Wedding: Maura + Bill

Football may be the wedge between more than one husband and wife, but the game is exactly what brought Maura and Bill Shuey together: Both work for the Philadelphia Eagles, and that’s where they met. (Maura’s in the front office, and Bill is the linebacker coach.) They kept things sporting with a first date at North Bowl in Northern Liberties. “We’re both very competitive, so it was fun,” Maura recalls. But when it came time to propose, Bill chose a more dramatic spot. The two were on a 10-day Italian vacation in February 2008, and Maura wasn’t even expecting him to pop the question. The first three days they traveled the country, Bill kept the ring hidden. The payoff: In Rome, he surprised Maura on the steps of the Pantheon. “We were committing to marry each other in front of a building that’s been around since 126 AD,” says Maura. “I think that had a good significance.” The proposal was romantically far-flung, but Maura knew she wanted her Big Day to be about home and family and friends. So her parents’ residence — a nine-acre Chester County property with a farmhouse on a hill and an acre-size pond — was perfect. She also wanted the affair to be as all-natural and eco-friendly as possible, so she hired event coordinator Mark Kingsdorf of Philly’s The Queen of Hearts Wedding Consultants to help her put together a green wedding with locally grown food and flowers, and country-rustic details like vintage mason jars of lemonade and milk bottles filled with flowers. Even when rain flooded her parents’ courtyard and forced a last-minute move of the ceremony to a little white church down the road, Maura didn’t fret. “When we got back to the house,” she says, “all the girls put on sandals I bought, and by the end of the night, the guys were barefoot.” What could be more natural?

View the pictures from their special day.

Photography by Alison Conklin

The Details
Event Coordinator: The Queen of Hearts Wedding Consultants, Philadelphia.
Catering: Feastivities Catering, Berwyn and Manayunk.
Cake: Doughmain Baked Goods, Rosemont.
Decor: Flowers by Elaine’s Flowers of Chester Springs, Chester Springs; property decoration by Trish Trego, Saint Peters.
Tent: EventQuip, Lansdale.
Lighting: Eventions Productions, Aston.
photography: Alison Conklin Photography, Allentown; Videography by Video One Productions, Havertown
Bride’s look: Gown by Monique Lhuillier, The Wedding Shoppe, Wayne; hair and makeup by Claudia Seyler, Chester County and Philadelphia.
Men’s Formalwear: Ralph Lauren suits from Men’s Wearhouse, various locations.
stationery: Invitations by Spilled Ink Press, Chicago; day-of stationery by The Queen of Hearts Wedding Consultants.
Music: ceremony: French Creek Players, Pottstown; cocktail hour: Douglas Mapp Trio, Williamstown; reception: Silver Sound, Frazer.<br>Photography: Alison Conklin