There are a lot of brides out there who barely eat a thing at their wedding (and in the months leading up to it). Not Maddy DeVita. Call it an occupational hazard: she is a private chef and the content creator behind @handmethefork. Which means not only did the food have to be excellent at her wedding—to college sweetheart Jack Keeler, which took place earlier this month at Hawkins Mill, his family’s farm in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia—but she was going to eat.
“I knew I wanted to serve a family style, seasonal meal, which is my favorite way to cook for family and friends,” Maddy says. “One of the reasons I was so excited about getting married at Hawkins Mill was the prospect of making a spectacle out of the food.”
The couple more than delivered on that premise with a Francis Mallmann-inspired open-fire concept, complete with whole roasted pigs, hanging chickens, and giant flame-grilled tomahawks accompanied with fresh autumnal produce, like a lettuce, fennel, and apple salad, roasted fall squash and Brussels sprouts, and potato gratin. And, in case anyone was still feeling peckish at the end of the night (after Maddy’s signature brown butter chocolate chip cookies made the rounds), there were even pizzas made in a wood-fired pizza oven brought down from New York.
It was all necessary fuel for their guests, especially the “loud, proud tribes” of her Italian-American extended clan and his Irish-Catholic paternal relatives. “We intentionally seated our families at big, long tables to create the most epic dinner party possible,” Maddy says. “It created the most electric energy.”
All the highlights, culinary and otherwise, below.
1) The Couple
Photo credit: Pat Furey
Jack and Maddy met at a neighborhood bar while they were students at Georgetown. After five years of dating, he proposed Thanksgiving weekend 2024 at his family’s farm.
2) The Place
Photo credit: Pat Furey
Jack’s parents bought Hawkins Mill, a historic 215-acre estate in rural Virginia, a few years ago. After getting engaged there, the couple decided to get married there, too.
3) The Looks
Photo credit: Pat Furey
The bride wore a floral jacquard Watteau gown by Amsale, the same designer her mother wore for her own wedding in 1993. The groom wore a tux from Michael Andrews Bespoke.
4) The Ceremony
Photo credit: Pat Furey
Rev. Kristen Hawley, a longtime Keeler family friend, officiated with an Episcopalian service, which included the reading of the same e.e. cummings poem—I Thank You God—that was read at Jack’s parents’ wedding in 1996.
5) The Appetizers
Photo credit: Pat Furey
As a preview of the feasting to come, cocktail hour featured whole pigs roasted, then shredded and served over ciabatta with mustards and chimichurri.
6) The Reception
Photo credit: Pat Furey
A big tent was pitched on the lawn in front of the main house, and filled with florals in autumnal tones of ivory, green, dusty rose, and burgundy by Sophie Felts, and menus evoking a vintage Chez Panisse vibe by Anna Sale of Sunday Gelato. The team at Estera Events masterminded the whole thing.
7) The First Dance
Photo credit: Pat Furey
Maddy and Jack danced to “Till There Was You” by the Beatles.
8) The Grill
Photo credit: Pat Furey
“One of the reasons I was so excited about getting married at Hawkins Mill was the prospect of making a spectacle out of the food,” Maddy says of their Francis Mallmann-inspired open-fire concept.
9) The Dinner
Photo credit: Pat Furey
Highlights from the family-style feast: wood-roasted hanging chicken, tomahawk steaks, ember-roasted fall squash, potato gratin, and roasted Brussels sprouts with cranberries.
10) The Entrée
Photo credit: Pat Furey
“Just an epic feast,” Maddy says of it all. “People were literally eating the meat right off the bone, which was exactly what I had hoped!”
11) The Dessert
Photo credit: Pat Furey
The bride’s signature brown butter rye chocolate chip cookies were passed around the dance floor as dessert, accompanied by apple cider donuts and chocolate mousse.
12) The Munchies
Photo credit: Pat Furey
It didn’t end there: A wood-fired pizza oven was transported down from New York to whip up fresh pies. “Safe to say everyone was well-fed,” Maddy says.
13) The Honeymoon
Photo credit: Pat Furey
The newlyweds left for a wine-, cheese-, and pastry-filled tour of France, starting in Antibes with stops in Provence and Champagne before ending in Paris.
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