Wedded: Kera Ritter and Anthony Rodgers

Wedded: Kera Ritter and Anthony Rodgers

Date: Sept. 11.

Her story: Kera Ritter, 41, was born in Somerdale, N.J. She works as the chief of staff at Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake. Her parents, Bentley and Marva Ritter, live in Somerdale.

His story: Anthony "Tony" Rodgers, 40, was born in Columbia. He is a co-founder and managing partner at Antson Capital. His parents, Theo and Blanche Rodgers, live in Baltimore.

Their story: The two were introduced by a mutual friend at a fundraiser for the Preakness in 2013.

"I liked him immediately. He was smart, confident and handsome," Kera said. "We talked for about 20 minutes, and he asked me to go to dinner the following week. He called me the next day and we moved the date up."

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The couple live in downtown Baltimore.

On getting married: After dating for two years, the couple made a mutual decision to get married.

"We both knew early in the relationship that we wanted to be together," she said. "I considered him my husband long before we said 'I do.'"

Venue: Close friends and family attended the intimate ceremony at the Lakeside Pavilion at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. A reception followed at the Inn at the Black Olive rooftop restaurant. One hundred and fifty guests attended a cocktail party the following day at the Legg Mason building.

Flowers and decor: The colors of the wedding were silver and plum.

Her dress: Kera's dress was by Allure Bridals from Sabrina Anne in Ardmore, Pa.

His dress: Tony wore a Canali tuxedo, which he owned.

Music: A string quartet of student musicians from the Baltimore School for the Arts provided the music: Maya Giles and Aszana Lopez-Bell played violin, Lea Broussard played viola, and Wheeler Jarvis played cello.

Food and dessert: The Inn at the Black Olive catered the dinner. Appetizers included Greek meatballs, crab crostini, stuffed calamari, jumbo Mayan gulf shrimp, and oysters with Champagne mignonette. Dinner consisted of dry-aged rib-eye, crab cakes, crab-stuffed rockfish, and langoustine with homemade linguine.

The couple served a cookie cake from The Great Cookie.

Favors: The couple handed out Natty Boh coffee mugs as favors.

Special touches: Tony plans to surprise Kera with their honeymoon destination.

Karen Bonita of The Blessed Touch did Kera's makeup.

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