Real Wedding: Colorful Fusion at Glen Echo Park (Part 3)

Photo: Joseph Allen Photography

Go back if you missed Part 1 (the intro) and Part 2 (the design).

There is a statistic out there somewhere that says, on average, 43 businesses are involved with producing a wedding. It sure felt like it! Sorry for the long post below.

Ceremony Venue: Oxon Hill Manor. [Read about my previous review here] Because of the rain, we had to move the ceremony indoors, which is not really ideal for 130+ people. We had a mandap that took up some space and a large (16) wedding party so that reduced the seating capacity of the room we used. We were able to have some additional seating in the other rooms in spots where the guests could still see the ceremony taking place. As I mentioned in a previous post, the event staff is challenging to work with. Even though they requested floor plans, and I submitted very detailed ones, I noticed that they had set up the chairs incorrectly in the gardens. Had the weather permitted us to have the ceremony outdoors, my staff and I would have had to rearrange the chairs.

Reception Venue: Glen Echo Park, Bumper Car Pavilion and Cuddle Up [Emily Mah]. Emily is really easy to work with and very helpful. When we heard how much rain we were going to have, she came through with allowing the photographer and the wedding party to take photos inside the Spanish Ballroom and the results were amazing! The carousel is also a great photo op. There is a ranger on site during your event in case you need help. Even though we had a bus service for the wedding party, the Cuddle Up and Bumper Car Pavilion are very far from the parking lot. Keep this in mind if you have guests that have trouble walking. There is a closer entrance (near the rail car), but even that wasn’t close enough when it’s raining cats and dogs. Also know that your caterer will need a tent adjacent to the Bumper Car Pavilion.

Caterer: Windows Catering. [We worked with Danielle Couick, who is now with Evoke]. Because the couple was interested in a mix of Indian and American cuisine and also need great vegetarian options, we really needed a caterer that could handle it all. Windows made the whole process very easy. They work with an Indian caterer (not a restaurant) and was able to design a menu that fit all out needs. I’m looking forward to working with Windows again this fall with Nicole.

Photographer: Joseph Allen. The groom knew Joseph from the charity work they had done together in the past and Joseph had photographed one of their friend’s wedding so it was a natural choice. Joseph has an incredible eye, especially the portraits of the bride and groom. They had a magazine-editorial styling that were just gorgeous. He worked really hard that day and never once complained about the conditions.

Floral Designer: Urban Petals, Sarah von Pollaro. The bride gave some general ideas to Sarah and she ran with it. The results were a vibrant mix of flowers that tied together all the colors we used.

Band: The Mustangs. This was the first time a client of mine has expressed that music was their top priority. It’s usually in the top 5 but rarely #1. Luckily, the couple had heard the band play before and loved their energy. They wanted a band that can do great Motown, has great musicians, and just look like they love performing without being cheesy. They delivered!

Hindu Ceremony Decorator: Prabha Bhambri. It’s too bad we didn’t end up having the ceremony outdoors. Prabha has these beautiful market umbrellas (that happened to be in our color scheme) that we were going to be placed throughout the patio to shield the guests from sunshine. We ended up creating a pathway with them inside the foyer of the house but it just wasn’t the same.

Ceremony DJ: Bob Artman, Artman DJs.

Rehearsal Dinner: The City Tavern Club

Save-the-Date Cards, Ceremony Programs, Table Numbers: Event Accomplished. I had featured their paper set in this previous post.

Transportation: Reston Limo (large bus and sedan service). I really made my rep, Dan Oh, work hard for this wedding. He helped priced out various scenarios I had came up with and was very patient. We had anticipated a guest who would be using a wheelchair and had reserved a handicapped accessible bus. The hotel where the guests were staying was located on a one-way street in DC with its entrance on the left side of the street. Our bus driver called me prior to arriving at the hotel to say that he was almost there but that it would be unsafe for the wheelchair-bound guest to get on the bus since the bus door was on the right hand side and the guest would be exposed to oncoming traffic. I didn’t even think of that! Unfortunately, the guest decided not to attend the wedding. But I’m sure that if she did, the driver would have suggested a safer solution for us.

Rentals: Perfect Settings

Wedding Invitations: Papeterie

Rehearsal Dinner Invitations: Wedding Paper Divas

Hair Styling: Andre Chreky Salon

Makeup Artist: Wanda Sossa

Phew! Catching up on more real weddings next week! Have a great weekend, Vicky