Serefina & Jacob’s Flower-Inspired, Vegan Maryland Wedding at Church & Company

Images: B.O.B Photography | Submitted via Two Bright Lights

We figured if were all a little mismatched, we would match. I suppose you could say that’s our philosophy on life.

Today’s real Maryland wedding is filled with SO much awesome. A laid back couple that used their love of flowers, their mismatched outlook on life, and really just wanting a fun, relaxed day that was a reflection of their personalities. Can we say the perfect Capitol Romance wedding feature?! All the details on Serefina & Jacob’s beautiful Maryland wedding are below! Enjoy.

Jacob asked me to marry him in April and since we both were excited to get married as soon as possible, we decided on a fall wedding (six months of planning!). To be perfectly honest, our date was determined by the availability of our church and our photographer, Jillian at B.O.B Photography. We both knew we wanted to take our vows at our neighborhood parish and I knew that *only* Jill could photograph our wedding!

In essence, we wanted our wedding to reflect our personalities: we didn’t care about the niceties so much as the actual wedding and reception to be fun and laid-back. I was so non-committal about the details that I basically just chose a palette of colors that I affectionately called, “autumn.” Jacob was the same way. We figured if were all a little mismatched, we would match. I suppose you could say that’s our philosophy on life.

We chose Hampden as our location because we got to know each other here, we fell in love here, and now we live here… growing our little family. Our story could be mapped in this area. It was natural to have our wedding at our neighborhood parish, St. Thomas Aquinas. A friend of mine mentioned that he knew Alex of Church and Company and that we should check out the place for a reception site, knowing my tastes. We walked into this former church on Falls Road and knew *immediately* it was of our aesthetic: quirky paintings, old, old furniture, gray walls, antique taxidermy.

Alex is a buff on the history of the neighborhood as well! (Turns out our church was designed by the same architect that built Church and Company over a hundred years ago!)

I told my bridesmaids that I wanted each girl to wear something long and flowy, each of a unique color. They ended up choosing maroon, sage, navy blue, lavender/gray dresses. (Yes, I was super non-committal.) The groomsmen chose navy suits (because Jacob figured either most men had one already or would likely need one) with white shirts. He chose for pocket squares and ties, a brown cloth with pink anemones. All wore brown wing-tips. My dress was from BHLDN, sweetheart top, mermaid-cut. My tailor, Ann from Ann’s Silver threads in Arbutus, Maryland, worked *wonders* – essentially giving me a butt though I don’t have one. I was very lucky with my dress! I tried it on at the store with two girls holding it closed in the back since their sample was a size 6 and ha! I am not a 6. Bought the dress online on the hope that a larger size would fit. Between good luck and a very good tailor, the dress fit wonderfully!

READ MORE FOR THE REST OF SEREFINA & JACOB’S GORGEOUS MARYLAND WEDDING!

Jacob is Italian/Irish and I am Korean/Hispanic. As a nod to my heritage, I wore a mantilla veil – a traditional Spanish veil and bright red, traditional, Korean, ceremonial shoes made for me.

Our wedding favors were Korean lucky bags filled with 5 confetti – the Italian word for jordan almonds. They represent: health, wealth, happiness, fertility, and longevity. On our sweetheart table, we had Korean ducks facing each other. These ducks are meant to be on display in the new couple’s home… to indicate the state of affairs. (i.e.,, in happy times, the bills touch each other, like kissing. If we were fighting, the two butts of the duck would be touching.)

We love all plants… and I especially love flowers: peonies, ranunculus, gardenias, anemones… We chose invitations with flowers that were with classic serifed typeface (’cause I’m a nut about fonts.) Our bouquets were made by Whole Foods based on very loose descriptions on what I liked and they came out *beautifully* – a lot of eucalyptus with anemones and mine had also a gardenia. I chose Whole Foods because I appreciate their ethics, I shop there all the time anyway, and they were very reasonably priced and super accommodating. (How many places would pull through on such little direction?)

I bought airplants and succulents over the entire summer and kept like 80 plants alive for the 13 terrariums I made as centerpieces. We had a combination of old, refurbished, and new glassware to make the terrariums but I mainly used apothecary glass to symbolize our profession: we are both pharmacists (and nerds, clearly)! At first I thought I was going to have to bribe people to take them home but people were fighting for them!

Our desserts were a collection of pies – because who likes vegan cake? – half-vegan, half-vegetarian: chocolate chess, lemon-blueberry, pumpkin.

I am vegan and he is a meat eater. We chose Clementine because they can cater to both well and are big proponents on using local and sustainable. It was important to both of us that people came to a great meal instead of the dreaded, “chicken or fish?” question. As a vegan, I’ve become used to the collection of sides but with Clementine, I had my own real food! Roasted beets, toasted kamut pilaf, fingerling potato and pumpkin tart – just to name a few and all tasted amazing. Our main meaty entrees included wild caught bluefish with a Maryland crab sweet corn slaw and a pork loin porchetta.

Lastly, our drinks. His signature drink was an Old Fashioned made with Bulleit Rye and mine was an Aperol spritzer made with Tintero’s Moscato D’Asti, Aperol, and basil. His signature beer was Union Anthem and mine was Old Oriole Park Bohemian. (We’re both fans of craft beers and wanted to keep it local – both being within 2 or so miles from where we live.)