Jordan Johnson was a junior at Georgetown University, and Ethan Green was in his first year of law school at George Washington University, when they met on Tinder and spent weeks texting each other non-stop. They finally arranged to meet at a coffee shop by Jordan’s dorm. Five months later, they said, “I love you” for the first time outside of that same cafe.
Four-and-a-half years later, Ethan surprised Jordan with a proposal in their new home of New York City. While getting ready for a dinner date downtown, Jordan realized that Ethan changed his shirt not once, not twice, and not even thrice. “He literally changed his shirt five times,” she laughs. Jordan thought to herself, “Is this the night?” She quickly slipped into a more photo-worthy outfit just in case.
They finally made it to the restaurant ten minutes after their set reservation, so they were understandably frazzled. “But we were instantly relaxed when we saw all of the pasta on the menu!” Jordan shares. After ordering, drinking, and laughing, Ethan suggested Jordan should text their friends in the area and see if they wanted to meet for drinks.
To Jordan’s dismay, every single friend was “busy.” Conveniently, one of Ethan’s best friends replied and said he was already at a nearby bar. The couple walked toward the second destination of the evening, but Ethan had a detour in mind. He pulled Jordan into a coffee shop, and when Jordan saw the candlelit space filled with flowers, her earlier suspicions were finally confirmed. Tonight was the night. Ethan proposed to her right then and there.
Twenty minutes later, all of the friends she texted, who claimed they were busy, came through the door. “We drank lots of Soju and danced the night away,” Jordan remembers. “It was perfect.”
The couple booked the scenic Old Edwards Inn in North Carolina for their nuptials. “Our ongoing inspiration for the wedding weekend was mountain glam with a touch of New York City edge,” Jordan divulges. “It was really important to me to have a beautiful setting paired with tons of flowers and candles to set that mood.” Their planner, Jacin Fitzgerald Events, and florist, Floressence Flowers, helped turn that dream into a reality, and Pharris Photos and Films was there to capture every moment.
Both Jordan and Ethan looked forward to planning their wedding attire. “Our wedding was black tie, but I didn’t want to just wear a black tux—I wanted to feel special too,” Ethan shares. “I wanted something that was very ‘me’ and something no one else had seen before.” He turned to Mohan’s Custom Tailors in New York to design a custom blue linen tuxedo. He paired the ensemble with Paul Stuart velvet loafers.
The bride chose three different dresses for all of the wedding festivities. Her first dress was a lace Monique Lhuillier gown, the epitome of romance. “As soon as I put that dress on, I knew it was the one,” she says. “It was sexy but also classic, and it was the first time I felt like a bride.” With the first dress selected, Jordan took far longer to find her second outfit. Nothing seemed to match the drama of Lhuillier. But then, during a late-night deep-dive through Pinterest, Jordan dropped her jaw and found her second dress. She elaborates further, “Of course, the pin didn’t say who made the dress or if it was even available, but after lots of research, I figured out that the dress was from Eisen Stein Bridal.”
Since the designer is based in Tel Aviv, Jordan needed to get the dress from Israel to the United States. Nevertheless, she worked with the showroom to bring the gown to Mark Ingram Atelier. When she finally tried on the dress, it was even more beautiful in person than on her Pinterest account.
Unlike the other two, her third and final dress was a complete impulse purchase. Her last fitting at Monique Lhuillier ended earlier than she anticipated and left her with a spare half hour to venture around the Upper East Side. A sparkly dress at Alice + Olivia caught her eye, and she knew that was just what she wanted to end the night wearing. “It was so sexy and so me,” she boasts. “In true New York fashion, I am always wearing black, so it was fitting to end my wedding night in a little black dress.”
Accessories were just as important to the bride. With her first two outfits, she donned pink Dior shoes as a fun pop of color and as a nod to the wedding color palette. “I also wore these two beautiful crystal barrettes from Monique Lhuillier, three radiant diamond bracelets from my mom, and my mom’s blue sapphire ring,” she lists. The ring served as her something borrowed, old, and blue! By the end of the night, Jordan swapped her pink heels for strappy black Ted Baker shoes. Scoobie West completed her entire flawless beauty look.
The wedding party looked classic in black tuxedos and Show Me Your Mumu gowns. Jordan selected her bridesmaids’ dresses in colors “Show Me The Ring,” “Slate Blue,” and “Steel Blue.”
On September 4, 2021, Ethan and Jordan stood at the altar with one of their best friends as the officiant. “He spoke to his friendship with us individually as well as our relationship as a whole,” Jordan recalls. She and Ethan each wrote their own vows. They also selected a Bible verse for Ethan’s mother to read and a Maya Angelou poem for Jordan’s mother. The bride adds, “We both wanted our mothers to play a role in the ceremony, and their readings were very special to us.”
Jordan confides that she and Ethan felt nervous during the ceremony—but it was more akin to first date jitters. “You are so excited but also a little bit overwhelmed,” the bride explains. “I felt the most at ease reading my vows to Ethan and hearing his vows to me. It was so powerful to hear those words in front of our closest friends and family, and [it] created a bond between us that I know will last the rest of our lives.”
As guests left the ceremony and headed outdoors, they were greeted with fleets of hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. “The naturally grown hydrangeas and greenery made guests feel like they were in a secret garden, and the furniture we added to the area provided that edge we were looking for,” Jordan remembers.
Guests left the rarified mountain air for the reception in The Farm. Dual entrées were placed on the table—oven-roasted duck breast with a blackberry demi-glaze and celery root ravioli with mushroom cream and crispy duck skin.
Jordan’s three maids of honor and Ethan’s four best friends regaled the crowd with speeches. But it was Jordan’s father who brought the audience to tears. “He read a prayer that he wrote to me on the night I was born, and he saved it to share with me on my wedding day,” she shares.
Instead of doing a traditional dessert, the couple opted for a dessert tasting bar. In addition to the coffee bar, there were rows and rows of mini pies, red velvet cake in mason jars, Bailey’s shooters with chocolate chip cookies, bourbon bread pudding, and mini doughnuts.
Dancing was interspersed throughout the evening. Mr. and Mrs. Green shared their first dance to Ray LaMontagne’s “You Are the Best Thing.” The Block Party Experience brought everyone to their feet and onto the dance floor. One of Jordan’s favorite moments from the entire day was when she and Ethan had the exact same reaction to the band’s song choice of “Hey Ya!” by Outkast. They were in the middle of conversations with guests, but both immediately jumped on stage to dance to the music. Late-night chicken and waffle sliders fueled the rest of the reception. The newlyweds left with a sparkler exit and seamlessly continued the revelry down the street at their after-party.
Jordan only had one rule for their after-party at The High Dive. No photographers or videographers allowed! “I really wanted people to take off their ties and jackets and continue enjoying the night without fear of having photos end up on Instagram!” she exclaims. This allowed guests to let loose to the musical stylings of the couple’s friend, DJ Jay Singh. There was even a Greek food truck stationed outside for anyone who worked up an appetite.
“As we made our way back to our hotel room around 3:00 a.m.,” Jordan remembers, “Ethan and I couldn’t believe how amazing our wedding day was and simply could not have asked for anything more.”
