Erik and Elizabeth's Wedding in Baltimore, Maryland

In 2016, Erik revealed that a new job working as an Army civilian nurse was moving him to Germany. They continued to date so their relationship would grow and see where God would take them as a couple. As Erik's departure inched closer, they decided that they no longer wanted to stay apart, no matter how far the distance. After almost a year apart, Erik came back to the United States at the end of 2017. Together, they packed up Elizabeth's apartment up, and she moved to Germany with Erik in January 2018 for their biggest adventure yet!

Our Engagement:Elizabeth had a dream to visit Paris. So they decided to book a trip. Unbeknownst to Elizabeth, Erik had been creating a secret plan for the trip. The night before they left for Paris, Erik asked Elizabeth to pack something nice to wear. Of course, she freaked out (as any woman may do) thinking, “Well what am I getting dressed up for?”

They enjoyed two days exploring Paris: visiting cultural sites like the Louvre, wine tasting with a master Sommelier, and of course eating croissants. On the third day, they awoke very early to get ready because Erik said he had a surprise for Elizabeth. She had no idea what was about to happen.

They grabbed an Uber that looped around the city as the sun was rising. They finally stopped just outside of the Eiffel tower, at a little cafe, and met a woman named Stephanie. Erik planned a surprise Paris photoshoot! It was freezing outside, but Elizabeth couldn’t stop smiling and laughing that Erik had all of this planned out.

As they set up for their next set of photos, Stephanie asked them both to turn their backs to each other, and write down one of their favorite memories as a couple on chalkboards. Elizabeth wrote down “Moving to Germany.” As she turned around to show Erik for a candid photo, he was down on one knee with his sign that read, “Will you marry me?” She ran over to hug and kiss him as she shouted YES!

Planning:I purchased a new MacBook prior to moving to Germany. Who would have known this would have been my LIFESAVER while planning this wedding. From the time we were engaged to the time we got married, I had only been home 3 times prior to our wedding. August 2018, May 2019, July 2019 and arrived 2.5 weeks prior to the wedding day. I relied heavily on other brides testimonies. Websites like StyleMePretty, The Knot and Wedding Wire truly helped me during the planning process. I relied on faith in my vendors to understand our vision of the wedding and a lot of email communication despite the 6 hour time difference. Down to my reception venue, it was a BRAND new venue who opened October 2018. Without physically seeing it in person, nor the venue even hosting a wedding reception yet, we put our deposit down right before the holidays.

Our Wedding Weekend:About half of our guests were from out of town so we booked guest accommodations at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco in Baltimore. We figured let's give our family and friends the most luxurious weekend away. We welcomed our guest the night prior with welcome drinks down at the B&O bar to kick off the weekend. Since we live in Germany this was the first time we've seen most family members since our going away party in 2017.

In the back of my mind, the lingering "this day is going to go by so fast" from every bride raced through my head. But I didn't want to be THAT bride, I wanted to soak up every moment. We started the day bright and early in my suite with my bridesmaids. We ate our favorite bagel sandwiches from college as we laughed and joked about the night before at the bar. We got dressed up and headed down for some portrait photos. Erik and I opted out of a first look for tradition. Since we lived together, we wanted to give each other something to really look forward to during the ceremony. Our special moment when we locked eyes. The hotel had a BEAUTIFUL set of marble staircase where both the girls and guys took photos pre-ceremony.

We were both raised Roman Catholic and again, wanted to stick to tradition and have a full mass. It was important that we were raised in the church and wanted to celebrate our union before God. We lined up and it wasn't until then I actually had the butterflies of "oh gosh, I'm getting married soon" When I saw Erik, I wanted to cry but I didn't want to lose my lashes. Erik looked so handsome in his custom Tux! Because he never saw me in my dress (obviously) he wanted to keep his Tux a secret too. During our ceremony, I loved how the pastor asked all of our guests to raise their hands and "spread" their love, joy and blessings upon our marriage. We finished the ceremony with traditional family portraits before taking off to our reception.

We had an hour before the cocktail hour started. So this was our time to take fun, light and airy photos! And boy did we have a blast. My parents even coordinated our family labradoodles Barkley and Lucy to join in on the pictures with custom flower sashes. We wrapped up photos a few minutes before guests started to arrives, as we wanted to participate in cocktail hour too! Everything looked like a dream, all of the hard work of planning, purchasing wedding decor down to how it was decorated came to life. The venue itself was beautiful. And I wanted to emphasize on that. The colors of my flowers were creams, whites, pops of blush and mixtures of different greenery types. I had tons of pillar candles and votives scatted. I had collected various bud and milk vases for the venue as well.

The theme of our wedding revolved around our love and travel. Our tables were themed after all of the various cities in the countries we've visited. Our cake had a hand crafted fondant map with our topper looking like a globe. We had a running slideshow in the back of the venue featuring all the travel we've done in the past 5 years. Our guests had two signature cocktails created from our favorite bar in Germany. Our guests started with a huge spread of various Bruschetta, Charcuterie, Cheese, Crackers, Jams, Spreads and nuts. We passed along beef and pulled pork slides and jumbo cocktail shrimps in a shooter glass.

Our first dance (which we kept a secret) was Backstreet Boys "No Place" which had lyrics on travel and love. "I've been all around the world, done all there is to doBut you'll always be the home I wanna come home toYou're a wild night with a hell of a viewThere ain't no place, ain't no place like youThere ain't no place, ain't no place like you"

Then for fun we dropped into our favorite song Luis Fonsi "Despacito". Our guests ate New York Strip Steak Sliced & Topped with a Herb Compound Butter and Red Wine Reduction, Eastern Shore Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes Served with Old Bay & Garlic Crab Remoulade with Truffled Mashed Poatoes and Sautéed Broccolini.

Despite the distance, the groom and groomsmen had a custom dance (another big secret) too!!! Where they started with Justin Timberlake "Suit & Tie" and followed up with the mega hit by Lil Nas X "Old Town Road". Our sweets table was variety of cookies, Ice Cream cupcakes from Coldstone Creamery and two different wedding cake flavors (Almond Amaretto Cake with almond brittle filling and Lemon Cake with raspberry and lemon curd filling). With a completely open bar, we kept the food and drinks flowing all night until we wrapped up our night at 10PM. Our day was everything we wanted and more. I wish we could relive it all over again...thank god for the Videographer.