A Chadds Ford Wedding Weathers Hurricane Ida

Photos by Sabina Sister

This local couple reimagined their Chadds Ford wedding in the wake of Hurricane Ida into what turned out to be the wedding of their dreams.

Though Jenna Taylor and Ellis Huff were both attending the University of Richmond, the two didn’t cross paths until a study-abroad program in Prague one summer. Sparks flew, and they started dating in the fall. Upon graduation, Jenna followed Ellis to law school at the University of North Carolina. “We’d talked about getting engaged and knew we wanted to get married, but I was sure he was going to wait until he graduated to propose,” Jenna admits.

On a pre-dinner stroll at a local garden in December 2020, Ellis led Jenna up a set of stairs to a large gazebo, where a stunning floral display awaited. As she came closer, Jenna noticed rose petals and orchids—her favorites—everywhere. Then Ellis got down on one knee. “I knew from week two of dating him that he was someone I wanted to marry,” she says. “I was in shock that we were officially engaged and my future husband was someone so wonderful and perfectly suited for me.”

The couple chose Sept. 5, 2021, for their official wedding date and planned to exchange vows in the chapel at the late George A. “Frolic” Weymouth’s Big Bend Farm in Chadds Ford. “We essentially planned the whole wedding and theme around being able to use the chapel, and it was one of the elements about our wedding I was most excited about,” Jenna shares.

But when Hurricane Ida caused record-breaking flooding along the Brandywine River the week of the wedding, the couple learned that the chapel had been damaged. As it turns out, the solution was just steps away from where Jenna grew up in Chadds Ford—beautiful stone ruins on a neighbor’s property. The reception was already set to take place there, so they rearranged their layout to accommodate the ceremony as well. On the morning of the wedding, Jenna and her bridesmaids got ready at her parents’ house before she crossed the street to say, “I do.” “It all felt like such a wonderful homage to this place that raised me—so personal and unique to us,” says Jenna. “I’m actually glad everything went down as it did. Everything about it felt like home.”