionate about our state and we wanted the wedding to reflect that,” Amanda said. But you might be wondering what happened to that pregnant cow that Wes almost missed his own wedding for. Well, the calf just wouldn’t cooperate, so Wes had to call a veterinarian in to do a C-section and that left him only minutes to get ready and get to the wedding.

“I literally rolled up, got showered and dressed within 15 minutes,” he said, but he smartly didn’t tell his new bride until the honeymoon.

“Nobody told me a thing about it. He didn’t tell me and we got to the wedding and no one else told me,” Amanda said with a laugh.

And the baby?

As Wes puts it, “Momma had the calf, and it’s all good.” CBW

Photo Contest Winners

Bohemia Overlook, North East, MD Madison Short Photography

Easton, MD

Ruby’s Cake Shoppe

By Caroline Shively Sucher | Photos by Arden Haley

Ruby Vanags’s specialty is saying “Yes.” Want a wedding cake that looks like a peacock with dozens of cupcakes that look like beautiful, shimmery feathers?

“Of course!”

A superhero cake with a cape? “Yes!”

Or what about a five-layer, scrumptious, one-of-a-kind wedding cake with a spray of fresh roses?

“You got it.”

How about sharing one of her cake recipes? “Oh no.”

That’s the one thing that Ruby won’t do. When you taste how good her cakes are and hear how much time and research she puts into each recipe, you’ll probably understand why. She is co-owner of Ruby’s Cake Shoppe in Easton, Maryland, along with her husband Peteris, and if a bride can dream up a cake, she and her team can make it.

“If somebody asks me, ‘Do you make this kind of cake?’ even though I don’t have a recipe, I will say ‘yes’ because it’s a challenge for me,” she says.

When coming up with a new recipe, Ruby first finds inspiration online.

“Then I need to tweak,” she says. “Sometimes there are some flavors that I combine: I omit this thing, replace it with this or that. I have to create my own thing.”

Peteris describes it this way: “She’s the Tiger Woods of baking because she makes it look so easy. She can

separate a hundred eggs practically in the blink of an eye while I try to do one and I’ve got shells everywhere… She tried her best to teach me, but I was useless, so she fired me from the back.”

That’s why Peteris is probably the person you’ll see in the front of the store while Ruby works her magic in the back with her team. While she’s the only baker in the shop, she has two designers, Deggy and Belle, plus Tatianna, who pitches in where she’s needed.

While Ruby’s cakes are remarkable, so is her story. She’s originally from the city of Iloilo, in the Philippines. She moved to Hong Kong to work as a nanny, then moved to America and married her husband in 2005 and became a U.S. citizen in 2010.

The only thing she hadn’t done along the way was bake a cake. Her baking career began almost by accident six years ago. Ruby was craving a cake that she’d tried at a shop in Ocean City, but she decided the drive was too long, so she bought a box of cake mix.

“I didn’t like the cake mix, so I went online to Google different flavors, then came across some recipes that I tried… If there was a flavor that I wanted to try, I would pull three to five recipes and I try them to find out which one was better,” she recalls.

“She’s the Tiger Woods of baking”

That’s when she started experimenting with her own flavors and sharing what she’d made with relatives and close friends.

“I thought it was just for family consumption, but when I started bringing cakes to potluck parties, everybody was crazy about it. They’d never had that type of cake before. They kept begging to order from me.”

At first, Ruby made the cakes part-time when she got home from her full-time job at a hotel, but it made for some impossibly long days.

“She was working out of our townhouse in Cambridge. We had three refrigerators in there. She would get home from working at the Hyatt at 10 or 11 at night, then work on her cakes until three or four in the morning, and then start it all over again the next day,” Peteris says.

As she slowly built up a following and a list of secret recipes, Ruby began dreaming of her own shop. “I said, ‘I think this will be my future.’ That’s why I started creating more and more flavors.”

But it took a few more years of dreaming before that future could happen. Peteris remembers, “The stars just weren’t aligned.” Then, in 2020, the pair took the leap and opened the cake shop. Today, the team makes custom cakes for birthdays, parties, and other occasions, but Ruby has a special place in her heart for wedding cakes.

“I always try my best, because a wedding cake is very

important for me. My motto is: I want the bride to be happy and have a cake that they love on their wedding day,” she says.

Ruby recently made a cake for a pastry chef who works at a top hotel in Washington, DC, who was marrying another chef. While she strives for perfection with every wedding cake, cooking for two experts in the field was intense.

“I want the bride to be happy and have a cake that they love on their wedding day”

“The cake that she ordered from me is very special, something I had not done before, so it really made me nervous,” Ruby recalls. “But she loved it.”

Peteris shares her passion, if not her baking skills. Before they opened the shop, they wondered how they could work together. “It’s interesting. A couple of close friends said husband-and-wife teams never really work out well,” he says.

But they’ve figured out a division of labor that works. She bakes, of course, while he works the register, explains the process to customers, maintains the books, and analyzes sales to see what cakes and recipes they should focus on.

If Ruby is the Tiger Woods of baking, he says, “I’m Ruby’s caddy!” CBW

EDGEMERE, MD

BY CAROLINE SHIVELY SUCHER | PHOTOS BY ARDEN HALEY

Bayfront Club

Just outside Baltimore, overlooking the blue waters of the Chesapeake Bay, the Bayfront Club is the perfect spot for a bride and groom who want to delve into the details

of their wedding or sit back and leave it to the professionals. The venue in Edgemere, Maryland, can accommodate parties as large as 300 or more intimate gatherings for just family and close friends. Brides can walk through the lush, green grass and say “I do” with the bay as a backdrop or have an indoor ceremony in a totally customizable ballroom with beautiful linens, decorations and flower arrangements perfectly adjusted to their personal style. CBW

PHOTO BY PAMELA DIGNEN-PAYNE

BRIDES CAN WALK THROUGH THE LUSH, GREEN GRASS AND SAY “I do”

WITH THE BAY AS A BACKDROP

PHOTO BY PAMELA DIGNEN-PAYNE

Wedding CheCklist

• Part 1: Find Future sPouse

• Part 2: getting started (12+ Months aWay)

Budget

Set Date & Book Venue

Theme

Book Entertainment

Guestlist draft

Appoint Wedding Party

Send Save the Dates

Book Photographer & Videographer

Book Officiant

Book Caterer

Pull out that Pinterest Wedding

Dress board and start thinking

• Part 3: Chill tiMe (9+ Months aWay)

Book Transportation

Find the Perfect Florist

Wedding Insurance

Have your “Yes” Dress

Moment & order it

• Part 4: still Chill (6+ Months aWay)

Book any Extra Entertainment

Order Wedding Cake

Wedding Party’s Outfits

Favors & Stationary

Send Invitations & Gift List

Book Honeymoon

Test and Book Hair & Make-up

Wedding Night Accommodations

Make sure to get the time off of work

Any Outfit Extras

• Part 5: Worries Begone! (3+ Months aWay)

Wedding Rings

Order of the Service

Food Tasting & Finalize Menu

Passports Valid (if needed)

• Part 6: staying CalM (2+ Months aWay)

Practice in shoes & Break In

Final Dress Fittings

First Dance Song

Special Songs

Wedding Party Gifts

Guestbook

• Part 7:Where’s the rosÉ ? (1+ Month aWay)

Speeches & Vows

Entertainment in order

• Part 8: alMost there! (1 Week aWay)

Speeches & Vows

Entertainment in order

Witnesses

Finalize Seating Plan

Witnesses

Finalize Seating Plan

• you Made it! the Big day!

Pick Up Flowers & Cake

Hair & Makeup

Get Dressed

Walk Down the aisle!

1981 2021Wedding costs: to

BY CAROLINE SHIVELY SUCHER | PHOTOS COURTESY OF CONNOLLY FAMILY

Ifyou look at the photos, you can see so many similarities between Charles and Mollie Connolly’s wedding in 1981 and their daughter Keegan’s 36 years later – beautiful brides, similar sized wedding parties, and receptions at the Easton Elks Lodge.

The big difference? The price.

“You do have a little sticker shock,” Charles says.

He doesn’t know much about weddings, but as an accountant Charles knows a lot about budgets. That knowledge, some creativity and attention to details meant Keegan and husband Pat Fetherman were able to have their dream wedding.

They think you can too.

If you’re getting married this year or next, your head may be filled with visions of dresses and flowers and honeymoons, but Charles advises, there’s another thing to add to those dreams: spreadsheets.

“Look at what are the really important things about the wedding,” Charles says. “The costly little things that might get you trapped can sneak up on you really quickly.”

Anne Marie Ferdinando, member outreach manager at Navy Federal Credit Union, agrees. She tells her clients, “Your wedding is personal so make sure your spending accommodates the things that matter most to you on your big day.”

That’s exactly what the Connolly’s did.

“We came up with a number that we were all comfortable with, then said, ‘Let’s look at the big-ticket items first, the gown, the photographer and the venue.”

Charles and Mollie found that a lot had changed between 1981 and 2017.

Mollie’s gown in 1981 cost about $200. Keegan’s was $1,200, but even that was a bargain. She shopped around until she found a boutique that sold never-worn dresses for steep discounts. Even though her gown was six times the price of her mother’s, it had originally been priced at $12,000.

The 2017 reception, held at the same spot in Easton, Maryland, also saw a hefty price increase over nearly four decades. “I think theirs was $22 per person and ours was about $5 per person,” Charles recalls.

Then there was the wedding cake.

“My wife and I had a cake made by a local person. I think ours was $100 or $150 and my daughter’s cake was around $800. Things have gone up in price exponentially but you’re looking at a 40-years-time difference,” he says.

Tuxedos have also jumped in price.

“The tuxedos 40 years ago, rental was probably $30 per person including the shoes and everything,” Charles remembers.

According to Savvi Formalwear, a tux rental today will cost an average of $135. That’s four and a half times as much as Charles paid in 1981. High-end designer rentals will be closer to $185, but menswear is actually a place where grooms have gotten creative. Keegan’s husband Pat and his groomsmen were all members of the military or police, so they wore their uniforms for the big day. Charles himself just wore a black suit with a black tie.

PHOTOS BY TONY J PHOTOGRAPHY

Entertainment is another expense that can eat up ten percent of your budget. But it doesn’t have to.

Pat had a friend who was a DJ, so instead of giving a wedding present, he donated his services for the big day, saving them hundreds or perhaps thousands of dollars. That’s an opportunity that more and more couples are finding.

Anne Marie with Navy Federal says, “It’s becoming more common to ask guests to chip in on things like a dog sitter for the ceremony or other items that might help make your day more affordable and manageable.”

While chipping away at the costs is a great money-saver, Anne Marie and Navy Federal advise that to keep track of the entire budget, you create a designated savings account for your wedding, separate from your other personal accounts. That way, you can easily track your progress and make automatic deposits. If your account is solely designated for the wedding, it’s easier to notice if the balance is going down too quickly, so you know to slow your spending or adjust your plan.

There might be one big expense that you can put off until well after the wedding. Keegan and Pat waited until a year after they said, “I do” to take a honeymoon.

“Everything was just so rushed and crowded because of the wedding and the presents and moving in and stuff like that so they waited a year and it just seemed to work,” Charles says.

You can also break your savings goal down into segments, so the total cost doesn’t overwhelm you. You should have enough in the account if you’ve done our homework, researched vendors and figured out your priorities.

“Overspending often comes from an unrealistic budget,” Anne Marie says.

Another tip from Navy Federal - don’t forget about adding in extra funds to account for any unexpected costs or fees. That bargain tent rental company might go out of business or your future mother-in-law may decide that she needs to invite all her second cousins to the reception.

Charles warns that there’s another hidden cost, but this one you won’t find in your bank account.

“Remember your time is involved as well. All the time you put in going to different places, looking at different things, shopping for the wedding dress, the time driving around and the gas mileage. Those are hidden costs that you don’t really see.”

While the accountant in him tends to look at those costs, as the father of the bride, he has a different point of view. “It’s about the groom and the bride, and you just are so happy for them and to be a part of their day.”

He hopes you remember that even as you struggle with spreadsheets, priorities and planning, there are more important things to focus on — the people standing at the altar.

Charles thinks the world of his daughter and he says, “I could not have picked a better son in law if I had made him myself.”

PHOTOS BY TONY J PHOTOGRAPHY

CBW

Breakdown of Wedding costs:

BY NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

Reception: 48-50% of your budget

Ceremony: 2-3% of your budget

Attire: 8-10% of your budget

Flowers: 8-10% of your budget

Entertainment: 8-10% of your budget

Photography/Videography: 10-12% of your budget

Stationery: 2-3% of your budget

Wedding rings: 2-3% of your budget

Parking/Transportation: 2-3% of your budget

Gifts: 2-3% of your budget

Miscellaneous: 8% of your budget

Wedding Mix

The STory of DJ STeve MooDy

PHOTOS BY LAURA OLSON - IN HIS GRACE PHOTOGRAPHY

When I was a kid – I was like, 14 – I saw this DJ at a youth group dance. And I thought, “Oh my gosh, that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” And so, I went home and I told my grandfather: I want to play music. And he’s like, “You don’t even play an instrument.” I said, “No no no, I want to be a DJ.” He was like, “That’s ridiculous.”

Weeks went by. Finally, one day after school, he grabbed me and he said, “Are you still thinking you want to do this music thing?” I say yeah. And he said, “Get in the car.” We went to the bank; he took out a couple hundred dollars. We had a local music store up in Baltimore called Gordon Miller Music. That was the place to go. It was probably the size of a Best Buy. It was all working musicians and DJs and band members that worked there during the week, then they would gig on the weekends. That’s where we went to get equipment. I got a very small rig to get started.

Through high school, I did high school dances and parties for friends. Do you remember Rock & Bowl, at the bowling alleys, where they would turn the lights off? I had a regular weekly gig of Rock & Bowl. I started that in 11th grade and I did Saturday nights on Harford Road at the duckpin lanes. That was my first-ever weekly thing.

I grew up in Rosedale. When I met my wife, she lived here on the Eastern Shore, and I just, I was at a crossroads in my life. I wasn’t sure where I was going or what I was doing. There was no full-time DJ service locally here on the Eastern Shore. I thought, we’ll give it a try, so I moved over here.

This has always been the full-time job. Radio was kind of like a secondary income, to get my name out. When I first started radio, I was still in Baltimore at WPOC, the country station out there. That was right out of college. I was in the right place at the right time. I did an internship

there and they hired me to go on the air. I graduated in December and was on the air Christmas night. Lori and I got married and moved to the Eastern Shore. I had never even heard of WCEI before moving to Easton. I came in and did part-time for about a month. Then they put me on the morning show. I did that for about three years. At that same time, this business took off. It got to be too much, doing the mornings and the nights every day, you know? We knew we were going to have a family. My wife said, “you need to decide, it’s got to be one or the other.”

I never thought about making a big company. I was always about doing it on my own, just because I knew the way I wanted things done. And I thought, if I hire somebody, they’re not going to do my thing the way that I do it, and I’m going to get a bad reputation. I never

Life of Steve Moody, as told to writer Brian Shane

thought about bringing anybody else in. For years, if I was already booked, somebody would call me and ask for a DJ. I would say, try DJ Company XYZ, they’re very good, very reputable. The couple would call me back and say, “They were good, but they didn’t do things the way you did.”

My wife and I started going to all these different conferences and DJ conventions. We had no idea that they even offered these things. But just like any other industry, there’s local industry magazines and conventions and conferences. So, we started to go. One of the guys that spoke said, “When you get older, what are you going to do? Most young people don’t want someone their dad’s or their grandparent’s age DJing their wedding.” He said, if you decide to expand and actually hire staff, (then) have a training program, have a manual. That way you’re always sending out the same brand, not just subcontracting someone to show up and do it their way. That’s the direction that we took.

So that was the thought: bring people in, train them to do what I do, in the way that I do it. That’s when all the local venues began to refer us, because they understood things were going to be done the same way, and we were going to do the same planning process with the couples, do the same behind-the-scenes.

It took almost two years before I had my first team together. I just wanted it done right. Lori and I own all the sound and lighting equipment, and then we find people, and we bring them in. Most of the guys will work as an assistant for the entire season; they’ve done 80-90 weddings as an assistant before they’ll go out and do one on their own. Most of the folks we bring in that work with us are just graduating from high school, going into college, and we try to help them on their path. That’s a really big part of what we do. Anybody that comes to us, if they come in and they’re looking for a job, pretty much anybody we would hire as an assistant, to see if they had – not necessarily the talent, but the drive to want to be better.

The staff we have now has been with us for several years. There’s 22 of us total. They’re family. I would trust them with my kids. We spend a lot of time together. New folks that come in, before they can do anything else, they have to train with me for an entire season. And so, I know them inside and out. We’re driving from here to Ocean City, or here to Virginia Beach, or wherever. You spend so much time together in the car getting to know each other. If it’s not somebody I feel fits with the company mentality that we have, then I don’t want to keep them on.

And there’s been some phenomenal DJs that we’ve

hired over the years, but maybe not necessarily the best wedding DJ. Some guys are great at playing music and keeping the party going. But with weddings, it’s also about logistically what’s going on behind-the-scenes: are you doing all the things you’re supposed to be doing?

Are you playing the specific requests of the bride and groom? Were you there, on time, dressed and ready to go before the guests get there? It’s not just being the DJ at the event, but how you worked with (the couple) behind the scenes. There’s so much extra that goes on that people just don’t understand, until it’s their wedding.

I grew up in theater and on stage. Every time you do a show, it has to be like the very first time. When I train our guys, I keep telling them, it doesn’t matter that it’s your third wedding this weekend – this is their only wedding. And so, when you say these things – though you know what you’re going to say – it has to sound like it’s the very first time you’ve ever said it and that you’re very excited to say it. It’s got to be positive or you shouldn’t be in this business. It’s different. Different than a birthday party, or a crab feast, or a bull roast. This is somebody’s wedding day, and if you are not one thousand percent invested in it, they should have (hired) somebody else.

My very first wedding I did, my planning form was only two pages long. It was just the names of the wedding party and 10 or 12 requests. Our planning form now is probably 12-14 pages long, if you printed it all out, but it asks questions that other folks don’t take the time to ask, because I really want to know the couples. So, when we do special things like the first dance, we find out, well, why is this song important to you? Rather than just say, “Ladies and gentlemen, the bride will now dance with her dad” – which everybody says at every wedding – we can say, “Family and friends, Jessica chose this song, because when she was a child, her dad used to come in and sing this to her every night before she went to bed. That is one of her favorite memories. So please welcome her and her very proud father to the center of the dance floor.” It’s the little teeny things we can add in through the night, and all those little things add up to be something big. It’s like, you want to see the dad’s eyes fill up when he walks out. You want people to say, “I’ve never been to a wedding like this before, it’s very personal.”

If something goes wrong, people look at us; we’re the ones working behind the scenes with everybody, the photographer, the videographer. Let’s say it’s time to cut the cake. I’ve been to weddings where the DJ just makes the announcement, and you stand there forever, because someone forgot to put a knife or plate there, or the bride’s father had to go to the bathroom, and you’re waiting and you’re waiting. On our end, we go out as a team of two. I’ve got someone who’s always on the music,

“It’s not just being the DJ at the event, but how you worked with the couple behind the scenes.”

so I can walk out, and make sure all the people who are supposed to be there are present. And I walk over to the cake table, and make sure there’s a knife and a plate and a napkin, and make sure all those little extras are done, so that it’s a very smooth transition. I think that’s one of the biggest problems with weddings – they stop and start, and they stop and start. We can make sure things are done correctly and smooth.

When Lori and I got married, we’d hired people and then almost a year went by. And I’m like, I haven’t heard from them – are they alive? Is their company still open? We stay in touch with (clients) throughout. We have a series of emails that go out automatically for couples with planning tips. By the time the wedding rolls around, they feel like they’re working with – obviously, you know, they’ve hired us – a friend, too. So, it’s not like there’s some stranger showing up, but that we have a relationship with you. It’s very seasonal, what we do. The months of January, February, March? We’re pretty dead. Those winter months, that’s where we’re out promoting ourselves. We might do 10-15 bridal shows a year, and you’re in a convention center, and you’re handing out paraphernalia. Once the wedding season starts, we generally do eight to 12 weddings a weekend. There’s just thousands of weddings that go on here, and people have no idea how big or how many. Any given Saturday there’s almost 1,000 weddings going on during wedding season in our state. It’s huge, huge business. And so many people are employed. All the staff at the venue, and all the people that are photographers and videographers, and waitstaff and caterers. It’s unbelievable.

I’ve done close to 2,500 weddings now. Everyone does it differently, but we all celebrate the same. No matter whether the couple is younger or older, whatever nationality they are, they’re looking for the same things to happen emotionally at their wedding. We want to “wow” from the beginning. Anybody at the end of the night can get a drunk crowd to dance for the last half-hour. We want people to come up and say, “oh my God, I’ve never been to anything like this.”

The Eastern Shore is huge for weddings. They’re always listed among the Top 10 wedding destinations in the country, here on the Eastern Shore, the waterfront properties. They just get bigger and bigger. I think the Internet has a lot to do with it, because people are now able to see what other people do through YouTube and Snapchat and Instagram. Everybody sees what other people are doing, and they say, “oh, I want that.” It’s because people are able to see so many more things that they weren’t able to see before. That has been a huge part of why it is so involved now.

My gosh, back when I first started in the late 80s, early 90s, I could do two weddings in a day. We would do noon to four, then eight to twelve. But now everybody gets married at a specific property, so it’s a full-day event to go out and do somebody’s wedding; I usually end up putting 12 hours into that day. You have to give yourself a few hours to set up. Years ago, people would get married at the church and just showed up at the venue for the reception only.

These past couple of years, almost everything is just totally done through the Internet. Before, everybody before wanted to come in and meet, and talk about their weddings. Now everything’s either over Zoom – and, my gosh, we have some couples I never even meet until the day of the wedding. Some of them I’ve never even spoken too. They’re just texts and e-mails. You think, my gosh, you’re spending all this money with us, but this Millennial generation of brides and grooms is just very different from every other generation that we’ve had. Before, people would come in, make an appointment, they’d sit down, we talk. They mull it over, then maybe they’d call again. Now it’s nothing like that. Seems like the only time people do come to the office is if they have a parent that wants to meet.

Their mindset is just very, very different from the clients we’ve had in the past. Very short, quick, to the point. They just want the specifics, to get down to business. They want to see that you’ve not only got a good reputation within the industry, but they want to see that you’ve got a ton of (online) reviews. They want to see what other couples have said about you. That’s why we have so many videos on our website. Each of the DJs, when you click on their pages, there’s a video of them speaking so the bride can see them.

About a year and a half ago, I went to a seminar (titled) “How To Work With the Millennial Generation.” The guy said, if you don’t bend, you’re going to break. You’re going to fall by the wayside. You’re going to wind up out of business. If you can’t learn to talk by text, if you can’t communicate through Instagram or Twitter, if you can’t do it, you’re not going to be around five years from now. Nobody’s opening up a phone book to look for a DJ anymore. If your website’s not phone-friendly, your website’s no good. I look at my kids, they’re just always on that cell phone.

It’s very much a family business. Lori does all the payroll. She schedules all the sound equipment and lighting equipment and the photo booths. She’s the

liaison between the venues and us. She got her travel agent’s license to help folks with their honeymoon. I’ve got two of my nephews and two of my nieces who work with us, too.

I’m very invested in it emotionally. As a father, every time a bride dances with her dad, I see me dancing with my daughter. Every time. It fills me up. My daughter’s 15 and my son’s 12. They want to be in the business. My son is more on the business end behind-the-scenes. My daughter’s always been an entertainer at heart. I’m sure within a couple years she’ll be one of our mostrequested DJs. Taylor’s been, she probably did her first ever with me, when she was 6 years old. We DJ’d a daddy-daughter dance together. She’s been doing it almost 10 years now, just helping with those kinds of things, smaller events, never a wedding yet.

I really do love what I do. Some people say they love their job, but I really do. This job has allowed me to do something I really enjoy, make a living, take care of my family, and build a great reputation. We’ve got a good reputation, I love what I do, and I’m able to provide for the family. People know our family name and that, I think, is the most important thing to me. CBW

PHOTO BY LAURA’S FOCUS

COURTESY PHOTO

St. Ignatius Port Tobacco, MD

By Caroline Shively Sucher

Photos by Michael Montillo Photo, www.montillophoto.com

For brides who want a sense of beauty and history for their wedding, there is no better place than St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Port Tobacco, Maryland. Founded in 1641, it is the oldest Catholic parish in continuous service in the entire United States. The church was started by Jesuit priests who sailed from England to help found a colony that permitted freedom of religion. Only Catholics are allowed to get married here, and the majority of them are church members. Those who have attended an old-fashioned wedding at the church know to look to the west to catch the gorgeous sunsets as they bathe Port Tobacco in pink and gold, the same inspiring view seen by those early settlers 380 years ago. CBW

“Look to the west to catch the gorgeous sunsets as they bathe Port Tobacco in pink and gold.”

“The same inspiring view seen by those early settlers 380 years ago.”

Let

Whether it’s in the salon, or at your wedding destination, we will take care of you, and

•Formal Styling

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Visit our website for alist of fu se ces

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located

The Club offers beautiful views of the river and our per fectly manicured golf course, along with alarge ballroom that can accommodate 130 guests for aseated reception. From cuisine and coordination with local vendors, our staff provides unparalleled expertise to couples planning their dream wedding.

Images Salon and Spa

beautiful venue

on the banks of the scenic Chester River

Photo by Meg Dixon

Photos by Erin Wheeler

Warner Quin & Andy

loCation: Kirkland Manor, St. Micheals, MD tidewaterwedding.com/kirland-manor

planner: Adriana Marie Events adrianamarieevents.com

pHotograpHer: Rachel May Photography rachel-may.com

Floral and design: Sophie Felts Floral Design - sophiefelts.com

Cake: Jisoo Cake Design - yoourcake.com

Hair & Make up: Amie Decker Beauty - amiedeckerbeauty.com

rentals: Eastern Shore Tents & Events - estents.com White Glove Rentals - whiteglove-rentals.com

“Andy is a graduate of the Naval Academy and Quin grew up on the Eastern Shore, both now residing in Easton. The Miles River holds a special place in their hearts. So much love and joy in their favorite place and the home to which they will create a family and life together!”

Floral and design: Wildy Native Flower Farm - wildlynative.com

Hair: Cut Loose Salon

Make up: Flow Salon - flowsalonspacom

dJ: DJ Jimmy T - djjimmyt.com

NolanRachel & Dave

loCation: Bohemia Overlook, North East, MD bohemiaoverlook.com

planner: Marta Kastner affairextraordinairebymarta.com

pHotograpHer: Madison Short Photography madisonrshort.com

“My husband and I are high school sweethearts. We started dating in the 10th grade at Kent County High School in 2009. In September 2019, after we bought a house together. He asked the question and I said YES!!”

Jillian & Hunter

Rowe

loCation: Calvert Marine Museum calvertmarinemuseum.com

planner & designer: The Hitched Co. www.TheHitchedCo.com heather@thehitchedco.com

pHotograpHer: Birds of a Feather Photography birdsofafeatherphotos.com

Floral and design: Bee Inspired - beeinspiredevents.com

Hair and Make up: Miranda Paige Beauty - mirandapaigebeauty.com

Cake:

Buttercream - buttercreamdc.com

Bar:

BYOBar-Back - byobarback.com

Wedding dress and tuxedo: Serendipity - serendipitybridalandevents.com

Catering: Those Grazy Girls - thosegrazygirls.com

rentals:

Bailey’s - baileyspartyrentals.com

linens and CHargers: Nuage - nuagedesigns.com

PHOTOS BY NIKKI SHAW PHOTOGRAPHY

Frank and I got engaged in Barcelona in August of 2019 and started planning our wedding at the end of the year. We glanced over the calendar and there it was — the coolest date of the year — 10.10.2020! Soon thereafter, we learned that this was a popular date since most of the venues we contacted were already booked.

With that said, neither of us like taking no for an answer, so we did not give up. After contacting Hyatt Chesapeake Regency Resort in Cambridge, Md., we learned that one of their venues was still available for our date. Since we were not planning a big party in the first place, a venue for 60 people was just perfect! After going on the tour, seeing the beautiful views of the Choptank River and all the gorgeous amenities Hyatt had to offer, we knew we did not want to look any further!

As COVID hit in March 2020, right after we had our tasting at the Hyatt, we were not extremely concerned, as our wedding date was still six months away. We decided to stick to the plan until we were told that it would have to change. As October approached, some restrictions were eased and we were able to have a 60-person wedding with an outside, Catholic ceremony and a reception in one of the ballrooms that had become available at the Hyatt.

I remember looking at our beautifully decorated ballroom and the Grand Fireplace hours before our wedding and thinking how fortunate we were to be able to share our special day with our family and friends; and most importantly, my lovely parents were brave enough to come all the way from Ukraine to be here for us. Their speech left a lot of guests, and us, feeling very emotional (which is saying something because English is not their first language).

I know many couples planning their wedding in 2020 were not as fortunate as us. It hurts to put so much time and effort into your special day, and being forced to cancel all your plans. Some couples had to reschedule their weddings multiple times, and the pandemic overall has had some negative impacts on human relationships all over the world. There are a lot of things we cannot control; but what we can do is value our loved ones, appreciate what we have, and what took a long time to build.

My advice to all the couples planning their big day would be to stay strong and never give up on your love!

Gunsallus, Multimedia Account Executive for APG Media

Iryna

of Chesapeake and 2020 bride.

Stay strong and never give up on your love!

Your Perfect Southern Maryland Wedding Venue

Rehearsal Dinners Wedding Ceremonies & Receptions

Under New Ownership & Renovation Site Visits Available!

Come see our beautiful new clubhouse, pool, and golf improvements

Located only minutes from National Harbor and only 20 minutes from Alexandria and

Washington DC, National Golf Club is the perfect venue for the wedding of your dreams. Whether you are planning a bridal shower for 30 or a wedding for 200 guests, the Club's professional staff will assist you with every detail to make it memorable. Surrounded by rolling hills and spectacular views of the golf course, National features a beautiful outdoor ceremony site and an elegant Grand Ballroom. The formal Dining Room offers an intimate setting for bridal events and cocktail hours for up to 80 guests. A complimentary bridal suite is available for you and your bridal party for all weddings. Schedules will be in flux during the Coronavirus situation. Check our website for updates.

Christine

301.292.1100

Kuhn

- Director of Catering

300 Saint Andrews Dr Fort Washington, MD, MD 20744

nationalgolfclubusa.com/weddings

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