A Simple, Elegant Wedding at George Peabody Library in Baltimore, Maryland

Rachel Webb (27, fifth grade teacher) and Ben Slivnick (26, seventh grade teacher) met when they both joined the Baltimore Corp of Teach for America. They grew closer thanks to their shared love of teaching, and they both pursued Masters degrees in education from Johns Hopkins University. One night after class, Ben invited Rachel to grab dinner with him at Chipotle. Rachel wasn't sure whether this was a date, but when the long lines forced them to find dinner at a romantic restaurant nearby, the ambiguous dinner became a definite first date. Rachel and Ben dated for three years before Ben spontaneously proposed to Rachel at their home. Since both their parents are librarians and teachers and since they themselves are English teachers, Rachel and Ben decided to get married at the George Peabody Library in Baltimore, the city where they fell in love. Their traditional Jewish wedding had a soft color palette with hues of lavender, sage and pink. Rachel and Ben were married under a black iron chuppah that was decorated with purple, white and pink flowers with a quilted lavender and sage backdrop made by Rachel's mother. Cones filled with dried lavender hung from the chiavari chairs at their ceremony and their dramatically illuminated reception had books with small vases of roses and dusty miller as centerpieces. Rachel and Ben hung their parents and grandparents' wedding pictures on their seating chart. "Every choice we made, we thought about how it could honor our moms, or our grandparents, or our wonderful friends," says Rachel. "We wanted to make sure they were comfortable, having fun, and feeling loved." Rachel and Ben's joyous occasion perfectly embodied their love of books, Baltimore and their family and friends.