Emily & Daniel

This originally ran as a Local Love in the 2025 issue.

Wedding Date July 6, 2024

“I thought he was so hot,” says Emily Hall, of the very first time she laid eyes on Daniel Levis’ profile on Tinder. Since she was too nervous to actually hit the “superlike” button, she asked her best friend, Corey Frier-Ritsch, to do it. “Dan and I were each other’s first and only Tinder date,” says Emily, a theater teacher and director.

The nerves reared their ugly head again when Emily was sure that Dan, a retirement plan administrator, was going to propose. The weekend before Valentine’s Day 2023, they went to a farm to do bunny yoga in a private yurt with charcuterie, wine, and a bonfire. It was so romantic that it made Emily nervous to the point she turned to Dan and said, “Is it happening tonight?” Dan assured her it wasn’t. The next week, on actual Valentine’s Day, Emily took Dan to the Inner Harbor to do silly touristy stuff. On the drive home, Dan wanted to drive by her old apartment building, where they had their first kiss in his car. He turned to Emily and said, “I know I said I didn’t get you anything for Valentine’s Day, but I did get this,” and pulled out a ring box. “I don’t think he even asked, and I don’t think I said yes,” laughs Emily. “An exciting moment alone is more reflective of who we are than an elaborate proposal.”

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They wanted the wedding to also reflect their personalities. Emily had performed and attended events at Creative Alliance in Highlandtown many times over the years and loved how community-oriented the arts organization was and how much it supported its artists. So she and Dan agreed it would be the perfect setting for their big day. “On an aesthetic level, I love the little details of the Black Box Theatre, like the wooden panels and the greenish-gold curtains. The Marquee Lounge is so beautiful, we didn’t decorate it at all,” Emily says. “Getting to customize the marquee on the building was also a really special touch.”

The reception was also exceptional—“it was a wedding, but it was mostly a party,” says Emily—and they knew they wanted as much dancing as humanly possible. “We didn’t want to do a first dance or anything that could get in the way of a dance party. We didn’t even have any slow songs.” The dance floor was full the entire night with friends, family, and colleagues who were intermingling and tearing it up. “At the end of the night, when the vendors came to pick up the rentals, the floor was still packed,” says Emily. “Our nephew had to get on the mic and tell folks that it was time to go home.”