Pro Pics: Abigail & Joe

The fabulous Lori Love has sent us some of the photos from Abigail and Joe’s wedding. Gorgeous! Check out more at Lori’s blog. For a recap on this beautiful wedding, go back and read Part 1 and Part 2 of this real wedding.

Real Wedding: Abigail & Joe (Part 2)

For the vendor recap, go to Part 1.

Beautiful white wreath by Philippa Tarrant at the Holy Trinity front doors

Programs

Escort Card Table

What a little pipe and drape can do to hide the otherwise boring ballroom walls. See the uplighting around the room and the pinspotting on the tall centerpieces?

My new favorite: the gold grid organza overlay paired with the gold bead clear charger from Party Rentals. Note also the menu card and boxed favors. They were the most yummy chocolate covered pretzels.

eaTip #1 : Using a mix of hotel and rented linens help to keep the budget reasonable. You can select a few tables to highlight with specialty rental linens like we did here with the organza overlay for the sweetheart table. The cake table also got special treatment with a double layer of gold shimmer tablecloth.

Cake by Park Hyatt pastry chef

eaTip #2 : It’s good to mix up the colors as you move from one part of the evening into another. For Abigail, her ceremony decor was mostly white/ivory. At the cocktail hour, we used the brown linens provided by the hotel. Once inside the ballroom for dinner and dancing, there were more touches of gold and deep red. While all the colors were present at each part of the event, the emphasis was on a different color at different parts of the evening. This will give you a coherent overall look but still allows you to vary things up a bit.

Sunday brunch at the Westin Grand Promenade. The floral centerpieces made a 2nd appearance too!

Real Wedding: Abigail & Joe (Part 1)

Kicking off the 2009 wedding season! I’m always really anxious with the first wedding of the year. Dust off the cobwebs and off we go!

Abigail and Joe came to me via Lori Love who is Abigail’s mom’s cousin and brought back together a bunch of vendors I really love.

The forecast didn’t look good for their wedding day as we were expecting rain all day. Luckily, it never actually rained, just misting and very overcast. In retrospect, I think the bad weather kept the crowds away and kept traffic very light. It was the first weekend of Cherry Blossom season and the crowds usually cause havoc with traffic.

Photographer: Lori Love Photography. We last worked with Lori for Sarah and Jordan’s wedding in 2007 so it had been a while. Lori is creative with composition and is fun to be around in general. Lori was able to get some photos outdoors with all the beautiful trees in bloom.

DJ: Chris Laich. Chris is the ultimate professional. As usual, he kept everyone dancing, even grandpa! A little Bon Jovi always revs up a NY/NJ crowd!

Floral Designer: Philippa Tarrant. Philippa’s work is always stunning. Her designs have a very modern sensibility to them and her arrangements are always really lush and full. She did an outstanding job again this time.

Reception Venue: Park Hyatt Washington DC (Amal Zaari) Amal was really easy to work with during the planning process and I can attest to the fact that their food is outstanding. Its catering staff provided attentive service, and the guys working at the entrance were extremely helpful.

Ceremony Venue: Holy Trinity Catholic Church. Courtney, their coordinator, is very helpful and you’ll be in good hands with her. Do note that Holy Trinity does schedule several weddings per day so schedule your time carefully with your ceremony and rehearsal.

Transportation: Reston Limo. My go-to transportation company. Their drivers are always on time and courteous.

Sunday Brunch: Westin Grand (Jennifer de los Reyes) Very easy to work with and accommodating.

Stay tuned for Part 2 for some of the pictures I took! Lori’s photos should be ready soon!

Real Wedding: Megan & Dave (Part 2)

Did you miss Part 1 of Megan and Dave’s wedding recap? The photos I took barely do justice to how beautiful and stylish the day was. Megan had a great eye and knew her own style very well. Click here to see the slideshow by Laura Luis of Three Lights Photography.

Photo album guestbook @ Thomas Birkby House

Escort Card Table @ Thomas Birkby House. We also displayed a digital photo frame with photos of Megan and Dave. Note: a great tip on saving on linens is to use existing furniture in your venue, especially with pieces as beautiful as this table.

Courtyard at Bikby House ready for the ceremony

Megan had cards made for the assigned seats for the ceremony. Great idea! No more guessing or forgetting!

Centerpieces of calla lilies, hydrangea and pussy willow by Tierra Flora Design. Check out the avocado green tablecloth paired with black napkins.

Real Wedding: Megan & Dave (Part 1)

Thomas Birkby House wedding ceremony

One of the things I love about my job is meeting great people and seeing them on one of the happiest days of their lives. This was no exception with Megan and Dave. At our comprehensive planning session, we put the timeline together while drinking wine, eating cheese, and talking about restaurants, food, wine and beer. All the things that I love talking about too! At our final meeting, we met at Rustico for some yummy beers! On days like that, I love my job!

I really hope to remain friends with Megan and Dave. They are simply great people.

Back to the wedding day, I remember Dave tearing up upon seeing Megan walking down the aisle. I love how their officiant had them face their guests during the ceremony. You get to see their faces as opposed to their backs or sides. Dave’s dad brewed his own beer and put his own label on it with a picture of Megan and Dave. As favors, they had wine glasses engraved with names and wedding date. Megan had an incredible sense of style and went with avocado green and black for her colors – totally sleek and sophisticated and not your typical fall colors. She even designed her own dress that she changed into for late night dancing! And what’s a wedding without a little police activity? Just kidding … a Leesburg policeman was patroling in his car as the bridal party was taking pictures and he was quite gracious in letting the groom get in the patrol car for a few pictures!

Vendor Round Up

Venue: Thomas Birkby House. One of my favorite venues. You get a lot with this venue: a beautiful historic home with a brides and grooms room, lush gardens and courtyard, tent with liner, tables and chairs. Mary Louise, the coordinator there, is wonderful to work with. She used to be in catering so completely understands the vendor needs for an event. There is a convenient free parking lot close to the house also.

Photography: Laura Luis, Three Lights Photography. What a discovery! Laura was very responsive during the planning process. She was quick and had a great eye for doing portraits. Just see for yourself in Part 2 for her slideshow.

Caterer: Catering by Dana. Dana had done several parties for Megan’s mom in the past and so it was an easy choice when it came to finding a caterer for the wedding. Great food. Great staff.

Floral Designer: Tierra Floral Design. Based in Bethesda, they have a very modern sensibility to their design that I really liked and that I thought suited Megan really well. Their website is under construction currently but do check back soon to see their work. Meanwhile, check out Part 2 for some of the photos I took of their centerpieces.

Music: Chris Laich Music Services. Chris himself DJ’d both the ceremony and the reception. He is the ultimate professional and provides his brides and grooms with the best customer services. He and his associates are great at what they do.

Event Rentals: Select Event Rentals. We rented all the dinnerware and the linens from Select so that Megan was able to personalize the whole look of the event.

Makeup: Leah McKay. Great as usual.

Hair: Hair by Diane.

Cake: Victoria’s Cakery. Megan and Dave did not want the traditional wedding cake so they opted for a 6″ display cake that they cut at their table for photo ops and had a baker bake several sheet cakes for cutting in the kitchen. A great way to save if cake is not your favorite.