A Luxurious, Elegant Wedding at the Grand Historic Venue in Baltimore, Maryland

Yelena Barakh (28 and a management consultant) and Derek Lingel (30 and a network engineer) met on JDate, the jewish dating website. Over their 15-month courtship, the couple realized that they were meant for each other. Since Yelena is a foodie, Derek proposed to Yelena at one of her favorite restaurants with the question “Will you marry me?” as one of the items on the dessert menu. Yelena and Derek chose the elaborate Grand Historic Venue in downtown Baltimore as the location for both their ceremony and reception. The traditional Jewish ceremony was held in a white marble room decorated with candles and white rose petals. The reception was celebrated in the elegant ballroom, which was dazzling with its purple uplighting and white and lavender flower arrangements of peonies, roses and hydrangeas. Although the venue and decor was gorgeous, perhaps most stunning was the bride’s drop waist ball gown wedding dress, which made a statement with its voluminous ruffled skirt and train. “My favorite detail, besides my husband, was my wedding dress,” says Yelena. “I knew that I’d only get one chance to wear that over-the top dream gown.” Every detail in Yelena and Derek’s wedding, from the rose petals to the dress, was sophisticated and glamorous.