Old School Elegance

These Jefferson County sweethearts shared a vision for a timelessly beautiful wedding.

Ashley Jaranko & Jonathan Wertman
Shenandoah Junction | 10.25.14

written by Miriah Hamrick
photographed by Pangtography

He waved, and she struggled to remember who he was. It’s not your typical love-at-first-sight story, but Ashley Jaranko wasn’t looking for romance when a mutual friend introduced her to Jonathan Wertman at The Three Onions, a restaurant and bar in Shepherdstown, in March 2009. That was a busy night, Ashley says, and their introduction was brief. The next day, she left for a vacation in Aspen.

When she walked into The Three Onions a few weeks later, she didn’t recognize the tall guy waving at her. But Jonathan, a Martinsburg native who had just arrived in the Eastern Panhandle after finishing law school, remembered meeting her. “She was obviously beautiful and she had a real energy and spirit about her,” Jonathan says. “I was intrigued by that and interested to know more about her.” Luckily, Jonathan wasn’t discouraged when it took Ashley a few moments to recall their introduction, and by both accounts, the two have been inseparable ever since. “After she remembered who I was, we really hit it off,” Jonathan says.

Looking back, Ashley says it feels fated that she met Jonathan when she did. The two shared many mutual friends and attended high schools less than 30 miles apart, but their paths didn’t cross until years after graduation, when Ashley was contemplating big changes in her life. “I was in a vulnerable position. I was trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life. I was living at home and I wasn’t looking to date anyone or meet anyone,” she says.

By conventional standards, the timing seemed off, but within a month of dating, both Jonathan and Ashley realized they had found their life partners. The relationship grew serious, especially when Jonathan offered compassion and support following the death of Ashley’s childhood best friend a few months after they met. “I took it hard, as you can imagine. It was very meaningful that he came into my life when he did and was there to provide comfort,” Ashley says.

Cold hands, warm hearts

Ashley and Jonathan quickly committed to one another, moving in together after seven months, but the proposal came almost five years after their initial meeting. Once the couple began having serious discussions about marriage, Jonathan started working with a local jeweler to design a custom ring, using the diamond from her grandmother’s engagement ring as the centerpiece and choosing features that reflected her personality.

“We put in some elements that really represent her,” Jonathan says. “We added a little black diamond in the bottom corner. She’s got her rebellious side, and I wanted to represent that.”

Designing the ring was only one task Jonathan had to juggle in his quest to plan and pull off a memorable proposal. Ashley knew it was coming, but Jonathan hoped to surprise her with the details, which included orchestrating the event so Ashley’s best friend from college could travel to town to be part of the experience. “Trying to coordinate two schedules without making it look like something was going on was very difficult,” Jonathan says. “But at the same time, it was fun to traverse those details and come up with a plan.”

Schedules aligned on a snowy Friday evening in early January, when Jonathan asked Ashley to go to the Rumsey Monument, one of the couple’s favorite spots in Shepherdstown, after dinner. “Inviting her out to the monument in the beginning of January was a little bit tough to do, but luckily it was a beautiful night and she was happy to oblige,” Jonathan says.

A stunning view of the Potomac River’s winding trail through the Shenandoah Valley awaited the couple at the top of the monument. “There was snow on the ground, and the sky was clear so you could see all the stars,” Ashley says. As beautiful as the view was, the temperature was freezing, so Jonathan didn’t waste any time getting down on one knee and asking Ashley to marry him.

As the couple walked down the steps to their car, Ashley’s friend arrived. “We hugged and cried and it was really, really perfect,” Ashley says.

It takes two

Planning for the wedding began promptly, and while many grooms-to-be remain hands-off while decisions are made about the big day, Jonathan stayed involved throughout the process. “We share opinions on aesthetics and style, and it was important for us to both have our own ideas,” Jonathan says. “We can really hone in on the best ideas when we can decide together.”

Ashley was grateful for the perspective her fiancé brought to the table. “We definitely planned it together, and I really loved him having an opinion,” she says.

The couple envisioned a soft, romantic setting in Jefferson County, the place they met and fell in love, and the historic apple orchards at The Barn at York Hill provided the perfect setting. The bank barn nestled in the hills of the farm offered plenty of rustic charm for the reception, but Ashley and Jonathan wanted to avoid the décor typically featured in barn weddings.

Instead of choosing accents like burlap or twine, the couple opted for silver candlesticks, lots of lace, and eclectic finds from local antique stores, including cigar boxes and old fans. Family members pulled out treasures from attics and garages, including Ashley’s grandmother’s antique lace tablecloths and her aunt’s brocade-upholstered antique couch with a carved serpentine backboard. “We wanted it to have an old-school elegance to it,” Jonathan says. “That juxtaposition between the rural elements, like the barn and the orchard, and the sort of style in which our parents and grandparents got married was cool and complemented our styles well.”

Dress shopping was one part of the planning process Ashley tackled without Jonathan’s help. She wanted a soft, wearable, lacy gown that fit the couple’s vision and she found the perfect dress at the first store she visited: J & B Bridals in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Initially, Ashley wasn’t won over by the romantic, vintage-inspired Maggie Sottero gown with a beaded lace illusion neckline over a sweetheart underlay, despite a teary reception from her mom and sister. “It was the second dress I tried on. I came out and my mom was crying and my sister was crying. I had tears in my eyes, but I wasn’t sold,” Ashley says.

She tried on a couple more dresses, but when she returned to the Maggie Sottero gown and everyone got teary-eyed again, she knew she’d found the one.

Go the distance

Less than a week after Ashley and Jonathan got engaged, Ashley learned she was accepted into a doctorate program in physical therapy at Shenandoah University. As the wedding date approached and Ashley faced mounting responsibilities as a full-time graduate student—including an 8 a.m. exam the day before her wedding—the couple’s family as well as a close-knit group of Ashley’s girlfriends stepped up to make sure all details fell into place. “They really wanted to take the stress off me,” Ashley says. “We had a lot of hands on our side.”

Using only a few pictures as inspiration, a group of 30 close friends and family members arrived at the venue the day before the wedding, hanging lights from rafters, arranging tabletop decorations, even building the frame for the set of doors that would open to the aisle at the ceremony location. When Ashley arrived at the orchard after her exam, she found her vision brought to life.

Surrounded by friends and family on the day of the wedding, both Ashley and Jonathan felt calm but eager to see one another. As guests settled into their seats, Ashley joined her dad in his vintage Chrysler 300, which he’d lovingly restored after inheriting it from his uncle, for an unusual twist on the father-daughter walk down the aisle.

“My dad is my second favorite man—after Jonathan—in this whole world,” Ashley says. “I knew it would mean a lot to him to have this special moment.”

As Jonathan watched the Chrysler pull up to the aisle, he waited for what felt like an eternity to lay eyes on Ashley. “That car probably couldn’t have moved any slower. Things were moving in slow motion, and I’d been building up to that moment all day,” Jonathan says.

Once the doors to the aisle opened and Ashley and her father began walking toward Jonathan and the wedding party, the couple locked eyes. As they clasped hands to say “I do,” their nerves faded.

After the ceremony, guests moved to the barn for a cocktail hour with entertainment by The Danny Tait Trio, a local three-piece jazz band and friends of the couple. Outside the barn, a bonfire crackled throughout the night as guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres, funny and heartfelt toasts by the maid of honor and best man, and plenty of dancing.

Ashley and Jonathan list the bonfire, a common meeting point for many guests who didn’t already know each other, as one of their favorite parts of the reception. “It really embodied our relationship,” Jonathan says, “to be able to bring my family and her family and our friends from all over the place to come see our love, what makes us tick, who we are, and our love of Shepherdstown and West Virginia.”