Ronnie and Becca put their families first when it came to planning their wedding. “Our families reside in separate states totaling an average distance of about 8 hours apart. It was important to us to have a central location for everyone,” says the bride. Ultimately, the couple chose the Historic Waverly Mansion in Marriottsville, Maryland as their wedding away location. Ronnie and Becca’s strategy of picking a destination in-between their families and on neutral ground paid off. “We were so lucky that we didn’t receive any negative reactions to our decision. There were no hard feelings towards it and our thought process was if you can make it work, great, if not that is okay too!” As a bonus, not only was their venue geographically convenient, but it fit their style perfectly. “The setting of this venue matched the entire vision we had for our special day,” explains the couple.

Becca didn’t hire a professional wedding planner and she and her hubby-to-be handled all the logistics. Thankfully, the bride had helpful resources she could seek out if she ran into any issues. “I feel very fortunate that one of my very first best friends has her own wedding planning business. I used her as a great resource for just bouncing around ideas! Shout out to NOLO Weddings and Events!” The couple was also extremely hands-on when it came to the décor for the big day. In fact, nearly all the décor was DIY.

“My husband handcrafted the centerpiece boxes from pallet wood, and stained them,” explains Becca. “We also made the table numbers with the wood that we cut, stained and then painted. We used vintage windows to create our seating chart and our guestbook. We used a vintage wooden ladder to hold a sign for our gift table and an old metal milk box for our cards! We created our “altar” using whiskey barrels!” While the couple got creative when it came to their W-Day décor, thankfully the travel logistics for them and their guests were pretty straightforward. 

“We had guests coming to the area from across the entire country. We had family fly in from as far as North Dakota and friends driving from Vermont, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina! We made sure to provide shuttle service; that way once they made it into town the rest was taken care of. As far as our DIY décor, we packed our SUV and truck full, along with a trailer to get everything we needed there in one trip.”

In the end, Becca and Ronnie got exactly the wedding they had envisioned from the start. Thanks to their patience, creativity and organization the couple was able to pull off the day without the help of a wedding planner. When we asked the bride if she had any final words of advice for other couples currently planning a destination wedding, this is what she had to say. “Take it all in, and don’t sweat the small stuff! If at the end of the day you are married to your best friend, everything went the way it was supposed to!” 

Vendors: Photographer: Hannah Lane Photography, Ceremony/Reception Site: Historic Waverly Mansion in Marriottsville, Maryland, Florist: Little House of Flowers, Stationery: Wedding Paper Divas, Cake: Catering by Uptown, Hair & Makeup: Heather Rea Style Studio, Gown Designer: Stella York, Groom’s Clothing Designer: Vera Wang, Bridesmaids/Groomsmens’ Clothing Designer: David’s Bridal/Vera Wang, Favors: Sweethearts Patisserie, DJ: DJ G Events