June 4th 2016
Baltimore, Maryland
Jerrica and Ashley are not embarrassed that they met online. Jerrica says they had a few Skype dates before finally meeting for brunch one weekend, but Ashley adds, “A few may be an understatement, we would spend hours watching each other go through normal routines as if we were in the room together or fall asleep next to our laptop. It was like we were kids again.”
Ashley proposed to Jerrica on a sunny spring day at a local winery. Says Jerrica, “She poured her heart out and pulled a diamond ring from her pocket.” Once she realized that this wasn’t a prank Ashley says “I grabbed the ring from her and put it on my finger before I could even get “YES!” out of my mouth.” When the couple headed home afterwards Ashley had arranged a surprise engagement party with their closest friends and family. Says Jerrica, “With all of our closest friends and family around us what better time for me to sneak upstairs to get the engagement ring I had been hiding for months and propose to Ashley in front of all our guests.”
The brides wanted to plan a wedding with an intimate venue. “We stumbled across Artifact Coffee in Baltimore. The coffee shop is in an old stone mill with rustic and industrial charm. We were instantly in love. Add that to the private well-kept courtyard for the ceremony and top-notch food options and we knew we found the place where we would say “I Do.””
Ashley describes feeling the anxiety and weight of the event the morning of the wedding, and how having Jerrica by her side helped to soothe her soul. “To share that anxiousness and readiness with her and only her, it’s honestly hard to describe, but certainly the most memorable moment for me during the entire event.”
Both ladies entered from each side the ceremony space and met in the middle. Jerrica was escorted by her grandfather and Ashley was escorted by her father.
Ashley & Jerrica kept the wedding intimate with close friends and family seated at a long table to enjoy a farm-to-table meal. The brides agree that seeing friends and family smile, laugh, and dance together to support and celebrate their love is their favorite memory of the day. Say the brides, “It wasn’t always easy and still isn’t in every situation, but to have such amazing support is priceless.”
Says Jerrica: “When it came time for the father-daughter dance, or in my case grandfather-granddaughter dance, I walked up to my 81-year-old grandfather and asked him to dance. About 45 seconds into it he diverted away from our nice slow dance to do all sorts of 1960s dance moves. Everyone was shocked and I had to scramble to keep up with his quick moving feet and twirls.”
Says Ashley: “It was absolutely precious.”
The brides say that they let every vendor know that this was a same-sex wedding so that they could work with people who were eager to share in their joy.