Hello there
Ashley and John had a slew of mutual friends in high school and often wound up at the same gatherings.
They barely spoke to each other.
He thought she was an uptight, in-crowd girl.
She thought he was sensitive and weird. "He was always writing in a journal," Ashley said.
John, who grew up in Roslyn, graduated from Abington High School in 2000. He waited tables and tried to make it big with his ska band Three Week Struggle. John was lead singer. "It boiled down to me screaming," he said.
That November, Ashley, then a senior at Phil-Mont Christian Academy, joined friends at a Three Week Struggle show at Chelten Baptist Church.
For reasons neither can explain, John and Ashley started talking before the band went on. They liked it.
John kicked off the show by jumping out of a cake. He spent much of the rest of it making eye contact with a girl he thought he didn't like.
"Seeing him in that element was definitely different," Ashley said. "He was so cool and funny and had me laughing, which I think changed something for me."
"In that element, she loosened up a little bit," said John. "She didn't seem so serious."
He called the next day. And the day after that. The third day, his call came from Abington Memorial Hospital. John had appendicitis.
John's mother, Donna, still tells the story of her sedated son's presurgery gushing about the most beautiful girl he met. Ashley loves this story.
Ashley visited John in the hospital. She later took him to have his surgical staples removed. That was all before their first date at Buca di Beppo, where Ashley scarfed down all the would-be leftovers.
At the end of the summer, Ashley left to study communications at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Three Week Struggle disbanded, and John studied photojournalism at Temple University. They saw each other on weekends and breaks until Ashley graduated and took a job at the National Constitution Center.
How does forever sound?
As soon as she was back in Philly, loved ones began wondering, sometimes out loud, when John and Ashley would get engaged. The couple, now both 30, thought it wise to do some short-distance dating first.
And both were busy working on their careers - Ashley recently became director of communications at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, and John gave up waiting tables on the side to focus full-time on his photography business, John McGinnis Photography.
In 2009, after a two-year search for just the right place, they bought a house in Fishtown.
In 2011, John gave himself a tough assignment: surprising the woman he had been dating for 11 years. At Christmas, he told her one of her gifts would be late.
From their friends who own Peg and Awl, John bought a tiny leather-bound book strung on a necklace.
One Sunday in February 2012, Ashley and John went to check out the dinosaurs at the Franklin Institute. When they left, John stopped on the sidewalk in front. "I almost forgot," he told Ashley. "Your Christmas gift finally came."
Unwrapping the tiny package, Ashley recognized the little book their friends make. She knew they were blank, "but something told me to open it."
On the first page, John had written: "Will you marry me?"
"I blacked out at that moment, but I don't think I got down on one knee," John said.
"I'm not even sure I said yes. I was just crying and happy," said Ashley.
It was so them
Friends of the couple did arrangements of indie-rock hits, Elvis, and the Turtles, which were played by a string trio. Ashley walked down the aisle to "Falling Slowly" from the movie Once.
The wedding was jointly officiated by Mayor Nutter, whom Ashley got to know when she worked at the Constitution Center, and the Rev. John Leonard, a close family friend.
The Rev. Larry Westerveld of Trinity Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Hatboro, Ashley's childhood pastor, spoke of the influence of beloved grandparents who saw the couple get started but passed away before their wedding.
John's Nanny Ida was a caretaker by profession and nature. His Grandpa Joe loved family above all else. Ashley's grandma Margie lived her faith. Her tough-guy grandpa Bill turned to mush in the presence of grandchildren.
Reading cards on the drive to their honeymoon, Ashley started crying. "There was one from my Nanny that she put away before she died," John said.
John and Ashley love everything vintage. They hired a silhouette artist who cut guests' images out of black felt. They used antiques-store finds everywhere, including a shoe-shine caddy that held cards and a 1900s top hat for the photo booth.
Instead of cake, guests got a visit from the Little Baby's ice cream cart. Instead of favors, they got bags of cookies and glass-bottled milk from a Chambersburg creamery.
This was unexpected
When the couple kissed at the end of the ceremony, the bridal party held up letters that spelled "Finally!"
Awestruck
Walking toward John before photos, Ashley's belly filled with butterflies. "I could see him down the way, waiting in the trees, and I started crying," she said. "I knew the day had finally come."
John got emotional when Ashley walked toward him a second time, down the aisle. "There was something about being in front of all our friends and family, and seeing this woman I love so dearly," he said. "We had both waited for so long, and it was finally real."
Discretionary spending
A bargain: By marrying in the wedding offseason, the couple saved 33 percent on catering.
The splurge: For their specialty cocktails, the couple bought Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction spirits. They spent twice their usual per-bottle price.
The getaway: Six days in Quebec, where they went dogsledding and stayed at the Ice Hotel.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Officiants: Mayor Nutter, City of Philadelphia, and the Rev. John Leonard of Cresheim Valley Church, Philadelphia
Venue: Horticulture Center in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia
Food: Stephen Starr Events, Philadelphia
Music: Ceremony: KEMistrings Trio, Warminster; Reception: DJ DeeJay, Philadelphia
Photography: Ash Imagery, Barto, Pa.
Videography: Mt. Carmel Films, Philadelphia
Flowers: Petals Lane, Philadelphia
Dress: By Jenny Yoo, purchased at Nordstrom Wedding Suite, King of Prussia
Invitations: Daniel N. Knapp, Philadelphia