Molly + CJ | Pier 5 Hotel Wedding Photos

September 29, 2021 Molly + CJ | Pier 5 Hotel Wedding Photos | Baltimore, MD

Molly and CJ’s wedding this past weekend at Pier 5 Hotel in Baltimore was WELL worth the wait! Third time’s the charm – Molly and CJ are married!

The Couple

From the bride: “We share a mutual friend, Natalie (our officiant!) who became friends with CJ in college at Salisbury and became friends with Molly in 6th grade at McDonogh. Natalie is the type of person who invites everyone to join in festivities and connect friend groups and CJ was no exception. She would always invite him out both in college and in Baltimore, but he was notorious in being a no show.

“CJ went to law school at the University of Maryland Baltimore and he established roots in Baltimore after graduation. The weekend before he started at his first law firm, Natalie invited him to join at our mutual friend, Dani’s birthday party. Spoiler alert, he showed up! Funny thing is, I came a little late and wasn’t going to go that night, but decided to visit for a little bit and leave early.

“CJ’s personality immediately caught my attention. The way he was laughing and joking with everyone, I thought he knew everyone in the room and I even asked Natalie if he was a friend of Dani’s from college. She informed me that no, that was her friend from college and he knew no one and had just moved back to Baltimore. We started chatting because I also noticed that he looked athletic. I had been part of a kickball team for many seasons and we were notoriously bad. I thought, hey maybe this outgoing athletic guy can help us…turns out, he ended up playing a few seasons and did help us win, but I also found my future husband!

“We quickly bonded over our love of the Olympics, trying new restaurants, and football. 3 years later, we moved in together and another year and a half later, we celebrated our engagement.”

The Proposal

We got engaged on a Sunday in October 2019, just a few days before a trip to Barcelona and Madrid. Molly was convinced CJ was going to propose in Spain and was even trying to guess which site or restaurant he’d pick. That Sunday we went to friends Liz and Mike’s house (which was where Molly used to live before moving in with CJ and where we hung out for the first time). Every October Molly and Liz would plan a fall afternoon to carve pumpkins, roast pumpkin seeds and have apple cider and CJ decided this would be a perfect time as Molly was not expecting it. We sat outside in their backyard and Molly had no idea this was happening so while the other 3 carved their pumpkins really quickly, Molly took her time. We all finally finished and Molly made a trip to the restroom while the others got into position. When Molly came out CJ started to say “I know you’ve been patient and giving me time, but you only need to give me one more second” which Molly did not pick up on at all. Even when he got down on one knee, Molly thought he was just messing with her, that is until she saw the ring box. Her mouth dropped open and the only thing to come out was “what the hell?!” She was completely shocked. It was such a cool moment and we celebrated with Mike and Liz out to dinner after, followed by some sunset photos in Canton. We were then able to celebrate all over Spain (plus then CJ didn’t have to worry about carrying the ring through the airports. :)

The Wedding

Molly and CJ were my last couple to photograph last year before the shutdown. Literally. Like, an hour before. We took the save the date photo (which you will see below) with a promise to do their full engagement session when things were less weird. As it turns out, things didn’t get less weird for a while – so their engagement session ended up happening AFTER their original wedding date.

Third time’s the charm, and this past Saturday CJ and Molly were finally married! And man, was it worth the wait. Their vows had me teary, the sunset was incredible and the party a total blast. It was the perfect day for a wonderful couple who I’ve truly come to adore. I’m so excited to share the highlights on the blog today! Shout out to Tommy for coming up from North Carolina to shoot with me!