For Cover Picture Contest winners Adrienne and Chris Derby of Hollywood, Maryland the key to a successful wedding is all about location, location, location.

Adrienne and Chris were wed on August 25, 2007 at the Chesapeake Beach Resort and Spa. The winning photograph, taken by Marilyn DiMarco of Bella Photography, clearly expresses how going “all inclusive” made their wedding day relaxed and fun. “All Inclusive is the way to go!” exclaimed Adrienne. “The thing that made my wedding the most enjoyable was that all of us were in one place together all weekend.” 

The couple met at Frostburg State University. Chris, a football player, and Adrienne a cheerleader, initially met while attending their prospective camps a few weeks before their freshman classes began. Adrienne and Chris didn’t know that this initial meeting would turn into three and a half years of friendship and that that friendship would ultimately lead to love.

“I was living in Ellicott City and decided to make a special trip to Hollywood to spend a few hours with Chris before he left to return to school for his last year of classes,” Adrienne remembered. Unbeknownst to her this would be the day Chris would propose marriage. “Chris took me out on his family’s boat…we took a ride out by the Solomon’s Island Bridge and watched the sunset” she recalls. Chris, planning on serenading Adrienne before his proposal, was caught off guard when she “unintentionally hurried” his proposal by hitting play on the stereo. The song “Would You Go with Me” by Josh Turner came out from the speakers and Chris nervously sang along. Shortly after the first verse, “Chris leaned in and asked me if I would marry him. Thinking he was asking casually if I would spend the rest of my life with him, I replied ‘sure’”. But Chris wasn’t asking casually, he meant business. So he proceeded to get down on one knee and said, “Adrienne Ware, will you marry me?” and she responded by saying, “Yes, of course.”

Adrienne and Chris didn’t have a preconceived idea of what they thought their wedding day would be like. They both just had faith that God wouldn’t let them down, and if it was going to rain, well, they would not let it ruin their day. Adrienne said, “I purposefully didn’t watch the weather forecast the entire week before the wedding! I absolutely fell in love with the people and the environment at the Chesapeake Beach Resort and I knew our day would be perfect no matter what”. She went on to say, “All that mattered to me was that my friends and family were there to gather to celebrate our marriage”.

The bridal party and the couple’s close families arrived at the resort on Friday night for the rehearsal and set the tone for the weekend. “After the rehearsal on the dock and an excellent meal at Smokey Joe’s…we all moved to the Boardwalk Café”, explained Adrienne.  Friends and family reminisced and relaxed by the bay and celebrated too, as guests continued to arrive for the weekend’s events. “There was no rushing or mad confusion because everyone and everything was at the resort.”

Perhaps because the entirety of the wedding’s events centered at the resort Adrienne, unlike most brides, seemed relaxed about the entire wedding process. She said that, “there was no particular theme, [just] lilies, lots and lots of lilies!” Beautiful white lilies adrift hues of pool blue and honeydew, colors that complimented every element of the wedding from the invitations to the wedding cake. Utilizing her creativity (Adrienne is a Graphic Designer) the bride personally put together the couple’s wedding invitations. A “book” she crafted that had pages to flip through. Each page within the book detailed the important information for the day, including directions to the resort, where the couple was registered, and the RSVP instructions, all bound together by a honeydew colored ribbon.

“The Chesapeake Beach Resort has so many naturally beautiful elements that a theme isn’t necessary”, said Adrienne. The ceremony took place on the dock overlooking the Chesapeake Bay and was decorated with tooling and complimenting flower arrangements. The Chesapeake Ballroom, elegant in its furniture and simple decorations, compelled Adrienne to keep it simple.  The color scheme the couple chose blended perfectly with the waterfront location. “We loved the idea of the water but wanted to do something different than the beach-themed wedding”. Instead they chose to center on the element of water, focusing the photo shoots around the dock, fountain, and waterfall at the resort. Even the centerpieces were about water, “We chose fish bowl centerpieces!”

A 12” x 12” mirror was placed in the center of every table.  Placing a large fish bowl on top of the mirror Adrienne added honeydew and pool colored pebbles at the bottom and filled the bowls with water. To each bowl she added three large live Goldfish and positioned a floating candle on top. To compliment the centerpiece she added a votive candle to each edge of the mirror. “The mirror was a key contributor to our centerpieces because not only did it reflect the pebbles from the bottom of the fish bowl but it reflected the flames from the candles as well!” exclaims Adrienne.

Adrienne’s creative nature was found in other elements of the wedding as well. For favors the couple chose small white tin buckets to house a handful of guest’s goodies including a card with the words ‘Memories and Wishes’. This created a personalized memento for the bride and groom in which each guest could write well wishes to the newlyweds. For the children in attendance the bride and groom used the same white tin buckets but replaced the adult favors with lollypops and crayons.

The all inclusive nature of the resort made getting ready on the day of the wedding worry-free for Adrienne and her attendants as well. Adrienne was able to relax the morning of the big day by taking a dip in the resort’s indoor pool and by spending a few quiet moments in the sauna before gathering with the girls in the Bridal Suite. The suite had plenty of room for the bridal party to complete their makeup before heading downstairs to the Spa where each had their hair done.  Adrienne also notes that “Since our wedding was particularly expensive [in lieu of traditional bridesmaid’s gifts] we decided to give the bridesmaid’s their jewelry, shoes and hair updos as gifts. They loved it!”

The ceremony on the dock went off without a hitch even though the young ring-bearer tripped going down the isle (he even lost his shoe!) and the bride’s hair had to be re-curled twice because of the humidity that day. The couple’s 245 guests dined on scrumptious fare like Cream of Crab Soup and Fettuccine Alfredo. Friends and family watched as Chris once again sang a sweet serenade to Adrienne for their first dance. Even the goldfish were set free at the end of the night as the bride and groom emptied the contents of the fishbowls into the resort pond. And even though it did rain that day, the showers lasted only the length of the reception and cleared just in time for guests to either head home or walk their way over to the Boardwalk Café to continue the celebration.

When the newly married couple awoke on Sunday the festivities continued as they joined the wedding guests who stayed overnight for a huge buffet brunch at the Rod N’ Reel Restaurant at the resort. Here they were able to say goodbye and receive well wishes before they hopped on a plane for their honeymoon in St. Thomas.

The only parting comments that Adrienne could add were “Be yourself and enjoy the day. It is okay to be different. So have uneven attendants in your bridal party, ask your mom or dad to be your best man/maid of honor, have the ceremony outside of a church, or choose a different music selection if it makes you feel better! You do not have to follow tradition. Who made the law that you must have that tissue paper in your invitations or that the guests have to throw rice at you? Do things your way and you may find that you have your perfect wedding day.”