Erin Mahoney & Dominic Desmond
August 25, 2018, at Gaie Lea in Staunton | Photography by Christy McKee
Perfect pick
With the help of Erin’s sisters and friends, the couple filled five five-gallon buckets with wildflowers from Pebble Hall Wildflowers in Weyers Cave. “Some more friends helped arrange them in Mason jars on the morning of the wedding,” Erin says. “They were messy and sweet.”
Favorite moments
Erin says she’ll never forget the moments after the ceremony, when she and Dominic sat with some friends, sipping drinks and chatting while people moved down to the reception. “We were married and relaxed,” she says. Dom’s most-lasting memory? Having their baby son, Rory, at the ceremony. “He didn’t last very long,” he says, “but it was a very beautiful thing to see him being brought down the aisle.”
Family affair
The couple credits friends and family for a lot of the details: A friend served as the officiant, Erin’s stepmother brought the wedding cake on a plane from Minnesota (!), another friend designed the programs. Their families even helped them clean up the venue the next day.
Power of love
Erin and Dom met on a union organizing drive, he a teacher and she an organizer. As the couple says, they connected “over pasta and a shared passion for justice,” and had their first date shortly after the 2016 election. After dating long distance for a bit, Dominic moved to New York to be with Erin, and asked her to marry him on a pier in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
The details
Officiant: James Cortese Catering: Hank’s Barbeque (McGaheysville, Virginia) Flowers: Flower Fields (bouquets and boutonnières), Pebble Hall Wildflowers (table arrangements) Bride’s attire: BHLDN Rings: Erie Basin (Brooklyn, New York) Hair and makeup: Roxy Coberly of Cutler Salon (hair); Mary Murland of True Kuhler (makeup) Bartender: Melanie Perl
