The couple: Dan Haber, 31, grew up in Rockville and graduated from Thomas S. Wootton High School. He works as a contractor for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Megan Humes Haber, 30, grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania. She works as an operations impact and knowledge manager at the Centre for Public Impact. They live in Mount Rainier, Maryland, with their cat, Luna.
How they met: The pair matched on the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel in 2017 and went on their first date to Compass Rose in Washington, D.C. There, they bonded over their shared passion for travel, athletics—and bucking convention. “We talked about all the things you’re not supposed to talk about, like religion and politics,” recalls Dan. “Everything checked off.”
The proposal: Dan proposed during a hike in “absolutely nowhere Pennsylvania,” recalls Megan, while they were on a trip in October 2020. “I was looking at a bird through binoculars, and when I put the binoculars down, Dan was kneeling and reached for my hand,” she says. Even though he had forgotten to retrieve the ring from his backpack before popping the question, the answer was still “yes.”
The ceremony: The couple wed at Aix La Chapelle Farm in Poolesville on Sept. 4, 2022, with about 130 guests present. Even though neither Dan nor Megan is very religious, they decided to have a “Jew-ish ceremony,” Megan says, to honor Dan’s cultural background—they signed the ketubah, the Jewish marriage contract, and said “I do” under a chuppah.
The venue: Choosing Aix La Chapelle Farm, the pair says, was as much about practicality as it was about beauty. “The most important thing to me was [the] flow of the space,” Megan says. At Aix, she says, “I could picture how things—and we—would be moving through the space through the night,” from the ceremony in the peach orchard, to dinner in an outdoor tent, to dancing in the “dairy barn” space. The bucolic setting was another big draw. “We wanted something where you couldn’t hear any traffic and with a little bit of a view into the distance somewhere,” says the groom.
The reception: After a two-year engagement amid the pandemic, the pair was more than ready to celebrate once it came time for the big day. “This is a party first and foremost, we want it to feel like that,” says the bride. Video cameras floated around for guests to record selfie-style clips with well-wishes for the newlyweds, and heart-shaped seed packets served as the party favors. For the newlyweds’ exit, guests held wagon bows strewn with string lights and bells to create an archway for the couple to walk through, and a surprise awaited them on the other side. “All of a sudden, a golf cart shows up with cans tied behind it and my brother saying, ‘Get in!’ ” recalls Dan. “So we drove off into the darkness.”
The decor: The couple took advantage of the venue’s homey decor, from the mismatched antique chairs at the dinner tables to the clusters of seating areas meant to create “opportunities for intimate conversations,” Megan says. The pair’s florals—lively bouquets of sunflowers, circus roses and blue thistle—added to the eclectic atmosphere and captured Megan’s vision of a “root vegetable chic” color scheme. “The end of summer harvest going into fall felt very natural,” she says.
The outfits: The bride tried on a lot of dresses before picking out a backless gown with an “antique, vintage-y feel to it” from the (now-closed) I Do I Do Wedding Gowns boutique in Gaithersburg. “When I put it on, it was like, That’s what I was looking for,” she says. Dan, meanwhile, donned a navy blue suit with a burnt orange tie to match Megan’s bridesmaids’ dresses.
The music: Megan and Dan’s first dance was to “Let Loose” by Mt. Joy, but they really let loose when the six-piece band played “You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon, a tune that “got us through the pandemic with two of our really good friends we lived with for a year when things were bleak,” Megan says. “It came on, and we all just ran screaming to the dance floor and jumping around.”
The food: The pair wanted what Megan describes as a “vegetable-forward but not vegetarian” menu to accommodate all their guests’ dietary restrictions. “We were really trying to make sure everyone would be able to be full,” she says, and the selection—a fall harvest salad, chicken with tomatoes and artichokes, eggplants atop edamame hummus and a butternut squash ravioli—did not disappoint. But the most memorable part of the meal, the newlyweds say, was not the fare but the fact that it was served family-style, in big bowls at every table. “Everyone got more of what they like. Everyone got to try everything. People got to talk with their tables to pass the food around,” Dan says. “It solved every single problem.”
The dessert: After the feast, guests trotted over to the farm’s cafe-style bakery, where glass display cases showed off sweet treats such as salted caramel cheesecake and key lime dessert “shots,” fruit skewers and chocolate-dipped marshmallows. “It looked so cute,” says Megan of the setup.
The honeymoon: The pair left for a 10-day trip to Portugal the day after the wedding. “Especially because we’d already lived together, we’d already bought our house together, that was the big distinction between getting married and our normal life,” says the bride. A travel agent helped them plan the European excursion, which included trips to Lisbon, the Douro Valley and the Algarve.
Vendors: Band, Da Vinci Strings and DC Fusion of Washington Talent; catering, Catering by Seasons; florist, Davinci Florist; hair and makeup, Veux Beauty; hotel, Gaithersburg Marriott Washingtonian Center; photographer, Amanda Gilley Photography; shuttle service, MJ Valet; tent, Allied Event Solutions; venue, Aix La Chapelle Farm; videographer, TLIC Media.
This story appeared in the September/October 2024 issue of Bethesda Magazine.
