Brendan and Madison Jean (MJ) enjoyed changing tradition around to create a day that was wonderfully them. They aimed to create a warm, cozy feeling of a family dinner to gather and celebrate. They perfectly mastered this with their winter wedding at the end of January. Peirce Farm at Witch Hill was lightly blanketed with snow with and horse and a mule wandering the fields. They had their own part to play in the wedding when they were brought up for a few photos. MJ volunteers at an equine therapy program for children and adults with disabilities so to be able to incorporate horses into the photos was a real treat!

They began getting ready in the mansion, with so many beautiful and unique details in the rooms. MJ picked the library to put on her gorgeous gown with her mom. She had green velvet shoes by Sézane, a sustainably minded store in Paris. Meanwhile, Brendan got ready in a nearby room, carefully donning his handwoven tweed suit made in Donegal, Ireland. It was the impeccable and unique details that made this wedding truly stand out. They had their first look outside by the barn and the rest was all laughs and fun.

At the ceremony, they each read their own heartfelt vows. Even though they hadn’t shown them to each other, their vows were remarkably similar. Another sign these two were meant to be. With a kiss they were wed and then it was off to the wonderfully catered dinner prepared by Chive Events. Everything was family style, which continued the feeling of the cozy, family atmosphere. Finally after the dancing concluded, they were ushered through a candlelit sendoff into Brendan’s British cab/PT cruiser “getaway car”. Such a memorable day with two beautiful people with a heart of gold.

HOW THEY MET

On 2010, they met when Madison went to pick up her mail at the Goucher College Post office and he became the “cute post office boy”. After a few months of stolen glances across campus, Brendan and Madison started dating. It was somewhere between summer rooftop dinners in Baltimore, meeting in Paris during Madison's study abroad, moving into a very strange apartment with a spiral staircase and a yard of cacti, and adopting McKenzie cat from the Baltimore Shelter that they truly fell in love.

HOW SHE PROPOSED

Marriage means a lot of different things to different people, and Brendan and Madison wanted to make sure that they knew what marriage means to them, what is truly important, and what traditions represent them as a couple. Madison always asked to be the one to propose. She changed the words to the Alvaays song “Marry Me, Archie” and while singing Karaoke, she proposed to Brendan. He already had a beautiful Maine tourmaline ring for her hidden in his bedside table. They both had fallen in love with the way blue green tourmaline changes with light and is reminiscent of the ocean