Bethesda Marriott Wedding Dana & Steven

Weddings

October 14, 2018

If Dana & Steve’s love story was set to a movie, it would probably start with a flashback from over twenty-five years ago. In the couple’s own words, “We met in preschool. After that we spent most of our childhood together, growing up down the street from each other. We both went to the same elementary school, and were almost always in the same class, sitting next to each other (thanks to our names being alphabetically adjacent). We were also in the same classes in Hebrew School. And if that were not enough, there were countless play dates, which included endless plays if we were at Steve’s house, and a lot of time outside if we were at Dana’s.”

My favorite anecdote of their childhood came from Dana’s Mom’s toast during their wedding. She talked about how Dana, as a little girl, would always come home from school complaining about Steve’s nonstop pencil drumming on the back of her chair. But Mom knew way back then that there was a special connection between these two kids!

Dana and Steve’s academic and career ambitions sent them on divergent paths after high school, but life (plus a little persistence from Steve) kept reconnecting them, until these two friends-since-childhood finally decided it was about time to give a relationship a shot in 2014. During the years since then, their careers relocated each of them several times, forcing them to test their long distance stamina. But, no matter the distance, Dana and Steve always found ways to spend time together and committed to keeping their relationship a priority.

With a long history like theirs, Dana and Steve deserved an incredibly special wedding day, and it’s no surprise that tradition and heritage played a huge role. Both the bride and groom integrated heirloom pieces into their attire to memorialize their late grandparents. The couple’s perfectly choreographed first dance had the entire crowd on their feet, and the joint parent dance song selection, “Forever,” by Jesse & the Rippers was a fan favorite surprise. Speaking of surprises, Steve surprised Dana at the end of the night by hiring a getaway car that was the exact same make and model from a cherished photo of her grandparents’ wedding. (And, OF COURSE, we recreated that photo…make sure you scroll all the way to the end!)

Dana and Steve, it was truly an honor to get to know you and witness a love that was decades in the making! Cheers to play dates and alphabetical seating charts and all the hard work you’ve put in since then!