THE STORY

Excerpt from Washingtonian Weddings: Friends and family checked into St. Michaels’ Wildset Hotel—reserved exclusively for the wedding weekend, including a getting-ready suite for the bride—then gathered at the onsite restaurant, Ruse, for a welcome party with dinner and toasts followed by music and s’mores. The next day, September 5, 2021, Sam’s eldest brother officiated the nuptials under the couple’s favorite tree at the groom’s family’s nearby farm. The modern-California/Eastern Shore fete incorporated natural textures, wildflowers, oak foliage, and even tomatoes from the property into an understated, laid-back celebration. The late-summer menu included watermelon-and-feta skewers, pimiento-cheese doughnuts, oyster shooters, and crabcakes, plus an ice-cream buffet from local parlor Justine’s and a funfetti cake. Under the stars, guests partied on a string-lit dance floor and refueled on late-night Philly cheesesteaks and Boardwalk fries.