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Mara and Joel

Weddings

An orchard near Germantown

June 2026

742 photos

A June wedding between the apple rows, with dinner under the maple and sparklers at half past eleven.

A groom in a navy suit looks back and laughs as he leads the bride down a row of apple trees, hills behind

The day

12:10 Getting ready

14:30 First look

16:00 The ceremony

18:05 Portraits

20:12 Dinner

22:05 The first dance

23:30 Sparklers

Check your date

12:10 Getting ready

Mara got ready in the farmhouse her family rents every September. Her mother did the earrings; Joel’s brother did the tie.

White satin wedding shoes and pearl earrings on a farmhouse windowsill, apple trees outsideThe bride’s mother fastens a pearl earring for her by a farmhouse window in morning lightJoel laughs as his brother straightens his navy tie on the farmhouse porch

14:30 First look

They wanted five minutes on their own before anyone else arrived. We stood two rows away.

Mara taps Joel on the shoulder between the apple rows for their first look

16:00 The ceremony

Ninety guests on folding chairs between the apple rows. Joel lasted until the second line of Mara’s vows.

Guests walk to wooden chairs set between the apple trees, a man carrying a toddler on his shouldersA couple hold hands during their ceremony between rows of apple trees, guests on wooden chairsJoel wipes away a tear while Mara reads her vows from a small cardMara and Joel walk back down the aisle laughing as guests throw dried petals

18:05 Portraits

Twenty minutes while the guests sat down for dinner. The light between the rows goes gold around six.

Mara rests her forehead against Joel’s cheek between the apple rows at golden hour, both laughingA girl in a yellow dress and a boy in a waistcoat run laughing between the apple rows

20:12 Dinner

One long table under the maple. Mara’s father spoke for four minutes and nobody at the table got through it dry.

A long dinner table with candles and flowers set in the grass under a large maple treeMara’s father gives a toast at the long table under the maple as the string lights come onMara laughs with her grandmother, holding hands at the dinner table under the maple

22:05 The first dance

On the grass, under the lights Joel’s brother had strung up that morning.

Mara and Joel dance on the grass at night under festoon lights, guests in a circle around them

23:30 Sparklers

We stay until the last song. Here the last song came with sparklers.

The couple run laughing between two lines of guests holding sparklers at night at the orchard

My grandmother is in forty of the photos. We didn’t know Sami had stayed with her all through dinner.

Mara

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