Real Weddings
Elena and David’s Fearrington Wedding
How did you and your partner meet?
David and I met in 2015 at a house party of a mutual friend in Washington, DC. We became friendly, inviting each other to birthday parties, dinners in the city, rooftop cookouts, and yoga classes, but nothing romantic at that time. Before our relationship could develop into anything more, it was September 2016 and I had just accepted a new role and moved to NYC.
Even though we were in different cities, our conversations became more and more consistent and our friendship began to shift from the friend zone to something more. Things took a marked turn when David surprised me by showing up at the finish line of one of one of my races. He took me to coffee, lunch…then a movie…then cocktails…and we ended the evening by sharing our first kiss overlooking the Hudson river.
The next 17 months were sponsored by Amtrak, MegaBus, Delta, American, and United (in a pinch). These all-too-short weekends together were filled with new restaurants, new friends, trips abroad, long conversations, introducing David to Broadway and David introducing me to NBA marathons, and how to navigate his food allergies. In hindsight, it was a beautiful chapter where saying goodbye on Sundays was the worst part.
We closed that distance gap in Fall 2018 when I moved back to DC for a brief stint before taking the real plunge and setting out across the country to Seattle, Washington. Life together on the West Coast is exceptional. A year defined by an all new set of adventures and successes. We laugh, cook, hike, dance, explore, binge-watch TV shows, and can’t get enough of each other.
Tell us about the engagement.
David planned a blowout celebration for my first West Coast birthday… or so it seemed…
We took a weekend trip to Los Angeles to escape the cold and stayed at La Terranea resort in Palos Verdes. David was being unusually anxious throughout the planning process – not letting me make dinner reservations and being generally vague about why. He thought he was being pretty sly, but I knew something was up, and even wrote in my agenda book that I thought David was going to pop the question. (As a somewhat type-A lady, I felt it was important to have evidence of before-the-fact 🙂
After a spa morning and healthy lunch by the pool, David had a scheduled private “nature walk” along the coastline. At the most beautiful spot overlooking the Pacific Ocean, he asked me to marry him with the ring that his father had used to ask his mother the same question, over 30 years ago.
David’s move was untraditional – he opened the ring box, looked at me and said “eh!?” I cried, said yes, and here we are.
What made Fearrington the place for you to say “I do?”
David and I had planned not one, but two big weddings that had to shift and ultimately cancel during COVID-19. After cancelling the second wedding, we were exhausted by the planning process all together, and had resigned to wait out the pandemic until whenever it ended.We were home to NC to see family in November and stopped in Fearrington Village to get pizza from Roost Beer Garden. The restaurant was closed that day, but we immediately noted the magical quality of Fearrington Village and began to entertain new ideas of a family-only micro-wedding on the grounds.
Those new ideas turned into an absolutely magical day on March 12th when we tied the knot surrounded by our immediate family.
Describe the highlight moment of your wedding day.
The whole day was wonderful but two moments stood out:
The morning of the wedding, I went for a solo run around the Fearrington grounds. It was sunny and warm and I remember feeling a deep sense of excitement, calm, and joy knowing that the next time I went for a run I’d be a married woman! I ran by gorgeous animals all over my run and each one felt like it was silently cheering me on, however silly that may sound 🙂
Another highlight moment was our Yichud, which is a Jewish ritual where the newly married couple spends a few moments in isolation after the ceremony and before any festivities. After a packed day of wedding prep, hair and makeup etc, photos, it was the first moment where we could pause, take a bite of our appetizers, sip some champagne, and privately take in the enormity of the moment.
What was the biggest surprise of the day?
The biggest surprise for me is how well it went! Having made so many changes to our original wedding plans over the last 18 months and accounted for so many possible emergencies, I think I was emotionally prepared for something to go wrong? But the day was seamless and beautiful and perfect.
What was your biggest surprise about wedding planning?
The biggest and best surprise of our wedding planning was that Bett and the Fearrington planning ladies let me help arrange my floral arrangements the day before my wedding! It was one of the most delightful, enjoyable elements of the wedding process for me and I’ll never forget walking into the floral refrigerator filled to the brim with the most beautiful blooms that we had chosen for our big day.
Anything you want to add about your wedding story?
In a year when every wedding plan we made had to change, ultimately having our micro-wedding at the Fearrington was the absolutely best decision we could have made. We loved every part of it and can’t wait to return for our 1 year anniversary 🙂
Photographer: Brian Mullins Photography
Videographer: Twenty-one Films
Hair Stylist: Ashley Mooney Hair and Makeup
Make-up Artist: Ashley Mooney Hair and Makeup
Wedding Gown: David’s Bridal
Groom’s Attire: The Black Tux
Ceremony Music: The Decatur Street Beat
Link to Elena and David’s wedding video