Sarah & Daniel

Occupations Sarah is a senior technical officer in global reproductive health; Daniel is the director of VBC Growth & Operational Excellence in U.S. healthcare operations

Wedding date November 5, 2022

Number of Attendees 129

Number of Attendants Four bridesmaids; four groomsmen

How You Met Sarah and Daniel met in the fall of 2018 at a mutual friend’s birthday party. (Though…depending on who you ask, they “met” a few months earlier at a grad school event. Sarah was a current student & Daniel had recently graduated—both in the Johns Hopkins MPH, MBA Program. While they didn’t officially exchange introductions, both made comments to their friends about one another.) A few days later, they had their first date at Lobo, where they ended up staying for hours until the restaurant closed. And, the rest is history. We both work in the public health space – though in very different fields! Daniel works in healthcare strategy, and Sarah works in global sexual and reproductive health. Our passion for public health is what brought us both to Baltimore.

 The Engagement Dan proposed in August 2020 at sunrise at the lighthouse in Scituate, Massachusetts following months of derailed plans due to COVID-19. He looped in friends to help plan the proposal and find ways to trick Sarah (into making sure her nails were painted, throw her off of any suspicions, and be prepared to take photos—bright and early!) After the proposal, he had also invited some of their closest friends to join a surprise engagement party (hosted outdoors and with many COVID precautions around testing, isolating, and remaining socially distanced).

Wedding Design Inspiration We went for an industrial chic, fall vibe for our wedding design—something that we both love about Baltimore. We loved the exposed brick of both the Dye House and Fells Point (where we did our first look)—such a common design element throughout Baltimore. And Sarah loves flowers, so natural fall florals played a big role in our wedding design. We also had a lot of fun with fonts, and playing with the very bold, crip, modern look of the typography that we used throughout.

What Was Unique and Special About Your Wedding Day One of the things that we loved the most about our wedding day was having all of our closest friends and family in Baltimore and sharing what we love most about the city with them. Neither of us are from Baltimore originally—Daniel grew up in Buffalo, NY and Sarah in Bozeman, MT—so it was fun to share Charm City! Daniel also pulled together a map of our favorite food/drink spots around the city to share with everyone.

On wedding day itself, we were able to weave in some of our most favorite places: the Inner Harbor (we did our getting ready & wedding party blocks at The Canopy in Harbor East); the historic Fells Point area (first look, and also close to where we had our first date); Patterson Park, which had incredible fall leaves (near our home); and the Dye House! Each of these spaces has something that we love about Baltimore. We also had our after party at Max’s Tap House and the night before, we did our rehearsal dinner at Guilford Hall Brewing—adding our love of local breweries & beers into the mix.

We were also absolutely blown away at what both the ceremony and reception space looked like. Copper Kitchen and Thurman & Fig more than delivered on our vision. They created such a magical space.

It sounds cheesy, but our wedding was my favorite day! It was such a fun celebration of our love and with the people we love the most. It also flies by. Remember to take time to enjoy it and soak in the details.

Favorite Details The Fall. We both love the fall. We started dating in the fall (November 4th, so our wedding is almost exactly to the date!) and love beautiful fall foliage. Our dog, Maple, an apricot poodle, is also named after Maple leaves and their beautiful fall color (she was featured in the Patterson Park photos, but didn’t attend the wedding itself). Our wedding very much embraced a love of fall and fall colors. And florals—the fall florals were incredible.

Our wedding favors were Coffee Beans by OneDo Coffee, incorporating our love for coffee. Early in their relationship, we would often get coffee together before going to work/class at OneDo (still our favorite coffee shop), and our shared love of coffee continued to grow—into at least 7 different coffee makers in their house!

Sarah’s necklace was a diamond necklace that her parents had made for the wedding from her mom’s engagement ring.

Sarah’s veil is embroidered with S + D and a magnolia flower – the magnolia obsession is definitely more hers than Dan’s, but he is a good sport and is always willing to go take a million photos of them together. We also timed our engagement photos to the blooming magnolias. Magnolia season is one of the things that we love about Baltimore.

Most Unexpected Event On Your Wedding Day Daniel surprised Sarah by having his best man (Keon Hall) film their first look, details throughout the day, and the ceremony and speeches. We had decided not to hire a videographer, but he knew she wanted some footage. Keon has a small production company (Original Creative Dreamers) and did the video footage and a highlights video as our wedding gift.

Piece of Advice Wedding planning is fun, but it can be overwhelming (and expensive!)! Our biggest advice is to choose 1-2 things that mean the most to you and focus on those. Remember, the wedding is your day—and a celebration of the two of you. You can choose to do things your way and you shouldn’t feel pressured to include anything you don’t want to. Have your caterer set aside hors d’oeuvres so you get to have some–ours did this, and it was such an appreciated touch. Also, a practical piece of advice: open a joint checking account before the wedding, it makes dealing with checks afterwards MUCH easier.

Beauty Bridal Glow by Victoria O Bridesmaids Revelry and Baltic Born Caterer and Cake Copper Kitchen First Dances Our first dance was “There’s No Way,” by Lauv. We have always loved this song and often joked that it was our song. We chose the Alle Farben Remix and our neighbor, Stacy Handler, worked with us to choreograph our first dance. Sarah’s father-daughter dance was to “California Stars,” by Billy Bragg and Wilco, her dad’s favorite. And Daniel’s mother-son dance was “I Hope You Dance,” by Lee Ann Womack. Floral Design Thurman & Fig Groom and Groomsmen Bonobos Honeymoon Portugal, Spain, and France. In Portugal, we went to Lisbon & Lagos; in Span we went to Seville; and in France, we went to the French Riviera (Nice, Eze, Menton, Cannes) Invitations Minted. Invites and other wedding stationery was by Jessica Williams and the design is The Space Between. Save the Dates were by Everett Paper Goods, the design is Modern Named. Lighting & Draping Event Dynamics Location Mt. Washington Mill Dye House Music Mebaa Braha, Go Event Pro Officiant We had two of our closest friends from childhood co-officiate our wedding: John Refling and Christina Wasinger. Photographer Urban Row Photography Videographer Keon Hall, Best Man, Original Creative Dreamers Transportation American Limousine Wedding Dress Essense of Australia gown from Plume Bridal in Bozeman, Montana (bride’s hometown); Zoey Made CN (veil); Kailee P (shoes); Martin Flyer at Smyth Jewelers (engagement ring and wedding band) Wedding Planner We didn’t have a wedding planner, but special shoutouts to Lexie Mueller with Copper Kitchen (who was our coordinator) as well as Mebaa Braha with Go Event Pro, and Naomi Cataldo with Urban Row for providing incredible planning guidance, recommendations, and support throughout.