Jessica Marsden met Alex Worsnip while they were both living in New Haven, Connecticut. Alex was pursuing a graduate degree and Jess was in law school at the time. After dating for a few years, they began to talk marriage. While Jess knew the engagement was coming, Alex wanted to make sure the time and place were a surprise. After dinner at their favorite New Haven spot, Alex got down on one knee in the middle of a snowy quad where someone, unrelated to the couple, had serendipitously written the letters J-E-S in the snow.
Jess and Alex’s rehearsal dinner took place at Steel String Brewery and was catered by the Napoli Wood-Fired Pizza truck. The couple was married at Coker Arboretum on April 29, 2017 in front of their parents, Leslie and Bruce Marsden and Patrick and Patricia Worsnip. The wedding day turned out to be unseasonably hot – over 90 degrees – and the bridal party had to hide out in the groom’s air-conditioned office. Guests traveled to Rock Quarry Farm for the reception, where Jess and Alex cut into a cheese “cake” from Boxcarr Farms and others and the writers in attendance made amazing toasts – one was even in rhyme!
The couple resides in Chapel Hill. Alex is an assistant professor of philosophy at UNC and Jess is a lawyer and an Equal Justice Works fellow at UNC School of Law.
Photography by Riley MacLean
