Editor’s note: This is part one of a four part series of celebrations that was printed in the January/February 2025 issue of Bethesda Magazine.
The couple: Camilla Schick, 40, is a foreign affairs producer for CBS News. She grew up in London. Nick Schifrin, 44, is the foreign affairs and defense correspondent for PBS News Hour. He grew up in Los Angeles. They live in Washington, D.C., with their two children, a son, age 3, and a daughter, age 1, and their English cocker spaniel, Lyla.
How they met: Camilla and Nick met in 2014 while working as journalists in Jerusalem. Even though they were both dating other people at the time, they always felt a spark, they say. Later on, in 2017, they were both single, but Camilla was living in London and Nick was in D.C. “I finally mustered up the courage to pursue Cam across the Atlantic,” says Nick, who flew to England for their first date, where they took in the beauty of the Lake District. The pair then started a long-distance relationship, meeting in cities all over the world for the next 18 months—Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Athens—before she moved to the U.S. to be with him in 2018. “It definitely made it more epic,” Camilla says of their globe-trotting beginnings.
The proposal: Nick proposed in May 2019 in Paris, on the street where Camilla had lived as a baby. “I was in a really bad mood that day because I had a work project that was hanging over me,” Camilla says. “I thought, ‘Well, if he can deal with me in a really foul mood and he still wants to marry, then this is a win-win situation.’ ”
The original plan: Later in 2019, Camilla and Nick became husband and wife in front of a small group of friends and family on the balcony of Del Mar, a restaurant in D.C. That day was mostly for paperwork purposes, with a more elaborate celebration planned for 2020 in the U.K. But once the pandemic took hold, the big event had to be postponed twice and then canceled. Even after Camilla and Nick’s two children came along, they never gave up the idea of a full-blown wedding reception—even if it meant throwing one closer to home. “The wedding had morphed from being sort of like, ‘Everyone’s here for the start of our marriage,’ to four years into our marriage and being like, ‘We just want a really big party to see all of our family and friends,’ ” Camilla says.
The ceremony: On July 13, 2024, the couple tied the knot again in front of about 100 guests in the lush outdoor grove at Woodend Sanctuary & Mansion in Chevy Chase. “It’s really special because of how natural it feels, how idyllic it feels, how serene it feels, even though you’re five minutes from the local highway that takes you right into D.C.,” Nick says. Their son served as the ring bearer. The master of ceremonies, a friend of the couple, had also attended their 2019 nuptials. “She talked about how everybody in the audience, the friends, the family, had supported us through long distance, through the kids, through the waiting, for that moment—this moment,” Nick recalls. “The ability to have her say that and to look out over the audience was overwhelming.” But it was seeing their kids in the front row, the groom says, that turned “an individual rite of passage into a celebration of family.”
Cocktail hour: After the ceremony came cocktail hour by the portico, where Camilla and Nick danced to the theme song of the children’s show Bluey with their kids, who were taken home shortly after. But there were soon fears of more early departures when word came that then-presidential candidate Donald Trump had been shot at a Pennsylvania rally. “We thought a third of our guests were going to leave” because so many were journalists, Camilla says. Thankfully, only one had to dash off to work.
The food: Dinner was served under a tent next to the mansion, and much like their courtship, the meal had plenty of global flair—from the Mexican-inspired mezcal margarita signature cocktail, to the Maryland influence of the mini-crabcake hors d’oeuvres, to the roasted baby lamb chops entree, an homage to the Middle East, where they met. The pair opted for a dessert bar instead of a wedding cake, and the selection of treats—such as chocolate mousse shots and cherry empanadas—proved to be a hit. “The whole thing was devoured,” says the bride.
The music: For their first dance,the couple did a choreographed waltz to the song “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from the movie La La Land. “It wasn’t perfect, but it was fun,” says the groom. They then danced the night away with their guests in the mansion’s Great Hall as the DJ spun unexpected mashups, such as a combo of “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift and Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” “It just kept the dancing going really effectively,” Nick says.
The outfits: Camilla first tried on her 1930s-style gown by Parisian designer Laure de Sagazan in 2020—but it wasn’t love at first fitting. “I was like, not interested in this dress,” she recalls. But four years later she found herself drawn to the style, and its lightweight material was well-suited to the summer date. “I felt like it was a bit more classy and a bit more mature to be wearing something that was silken lace,” she says. Nick, meanwhile, donned a tan suit with a white linen shirt.
Special touches: On each reception table—along with bouquets of black-eyed Susans, coral celosia and green eucalyptus—stood signage bedecked with illustrations of the places Nick and Camilla had visited over the course of their relationship. And as a twist on the traditional guest book, loved ones snapped photos of themselves with a Polaroid camera, writing messages alongside them in a book.
Vendors: Catering, Catering by Seasons; DJ, DJ D-Mac & Associates; florals, Wildly Native Flower Farm; photographer, Mollye Miller Photography; planners, Kristi Hartig and Melissa Stone of Glow Weddings and Events; venue, Woodend Sanctuary & Mansion.
