When the “Wedding Crashers” Invaded Annapolis
By Bijan C. Bayne
 Seafood, historical homes, a prestigious campus, boat rides
on the Chesapeake; all these attractions make Annapolis a popular choice for
destination wedding-goers. With its seasonal weather and crabcake delights, the
city is drawing more and more couples to tie the knot amongst the activities of
their guests.
At the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy, chapel weddings
"under the swords" take place, in season, every hour on the hour on Saturdays.
Any Academy grad may apply, and plenty do. Visitors will not only witness the
wedding parties from these unions, but those of the more civilian variety, at
local restaurants, bed and breakfasts, and hotels such as the new Doubletree or
Waterfront Marriott. There are wedding packages, wedding cruises, and the
ceremonies themselves are held in picturesque Georgian setting such as the
William Paca House and Garden. Sailing buffs can rent a harbor and bay cruise
aboard the 74-foot schooner Woodwind, which appears in the sailing scene in the
hit movie "Wedding Crashers". Yes, Vince Vaughn and Jayne Seymour were here, and
Woodwind Captain Jennifer Brest commanded the craft for the film's "to the
family estate" scene.
Brest was asked how the Woodwind happened to be chosen for
the hit film. “In early April 2004, a friend at Annapolis Yacht Company (a
brokerage for “for sale” yachts) was called to find a beautiful sailing yacht
that was for sale. My friend was told that they party did not want to buy it,
but instead wanted to charter it for a possible t.v. commercial. He did not
have any sailing yachts like the “scout” was thinking of, so he told them about
our boat (and some others), and the crew loved the look of Woodwind. We
arranged for the boats to be seen. The scouts thought the boat would be
perfect, but the directors, and camera crew had to see it. A week later ten
folks came down to the boat to check her out, including the directors, camera
crew, actress Rachael McAdams, and the production staff including the marine
coordinator that we ended up working with. I remember sitting with the marine
coordinator waiting for them to come to the dock. The director was walking down
the dock, and walked past me, and started sprinting to the boat. He was so
excited to see the boat! He started running around the boat like a little kid
saying “look at this great shot, over Christopher Walken’s shoulder while he is
at the wheel.” And, “Look at this shot (pointing to the bow) this is where
Rachael will pull in the sail, and her & Owen (Wilson) will have their moment.”
They were aboard for about 45 minutes, loving the noise of the winch, and
playing with our jib traveler (we have a boom on our jib). As they left the
boat, the director said to me, “this yacht has exceeded my expectations, I am
very excited”.
 The film crew rented the Woodwind for nine days. A whole
production day was spent waiting for high tide to come in a shallow creek they
wished to film in, which was under normal circumstances too narrow for a boat of
the schooner’s depth to move.
Halfway through the filming Rachael McAdams’ scarf flew off
her head and sank. The crew didn’t have a backup scarf, so instead a much
darker scarf was used, and they re-shot the entire scene. This occurred halfway
through the day, and a thunderstorm approached. All the “talent” was whisked
off the boat to an enclosed powerboat on stand-by for such emergencies. The
camera crew, prop folks, sound, and video all stayed on the boat and “had a
blast”, according to Captain Brest. One of the Woodwind’s crewmembers, Jon
Krisman served as an extra for the “first mate”. His hair had to be cut because
his hair looked to similar to Owen Wilson’s. During lunch one day, everyone
entered the lunch tent, and it was Captain Brest’s birthday. The locations scout
told the pastry chef, who baked a birthday cake that read “Happy B-Day Capt.
Jen!”
“After the filming that day,” added Brest, “ they needed us
back to the Choptank River, near Oxford to continue filming for the sailing
scene. We had to go back 45 miles to the original waters we were shooting in
the day before. This trip took us seven hours, each way. Since the boat was
dockside, we did not need a change of crew, and we got underway at 8:00pm. We
then arrived shortly after 2 a.m., for another 6 a.m. start.” That’s Hollywood,
Chesapeake Bay style.
On this day, Brest was lying down steering the boat in the
scene where Christopher Walken appears to be steering. “To make sure we were
going in the correct direction, I actually had a hand-bearing compass on my
chest to make sure we were straight. This was a little intimidating under
Walken’s feet.” says the captain. It took some prompting by the “invisible”
captain to get Walken to stop mixing up “Windwood” with the name Woodwind in the
line where he invites Owen Wilson’s character to come steer. Later, Walken sang
“Fly Me to the Moon” to all assembled.
Since “Wedding Crashers” and “The Notebook” had the same
publicist, and Rachael McAdams was in both, a private screening took place in
Easton, Md. A month before “The Notebook” opened in L.A., and Brest and crew
were invited. They sat behind the cast during the preview. Brest and her staff
also attended a premier in Washington, D.C. where ESPN “Pardon the Interruption”
and “Monday Night Football” co-host Tony Kornheiser, and one of President Bush’s
daughters were “laughing their heads off”.
 “People constantly ask if this was the boat in the movie,
and want to see the photos of the filming aboard, and to hear the stories. Even
other powerboats come speeding toward us and yell over to us ‘is this the boat
that was in the movie “The Wedding Crashers”?’ said Brest. Guests say things
like, “If Christopher Walken can steer this boat, I wanna try.” Three months
after the film opened, the Naval Academy midshipmen were lined up for their
march into the stadium for a football game. The Woodwind sailed close to the
Academy seawall, and each company yelled out a different funny line from the
movie toward the boat.
Annapolis’ attractive elements keep the city's wedding
planners busy, and its lodging booked. Despite all the bridal bustle, the
capital remains a walkable, friendly destination, full of boutiques, galleries,
and restaurants for every taste. For the latter, lunchgoers should try
Irish-themed Galway Bay on Maryland Ave., and dinner groups will find the
Doubletree's Ports of Call restaurant—specializing in dishes from ports such as
Charleston, Boston, and New Orleans—and West Street's trendy Kyma to their
liking. Don't miss a daytime stroll to homemade ice cream biz the Annapolis Ice
Cream Company, where patrons (many of them Academy students) have left signed
plastic spoons of all colors in a collectively decorative wall display.
The sunsets, the Chesapeake Bay, the pomp of the Academy
weddings, and a movie with a happy ending- no wonder not all the knots being
tied in Annapolis are of the sailors’ variety.
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