Jenn & Greg’s Offbeat Baseball Stadium Wedding in Maryland

“It was a day that was perfectly us & looking back I can’t think of one single thing I would’ve changed!“

Happy Tuesday ~ with the end of the MLB World Series last Friday, I figured an “All American“, offbeat military wedding at a semi-pro baseball stadium in Maryland, was a nice way to get things going this week! Thanks to Gronde Photography [submitted via Two Bright Lights] for sharing this awesome Maryland wedding with us! ….. CHARGE!

How Jenn & Greg met:

Greg & I met the way it seems a lot of people meet nowadays…online!

I am from Mass & Greg was stationed on a Coast Guard Cutter in Boston.  He IM’d me one night & we really hit it off, so we decided to meet up that evening.  We met up & wound up hanging out & talking all night long. The next morning he was leaving on a train to NYC to meet up with his boat, as it was on a port call & he had just come back from training.  I was actually driving to CT that day to go to a U2 concert that night.  We parted ways know we might not see each other for some time, as once he met up with the Ship they would be getting underway for 2 weeks & then he would be flying home to Missouri to visit his family for the Holidays.

We talked & texted the whole day & the next…we were smitten & miserable that we wouldn’t get to see each other for some time…so I decided to take a train to NYC & spend the next day with him before this ship got underway.  It was amazing…the city was decorated for the holidays & we had a wonderful time talking & taking in the sites.  The next day I got on a train & he got on the ship, but before we parted we swore that this wonderful thing that was happening between us was meant to be….corny maybe, but the proof is in the pudding, as here we are almost 6 years later, numerous underway separations & a move to Maryland under our belts, married & happy as ever!

Jenn opted to wear two dresses for her wedding day ~ the first was a beautiful lace number you see here … the second was handmade by her mom!

I wore two dresses the day of the wedding…the dress I wore for the reception was sewn by my mother, and I have to say, it was my favorite dress out the two worn that day!

Jenn & her mom DIYed the flowers …. twice !! :

My mom & I made the bouquet for my matron of honor & myself….funny story though…we had the flowers in the hotel fridge overnight & they froze, so the day of the wedding my Aunt went out & whipped up new bouquets for us!

A sweet military proposal story:

The Coast Guard had a play in our meeting (as we probably would have never met if he hadn’t been stationed in Mass), so it is only fitting that it had a play in our engagement.  It was a warm night in June & we were both dressed up to attend a Coast Guard Foundation Dinner at the National Building Museum.  After the dinner was over, Greg said he wanted to go take some pictures in his dress uniform at the Grant Memorial.  As we are standing there looking over the National Mall on a wonderfully warm June evening, he asked me to grab the camera out of his pocket… “Hmm, odd” I thought to myself……never did I expect to pull out a ring box!  Of course I said yes!

I always love the “men getting ready shots” … always so calm, casual, relaxed, while all the women have been up since sunrise getting hair/makeup/etc done.

Jenn on the venue selection:

With most of our guests traveling from out of state, we wanted to have the wedding close to our home in Southern Maryland.  We picked our wedding date based on our reception, but we still hadn’t figured out the location for the ceremony.  Luckily someone I work with mentioned the Historic Port Tobacco Courthouse.

We stopped by one day while they were holding an open house & decided it was the perfect space to hold our ceremony.  They were wonderful to work with & the price was insanely reasonable for a historic space. Also, Greg & I love visiting historic sites, so it seemed fitting we get married in one!

Click inside for the rest of this adorable Baseball Stadium wedding in Maryland!

love this group shot !!

Jenn shares more on why they chose a baseball stadium and a baseball theme for their wedding:

 Greg & I are huge baseball fans…I am a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan & Greg is a lover of the St. Louis Cardinals. Even though we can’t get to many of our home teams games, we average about 30 baseball games a year, so when we were trying to decide on the perfect reception, it was a no-brainer to have it during a baseball game.

The local team, the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, had the perfect event space; the food was wonderful (crab dip was a favorite with my New England family!) & the day of our reception there was going to be a game going on followed by Fireworks! We made sure we had a DJ for those who didn’t really get into the baseball game, but from the comments we received from our guests, everyone had a wonderful time, which is exactly what we were hoping for when planning our fun & unique reception. After all the traveling our guests made to be with us on our special day we wanted to make sure they had fun!

love Jen’s floral hairpiece!

 all their baseball themed wedding details are perfect … the program looks like a baseball program …

peanuts… another no-brainer. Jenn found the vintage crate at an antique shop in Maryland ~ she filled the crate with peanuts to add to the baseball theme.

Talk about an alternative guest book ~ guests signed a bat! so cool.

One of the best gifts we received for the wedding was a personalized Louisville Slugger baseball bat that had our names & wedding date carved into it.  We actually received it a few days before the wedding & decided it would be a perfect “guest book”, so I printed up a cute little sign & it was placed on a table w/ a sharpie instructing the guests to leave us their “Autograph”!  We now have a wonderful memento filled with funny sayings & sweet well wishes from those who helped us celebrate our big day.

For the baseball themed seating assignments:

 I found some old fashioned styled Cracker Jacks, to which I attached vintage baseball card printables and I had printed the guests names onto for the assignment cards. The boxes were on the entrance table as guests walked in.

I also had to ask about Jenn’s DIY wedding projects:

In addition to the assignment cards we created the Invitation suite, we printed all the table names (named after Hall of Famers!) and I sewed a bunch of buntings that were hung throughout the reception space.  We also created a story board to which we attached pictures of us at baseball games w/ some of our guests, as well as some of the completed ad lib RSVP’s that were returned to us.

At each place setting I had made up little pouches with Double Bubble bubblegum for the guests to take.  Also, two days before the wedding I made up huge batches of Candied Pecans from pecans that grow on Greg’s family’s property. I packaged them up in cute cellophane bags w/ labels & placed them in a basket for the guests to take with them.  With the Cracker Jacks, pecans & peanuts, our guests had plenty to snack on throughout the game!

I always love asking couples about what part their family played in their big day. Jenn & Greg had lots of family involvement in their wedding .. I had to share:

Greg’s son was the ring bearer & presented the rings in a baseball glove!  Greg’s brother Kevin was the best man & my brother Brent handed out programs.  My Best Friend Meghan was my Matron of Honor and my Mom walked me down the aisle.  My mom’s boyfriend & an old family friend played the theme song to the Princess Bride on acoustic guitars as I walked down the aisle. It was perfect!

We decided to forgo the traditional wedding cake for a table filled with different yummy pies. My mom had hand-painted the cake topper which accompanied the cutting cake…a delish Boston Cream Pie from Charles Street Bakery in La Plata!

Jenn ended her details with a beautiful note ….

It was a day that was perfectly us & looking back I can’t think of one single thing I would’ve changed!

Congratulations Jenn & Greg ~ thank you for sharing your awesome offbeat Maryland wedding with us!! A special thanks to Gronde Photography & Two Bright Lights again for making this feature possible!