This originally ran as a Local Love in the 2025 issue.
Wedding Date May 11, 2024
Blind dates are usually a bust, but every once in a while, the self-styled matchmaker gets it right. Such was the case for Allison Branca and Ed Elder, who were set up by Ed’s sister’s best friend. “She randomly thought we would be a match and gave Ed my number,” says Allison, who met the sister’s friend on a girls’ trip. “The rest was history.”
After dating for a year and a half, Allison and Ed were in London to meet up with some friends before heading to Munich for Oktoberfest. London is one of Allison’s favorite cities and during a visit to the beautiful Kew Gardens, Ed, an engineer, popped the question. From there they went to the Ritz-Carlton for champagne and Fortnum and Mason for high tea. “The next day we were in Munich drinking beers the size of our heads,” laughs Allison, who works in social media for a large company.
When it came to planning their wedding, they wanted that same mixture of posh and laid-back. “In one of my first conversations with our wedding planner, I told her I wanted to mix classic with a bit of funk,” says Allison. “I’m known for pairing a fun shoe with something basic, so we landed on a ‘statement shoe style wedding.’” Most Eastern Shore celebrations tend to have a traditional coastal feel (think a lot of blue), but instead Allison and Ed went funky and vibrant. “We traded in the classic coastal look for something a bit more out there,” she says. “I think my vision was much different than what many of our vendors were used to—flexing a different muscle for everyone in the best way,” she says.
That meant disco balls, bright blooms, and an epic band turning their black-and-white dance floor into a non-stop party at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. “From the moment the cocktail hour ended, the dance floor was packed until the very last song,” says Allison.
In the end it felt exactly like them, which was the goal all along. The only problem? The night eventually ended. “It was truly perfect and the best wedding we’ve ever been to,” says Allison. “We never stopped smiling.”
Allison & Ed
Allison & Ed
BEAUTY Updos For I Dos CAKE Graul’s Market CATERER Chesapeake Bay Chefs FLORAL DESIGN Steelcut Flower Co. HONEYMOON South of France INVITATIONS Just Ink on Paper LOCATION Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum MUSIC Spectrum Band OFFICIANT Colton Hotary, a friend of the couple WEDDING DRESS Anthropologie Weddings WEDDING PLANNER Sara Reynolds Events