We are so excited to celebrate with you! #JolytobeWebb

Dear Friends, good news! Governor Hogan of Maryland said that ALL Covid-related restrictions are now lifted. Rosensteel Hall will follow this ordinance. Nonetheless, anyone not vaccinated is encouraged to wear a mask. We will do our best to seat only families and households at the same table. Food will be served by staff, from a buffet or family style. We ask that you follow the directions of staff at all times, and do your best to only eat seated at your table. In the meantime, Virginia, where our ceremony is located, has lifted all distancing requirements. St. Rita Church is large and spacious, and we are confident it will easily accommodate all of you. These new guidelines enable us to fit all of our guests in the church and reception hall safely and in ways of which the CDC would approve. Of course, if you are experiencing any symptoms the day of, we ask that you prudently refrain from attending, and join us virtually, at the link we will provide. See FAQ for more details. We sincerely look forward to celebrating with you, in person, or virtually, as the situation allows. Everyone's health and safety, particularly our older or high risk family members, remains our top priority. **If you have specific needs as to with whom you can safely sit due to Covid, please reach out to one of us.**

We met in January 2020 for a hot chocolate date after Juliet reached out to Brian on CatholicMatch.com. We had been intentionally praying as we discerned God’s plan for our specific vocation. We were very excited to meet someone else who was equally interested in exploring the adventure of living out God’s love for us through marriage. We both spent the first month getting to know one another as brother and sister as we shared our passions and interests and quickly realized that we had a lot that complimented one another! We agreed to begin dating in March and charted a course on how we would discern marriage with one another through purposeful growth and prayerful reflection. Within a few weeks, we were in the midst of the pandemic, which surprisingly provided a unique opportunity to spend quality time together as we sought to know each other on many dimensions through the aid of countless articles, advice from friends/family, and an exhaustive workbook for engaged couples that we have yet to finish.

Interspersed throughout this purposeful dating process were many outdoor adventures in DC, Virginia, and Maryland. Favorite tests of Juliet’s trust in Brian’s decision making include sailing in a small craft advisory, picking wild mushrooms for dinner, tubing down the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry, kayak camping, urban wild berry picking, and navigating on bike trails in the dark. Juliet has learned that Brian can be trusted! Except for sailing… the verdict is still out on sailing. We share similar passions for the arts that have enriched our relationship. We both love sacred music and singing, which was unfortunately limited in scope by COVID, but in April 2021 we were able to sing in a choir together for a Way of the Cross event in DC. We are really looking forward to the opportunity to share with you a few favorite hymns during our nuptial mass! Since no public singing was a reality during dating, we did find many opportunities to practice cooking wonderful meals in preparation for hosting others in a home together one day. We both found that we experience joy in sharing the abundance of our blessings with others. Brian loves to introduce those from the city to his wild game meats harvested from adventures to the countryside with friends and veterans each year. We especially love to finish our meals with a little dancing (mostly swing) and look forward to showing off some moves during the reception!

One of the most important and beautiful things we discovered about one another is the centrality of the Catholic faith. We have discovered over the months of our courtship that the way we practice and live out our faiths are deeply complementary—and this has been such a gift to discover! Juliet’s past discernment of religious life with the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo formed her to become deeply passionate about living an intentional common life in whatever vocation God was calling her. Brian has enthusiastically received Juliet’s invitation to pray together daily Compline (Night Prayer) from the Liturgy of the Hours. We have both shared in the many opportunities to experience signs of God’s presence in our lives through the sacraments and liturgical events while dating. One fun highlight was when we were staying at a cabin of his friend during Lent. We were going for a walk in the countryside and, remembering it was Friday, Juliet broke out a version of the stations and we prayed it together as we walked the Virginia countryside. Starting a few months ago, we also began calling one another in the morning to recite a prayer we wrote together, begging God to guide us as we “deeply desire to emulate His beauty in our relationship through purity and charity,” and risk our hearts with one another in vulnerability. We are both immensely grateful for the complementarity we are experiencing through one another’s preferences in ways of concretely living out the faith. We hope this complementarity will enrich our future family and provide it a diversity of opportunities to experience the joy of Christ.

In January 2021 we decided we were ready to plan to receive one another as a perfect gift in matrimony. As we began to dream about what this process would look like, we stumbled upon the tradition of Christian betrothal and decided to use this method of becoming “engaged” to allow us to announce our intention to marry in the presence of our families, community, and God. On March 6, 2021 we became betrothed at St Rita’s Catholic Church (the same church where we will be married) and committed to the final steps of discernment of our vocation with one another with the aid and the counsel of many. Since that time we have been furiously planning the details of the ceremony while spending even more time learning more about the other and the meaning of this life-changing adventure on which we are about to embark.