Where to get married? A list of DC, MD, VA wedding venues

It’s that time of the year once again. Congratulations to all those who got engaged in the recent months! What an exciting time.  To help start your planning process, here is a listing of the venues in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia where we have either coordinated weddings or have visited since 2008. We hope you find this useful!

Photo: Mark Battinger of Rodney Bailey Photography

Northern Virginia

Trummers on Main, Clifton

The Lorien Hotel, Alexandria

Clarendon Ballroom, Arlington (and another wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding)

Whitehall Manor, Bluemont (and another wedding)

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Vienna (and another wedding, wedding)

Washington Golf & Country Club, Arlington (and wedding)

Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Old Town, Alexandria

River Farm, Alexandria (and another wedding)

2941 Restaurant, Falls Church

Fort Belvoir Officers Club, Ft. Belvoir

Hollin Hall, Alexandria

Thomas Birkby House, Leesburg

Fairview Park Marriott, Falls Church

Signature Theatre Arlington (Shirlington, VA)

West Belmont Place (Lansdowne, VA)

Top of the Town (Arlington, VA)

Middleburg Community Center (Middleburg, VA) – summer wedding and fall wedding

George Washington Masonic Memorial (Alexandria, VA)

International Country Club (Fairfax, VA)

Foxchase Manor (Manassas, VA)

Mount Vernon Inn (Alexandria, VA)

Maryland

Marriott Bethesda North, Rockville

Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort, Cumberland

Glen Echo Park, Glen Echo (and a wedding)

Newton White Mansion, Mitchellville

Oxon Hill Manor, Oxon Hill

Glenview Mansion, Rockville

Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts “VisArts”, Rockville

Black Rock Center for the Arts, Germantown

Washington, DC

Long View Gallery

Omni Shoreham Hotel (and a wedding)

Westin City Center

The Fairfax at Embassy Row

Mexican Cultural Institute

Harman Center for the Arts

Sewall-Belmont House

Meridian House (and another wedding, wedding)

Newseum

Fairmont Hotel

Tregaron/Washington International School

Park Hyatt Hotel

Georgetown Marriott

Equality Center

American News Womens Club

Decatur House

— Vicky

Omni Shoreham featured on Platinum Weddings!

I was flipping the channel recently and came across a recent episode of Platinum Weddings on WeTV, which featured a local DC couple who married at the Omni Shoreham Hotel! (Truthfully, I rarely watch any wedding-related shows on TV.) Look at the transformation of the gorgeous Palladian Ballroom. Click here to see a slideshow of that wedding.

You know we loving working at the Omni and we recently reviewed it in this blog. The hotel has put together a new, fantastic “I have to Have It” Wedding package that starts at $135.00++ per person!  Contact us or William Grace at the Omni for more information.

— Vicky

*There is no pay for play on this blog. The Omni doesn’t pay us to write about them. We simply love working there and think you should know about it.

Go: Omni Shoreham Hotel

One of my favorite hotels in DC is the historic Omni Shoreham Hotel, which has been around since the 1930s. We have worked there several times in the past few years and the service is always excellent. From the catering managers, banquet captains, and servers, to the front desk staff and concierge, I’ve always found them to be very helpful. Many of their staff have been there for a long time. I’m talking 20-30 years, which speaks to how the hotel treat its staff.

Check out some of our previous events here and here.

Advantages:

• The gazebo and garden, and terraces are perfect for outdoor ceremonies or cocktail hours.
• Equally beautiful are the ballrooms, each with its own characteristic
• Some of the ballrooms have floor to ceiling windows.
• Walking distance to Woodley Park Metro station on the Red Line
• Good selection of restaurants and bars nearby for other get-together events
• Suites are very spacious

Challenges:

• Valet parking only. [You can take care of this for your guests if you wish]
• The Omni Shoreham is a huge hotel. Those who want a more intimate feel may not like its expansiveness.
• Only the Blue Room has its own pre-function room. If you are having a wedding, you will either need to use another ballroom or section off your dinner reception ballroom to accommodate a cocktail hour. I’ve seen it done that way and the effect can be quite dramatic and stunning.
• The chances are good that there will be other events going on at the same time as your event.

The challenges are few and can be resolved easily but really just comes down to personal preferences.

For top notch service, please ask for William Grace. He has tons of experience and always has great ideas on what would work best at this hotel.

Real Wedding: Lakshmi and Sunil (Part 2)

If you missed the wedding overview and vendor roundup, go back to Part 1.

Sangeet: Lakshmi and Sunil wanted a Moroccan style event. Note the mini tent in the far corner. There were 2 others throughout the ballroom. Prabha Bhambri did a great job with swagging the ceiling, decorating the stage and the rest of the ballroom.

Surrounding the stage were low furniture groupings for a lounge like feel.

The stunning stage.

We set up a small stage in the center of the ballroom where a Mehndi artist worked. Bindis and bangles were available for guests too.

Table setting with a gorgeous Indian inspired peacock blue tablecloth from DC Rental. We alternated between this color and a pink tablecloth of the same design.

Groom on his horse for the baraat with the horse and its handler from Harmon's.

Due to the rain, wet grass, heat and humidity, we moved the ceremony inside. Another beautiful mandap from Prabha.

Look at the cute flower elephant.

The 7 tier cake!

The reception was held in the Blue Room. This is the stage with the head table. Isn't it gorgeous?

The Blue Room bathed appropriately in blue lighting. The couple provided plasma screens around the room so that all could see the toasts.

Closeup of one of the tables. silver chivari chairs with a white mesh cap and a beautiful white and silver overlay for the tablecloth.

The South Beach inspired white double bar from Gala. Isn't it cool? Note the blue light in the background during cocktail hour in the Pre-function area.

You can see the white banquette in the center of the room in this photo. Note how the lighting is now changed to pink in the same pre-function area during dessert.

Icecream Bar!

Real Wedding: Sunil & Lakshmi (Part 1)

Gazebo at the Omni Shoreham Hotel

In the fall, we had the opportunity to assist Sunil and Lakshmi at their Hindu wedding. This was our second time working at the Omni Shoreham but it had been a long time since Richa and Deb’s wedding in 2006. Luckily, we were very familiar with the hotel from other events. By far, this was the most extensive wedding we had coordinated to-date beginning with the Sangeet the night before, and then breakfast, baraat, ceremony, lunch, hospitality, cocktails and dinner.

We had an extraordinary team of professionals to pull of this 300+, multi-day event.

Venue: Omni Shoreham Hotel (Catering Manager William Grace). William is single handedly the reason I love working at the Omni, besides the beautiful gardens and ballrooms. His professionalism and experience make the whole process so easy. The Omni really is the perfect venue for an event that requires many rooms. Being a historic hotel, each ballroom is beautifully decorated with such character, a quintessential DC hotel. The one drawback is that it is a huge hotel and the ballrooms are split between two sides of the hotel so signage is important for your guests. With Sunil and Lakshmi’s wedding need rooms for breakfast, lunch, dinner, ceremony, hospitality, and cocktails, the facilites at the Omni worked out really well.

Decor & Floral: Prabha Bhambri. I had just worked with Prabha at Soumya and Tejus’ wedding the month before so we got along really well. Prabha is very creative and did an excellent job providing the decor for the entire wedding weekend. I assure you that it was no easy feat. For the reception, Prabha created a very modern design dripping in crystals. You’ll see in the photos in Part 2 of this series.

DJ: Ravi.

Sound & Lighting: PSAV (Omni’s in-house)

Dance Performance: Dhoonya Dance. This group of dancers provided the entertainment during the baraat and got the energy of the guests way up!

Horse for the baraat: Harmon’s Hayride and Carriages. Pretty easy. They choose a very mellow horse to deal with all the noise and commotion during the baraat and the handler is there the whole time.

Bar Rental: Gala Inc. At the last minute, we need a substantial South Beach style bar that would become the centerpiece of the cocktail area. Gala was so easy to work with on this late request and everybody loved the result.

Lounge Furniture: Cort Furniture. To complete the South Beach lounge look, we rented several ottomans and banquets in white. Guests enjoyed lounging on them all night.

Photography & Videography: A1 Action Photo & Video. This family owned business does it all and was super flexible the day of the wedding as things changed on the fly by the minute.

Chair & Linen Rental: DC Rental. We had different chairs and linens for each event of this wedding and DC Rental did a great job of getting it all right.

Sangeet Catering: Aroma Restaurant.  Great to work with. Responsive and was familiar with the rules and processes at the Omni. This was smooth sailing.

Reception Catering: Tandoori Nights. Not recommended.

Cake: Fancy Cakes by Leslie. The 7 tier cake was a stunning focal point in the ballroom.

Stay tuned for Part 2 – the photos!