Madeline & Shuja - October 2025

The Farmhouse
5 days ago
3 min read

Maddie and Shuja's beautiful October wedding was a gorgeous, personal celebration, made even more special by the DIY efforts of their loved ones, who helped with everything from the stunning florals to the beautiful photos you're about to see!

How did you meet your significant other? How did they propose?

We first met as students at the University of Delaware. We were friendly acquaintances for the entirety of college, but were finally set up together by our mutual best friend in senior year. That same friend was our officiant on our wedding day, which was very special! We are both pretty introverted, and wanted our proposal moment to be private just between us. Shuja decorated our apartment and made a sweet proposal right at home, which was perfect.

Why did you choose The Farmhouse for your wedding?

The Farmhouse is truly a hidden gem. A lot of the other venues we looked into had less included in their packages, and for a higher price. The staff are very approachable and easy to talk to about any questions. The Farmhouse was the perfect size for our number of guests, and was beautiful without being ostentatious. We loved the vibe of having the gorgeous ceremony space and reception room, combined with the casual porch and lounge areas where guests could play games and relax. It’s also great that we didn’t have to travel elsewhere to take outdoor wedding photos, because the property itself is so lovely.

What was one of your favorite moments on your wedding day?

We did not have a first look, so the first time Shuja saw Maddie walking down the aisle was a special moment, along with reading our vows to each other. We also had a ton of fun on the dance floor. We are both huge music lovers, so we worked with our DJ to pick the playlist for the entire event, including cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing. It was awesome to hear all of our favorite songs throughout the night! Maddie’s uncle and cousin also performed two of our favorite songs live during the ceremony, which was amazing.

We love how involved you were with your music selection! What song did you choose for your first dance?

We chose “Finally // beautiful stranger” by Halsey as our first dance song. As we stated above, we loved having songs by our favorite artists play a big role in our day! We are vinyl collectors too, and included signing a record as our guest book.

What other special details did you include?

We also had disposable cameras and a photo-booth for our guests to have fun with. Another very special touch was decorating with some photos of moments across our relationship, including our Indian wedding ceremony two years ago. It was great to have that part of our love story on display.

Your wedding meal is part of the memory - what dishes (or drinks!) stood out to you or your guests?

The food at The Farmhouse is great! We had several vegetarian, gluten free, and alcohol free guests, and the venue had plenty of options to accommodate them all. The mushroom flatbread and Ahi tuna poke bites were our favorite hors d’oeuvres, and we and our guests loved the salmon with dill cream and orange-wood smoked turkey for dinner. It was also super fun having the donut wall to go along with our wedding cake!

What do you hope your guests remember most about your wedding day?

We hope guests remember two things: the first is how beautiful everything was. Multiple family members did DIY jobs at our wedding- including photography, graphic and creative design, officiating, readings, flowers, and live music. It was truly a labor of love to bring everything together, and the result was ultimately even better than we could have imagined. The second thing we hope guests remember is how much fun they had gathered with friends and family, just chatting into the night or rocking out on the dance floor.

If you had one piece of advice for future couples, what would it be?

Everything is more fun when we’re together, including planning a wedding! Our advice would be to communicate and collaborate every step of the way, and have fun with it. Remember that everyone in attendance loves and supports you, and all you have to do is just relax and be yourselves and the day will be perfect.