Ron & Emily’s Festive Tex-Mex Wedding at Chuy’s in Rockville, MD

My baby boy is FINALLY on the mend, and getting over his cold! He was so miserable for a few days, but I enjoyed the extra snuggles (which are few and far between these days), and he’s back to his normal happy self! We’ll be venturing out to the ‘burbs this weekend to find him a new carseat, since he’s almost outgrown his current one, and we’ll hit up Wegman’s and H Mart while we’re out there. Hopefully you have more exciting plans than we do! To kick off your weekend, we’re going to #GuacDowntheAisle with Ron & Emily’s fun and festive wedding!

The Washington, DC, residents set out to focus on three important things as they tied the knot: lots of fun, good music, and their favorite foods.

The setting for Emily and Ron’s Jewish wedding was a chuppah filled with plants, curated and constructed by Rewild. The bride and groom chose to update the traditional Jewish ceremony by creating a 90s style wedding ‘zine to walk guests through what to expect. Mid-ceremony, all guests were asked to fill out an advocacy action provided by Moms Demand Action centering around stricter gun laws.

“You can’t get 220 people together and NOT have them participate in some sort of social justice action,” said Goodstein. The letters will be mailed to corresponding elected officials in the coming weeks.

The ceremony was bookended by unusual but festive wedding choices — the bride’s nieces walked down the aisle distributing black and white cookies to guests before the ceremony started. The couple got dressed together the morning of the wedding, the bride in a leopard bolero jacket, gold Birkenstock sandals and a Rebecca Schoneveld gown. The two walked down the aisle — together — to Prince’s, Take Me With U. Once the glass was smashed, local DC brass band, The Bumper Jacksons, started a second line style parade featuring Hava Negilah and other highly danceable songs.

The wedding celebration took place at Chuy’s, a Tex-Mex fast casual restaurant chain. Although the restaurant doesn’t ever host large, private events, the company was willing to bend their rules for Ron and Emily, regular customers of the Rockville, MD location.

The couple and their friends sipped swirl margaritas, and guests were charmed by the “nacho car” — tortilla chips and nacho toppings served out of the hood of a 50s Caddilac in the lobby. Music was provided by Paul Vivari, a DC-based DJ specializing in spinning motown and soul on vinyl. Borrowing from a Pennsylvania and Ohio tradition, Ron and Emily asked friends to populate an opulent cookie table with their favorite cookies, which was a guest favorite, and also served as the party favor. The wedding cake was a classic grocery store sheet cake provided by Wegman’s — a nod to the groom’s Western New York roots.

“I can’t imagine a better day. We are so lucky to have pulled off our dream wedding,” Kelly says.