Capitol Romance: Matt & Tom’s Offbeat, Art Gallery Wedding in Maryland

Today’s real wedding feature is the photographer’s FIRST EVER submission. I was honored to get to share her first wedding feature, and even more honored to share such a special love story.

Matt & Tom met online, and immediately hit it off. Tom is an LGBT activist, and Matt is a music teach – and both focuses were woven perfectly through their offbeat, orange & teal wedding! A special thanks to Erica Abbey Photography for sharing this real Maryland wedding feature.

Matt & Tom’s Offbeat, Art Gallery Wedding in Maryland

^LOVE this picture

Short “about the couple”

Tom, an LGBT activist and Matt, a music teacher and vocalist, met on OKCupid and hit it off immediately. What more could they want than someone else who’s outgoing and driven, but nerdy enough to play Mario Kart or marathon Batman cartoons?

We didn’t opt to buy our tuxes for the wedding, but we did want to keep a part of the outfit that reflected our style. We found a website that refashions vintage fabrics into neckties that had a really charming checkered pattern using both of our colors. We decided that it’d be a cute idea to have one with a necktie and one with a bowtie so that our matching outfits could be a little more unique.

It took us a while to pick our colors (teal and orange). It was an early Summer wedding that was partially indoors and outdoors so we wanted something appropriate for the season, but we also wanted colors that were slightly more casual and fun because that reflects the type of people we are. We spent a lot of time looking at color palettes online and ended up picking one that was based on a picture of a tropical beach; it’s the most common natural occurrence of our two colors together as well as the place most people are thinking about on June 2!

Click inside for the rest of Matt & Tom’s offbeat, Maryland wedding at the Strathmore Mansion.

We chose the Mansion at Strathmore because Matt is a member of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and has performed there often. The space is a great mix of classic architecture, nature, and modern art.

On their venue selection:

The modern art statues outside the gallery juxtapose the classic look of the mansion, and made for fun pictures too. There’s a rotating art gallery inside, and we didn’t know what we were in for until the wedding day—it turned out to be a series of dog-themed art, and we got some killer photos imitating the bizarre painting of a man and dog yelling. They’re up on our wall already!

Any DIY or handmade details

Matt’s sister designed all of the wedding invitations, and our friend Laura created the place cards, which were small envelopes containing a pin and information about the Trevor Project charity we donated to as part of the wedding.

All of the music performed at the ceremony was played and sung by wedding guests.

We had guests between 7 years old and 95 years old!

We wrote our own vows, and didn’t tell each other what we would do—Tom spoke about their second date at the DC Zombie Lurch, while Matt sang “Loving You” from Sondheim’s Passion.

Matt performs the Thriller dance every Halloween in New York, and even teaches it to elementary school students. So he, the wedding party, and a whole ton of our guests performed it on the dance floor that night!

Congratulations Matt & Tom! Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful love story and offbeat Maryland wedding with us. A special thanks [and congrats] to Erica Abbey Photography for the images!