Robyn and Chris are lifted in chairs during the hora.
There's No Place
Like Home
When Robyn Steinlauf married Chris Long at the lakeside home of her parents,
she had the simple yet elegant wedding of her dreams.
PRODUCED AND WRITTEN BY GAIL ZIMMERMAN
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHARLIE CORTEZ
The 96 guests couldn't help but comment on the setting for the Aug. 31, 2008, wed-
ding of Robyn Steinlauf and Chris Long: The scene was "straight out of a movie."
The weather was perfect, the bride was beautiful and the surroundings were
breathtaking as Robyn, 28, and Chris, 30, were married in the backyard of her parents'
Waterford home on Watkins Lake.
The bride is a graduate of North Farmington High School and the University
of Michigan; the groom earned his undergrad degree at the University of Oregon
in Eugene, where he grew up. The couple, both graduates of the law school at the
University of Oregon, lived in the same building in Eugene for a year before they
finally met at a party. After clerking for judges, they picked up and moved to work in
the nation's capital and now live in Alexandria, Va.
"I really wanted the wedding in the backyard — though the weather issue caused a
lot of stress," says Robyn. "But it was a beautiful night and everything we felt it could
be. Having it at home also was a lot more work; but with all the help from family and
friends, we felt showered with love.
"It was about having everyone we love from all over the country together in the
same place at the same time and having a really good, casual time. We wanted to
know the people at our wedding and wanted it to be a reflection of our personalities
— laid-back, simple, fun. The focus was on what we thought was really important."
B 1 6 •
FEBRUARY 2009 •
IN platirnun