Limoncello West Chester

Rehearsal Dinner

Brandywine Manor House

Wedding Day

Ceremony

Cocktail Hour

Reception

Our Wedding

Just after the turn of the decade, David and Leonie “swiped right” on each other’s profiles on OkCupid. David set his filters for women ages 20-24 who spoke a Scandinavian language, and Leonie set her filters for men ages 20-26. Although we werent supposed to match, the app had other ideas. After unexpectedly matching on January 7, 2020, David quickly scheduled a date for Saturday, January 11, 2020. As David always wanted to attend a professional hockey game, David bought last-minute tickets to see the Washington Capitals face off against the New Jersey Devils. We grabbed a quick dinner before the game, where David very quickly discovered Leonie was very sensitive to spice, which meant Leonie ate very little at Nando’s that evening. After dinner, the two climbed up to their seats at the top of the Capital One Arena (they were last minute tickets, to be fair), where they learned more about each other while watching the Caps get blown out by the Devils in a brutal 5-1 loss. All the same, the two enjoyed their evening and continued the date for a post-game drink at Fado’s Irish Tavern. The pair laughed and talked until the last Red Line trains home arrived at 2:00am, taking each of us in opposite directions. Over the next two months, the pair continued to go on dates until the pandemic lockdowns hit. With seeing each other no longer an option, David’s workload exploding, and Leonie’s visa coming to an end, it seemed the relationship might be doomed. But the two kept contact, exchanging a few texts per day, until lockdowns began to lift in late May 2020. In June of 2020, Leonie asked David to commit or break things off. While still apprehensive at the possibility of another long-distance relationship, David committed (with some encouragement from Alex (our officiant), Chelsea (a bridesmaid), and Will (the best man)). Their relationship picked up steam, eventually taking them on their first vacation to Key West in April 2021, and carried them to the end of Leonie’s au pair visa. On May 13, 2021, it was time for Leonie to return to Germany. The very difficult goodbye at Dulles International Airport marked the beginning of a new phase: long-distance, uncertainty, and waiting. For Leonie, this meant staying up late at night for evening phone calls at midnight her time (at the earliest) and for David, it meant getting up earlier to talk before work (and during football season, Leonie stayed up as late as 4:00am her time to watch the Philadelphia Eagles game every Sunday). Due to COVID restrictions at the time, David was first to make the cross-Atlantic flight, visiting Leonie in Bavaria in September 2021 and meeting her family. On Columbus Day 2021, David filed for a 90-day fiancée visa for Leonie. Over Christmas 2021, David again visited Leonie in Germany. While sending Leonie out and enlisting her mother’s help to wrap Christmas presents, David asked for Leonie’s parents’ permission to propose to her. Although David was unsure whether his German was correct, he understood their answer: yes. On December 30, 2021, David hired a photographer and set up a surprise proposal along the Saint Charles Bridge in Prague, CZ. Although David made the mistake of lying to Leonie about going to brunch, Leonie tearfully said “Ja” to the question. However, there followed over a year of waiting, early mornings, late nights, cross-Atlantic flights, uncertainty, and doubt about if or when the visa would be approved. At times, Leonie was not sure she could outlast and considered calling off the engagement. But with David’s steady and calm support, Leonie endured. On February 7, 2023—ironically, the same day Leonie landed in DC for another 60-day visit—the pair received a notice that the immigration authorities had approved David’s visa petition. By May 2023, Leonie attended her interview in Frankfurt am Main, and by June 2023, Leonie moved in for good. After sixteen months of waiting and doubt, we had finally come out on the other side. We’re excited to invite you all to the celebration of our story on October 4, 2025. Without your support, direct or indirect, big or small, this is only possible because of you. We wish to start the next chapter with all those who supported us along the way, and we hope you will join us! “It’s like in the great stories… the ones that really mattered, full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? But in the end, it was only a passing thing – even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something. Even if you couldn’t understand why. But… I think I know now: folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something… & it was worth fighting for.“

Our Story

Photos

Alex Campbell

Will Oliner

Matt Nadler

Andrew McIlvain

Will Highland

Derek Gester

Zack Witkower

John McKeon

Melanie Wulf

Henrik Horst

Maddie McIlvain

Chelsea Campbell

Alyssa McKeon

Wedding Party

Q + A

Please book your room through the link until September 8th to get the block rate.  If you’re unable to book the block rate, please let us know (484-947-4426) - they’ll add rooms incrementally to the block upon our request. You also don’t have to book the full period, these are just the dates the block is available.

Holiday Inn Express Exton- Great Valley

We are providing a shuttle from the Holiday Inn Express Exton to the wedding venue. The buses are set to leave at 4pm and return to the hotel at 11pm. 

Shuttle Service

Accommodations

Things to Do

Registry

David & Leonie

David & Leonie

Registry