Real Wedding: Art Deco Chic for Sports Fans (Part 2)

Go back to Part 1.

Venue: Clarendon Ballroom. Sandra Hoehne. We looked at several venues in DC but finally Kara and Andrew came and saw the Clarendon Ballroom when we were setting up for Gwen and Adam’s wedding, and knew it was the place for them.

Officiant: Phyllis Anne Duncan, Northern Virginia Ethical Society.

Photographer: Angela Gaeto Photography. The bride’s aunt, a professional photographer in Albuquerque.

Floral Designer: Philippa Tarrant. When we decided on the black, white and blue color scheme, and knowing that Kara liked white, low texture flowers, Philippa was the perfect fit.

Music: MyDeejay.com. Evan Reitmeyer. Love Evan. Love the way he treats his clients. Love the way he subscribes to the same work ethic I do. I had a great time working with Evan.

Come on! You know the music is good when even Grandma, who is in a wheelchair, is boogeying down on the dance floor.

Photobooth: Party Booths.  Everybody had a blast with the photo booth. We used them before at Soumya and Tejus’ wedding a few years back. One note of caution – I thought the attendants were inappropriately dressed. They wore long sleeve polos shirts and baggy pants, inappropriate for a wedding where guests were in semi-formal attire. If you rent from them, please specify the attendant dress code.

Rentals: DC Rental

Bride Makeup: Leah McKay.

Hair and Makeup: Bridal Artistry. Barbara and Ky. Love working with Barbara and her team. We added and subtracted people several times and they were very flexible.

Rehearsal Dinner: Boulevard Woodgrill. If you don’t know, Boulevard Woodgrill has a private dining space in the lower level of the restaurant that can easily fit 60 people with its own bar.

Guest Hotel & Farewell Breakfast: Westin Arlington Gateway and Pizimini Restaurant. The Westin is an ideal location for anyone hosting a wedding in the Ballston/Clarendon area. The restaurant has a private dining space in the rear where our group had a farewell continent breakfast.

So proud of how this escort card display came out! The graphic artist that designed the cards made them look like ticket stubs. You can barely see in the background that the display also included lucite boxes of baseballs balls and candles surrounded by golf tees. Photo: Angela Gaeto

— Vicky

Real Wedding: Art Deco Chic for Sports Fans (Part 1)

While Kara and Andrew are on their honeymoon in Thailand, I thought we’d celebrate by sharing their wedding story. Lucky for me, they were referred to me by Koonal and Erin whose wedding we planned last summer. We worked with Kara and Andrew for over a year but the extended engagement allowed for planning tasks to be spread out. Kara was great at getting things done so by the time we had only 1 month to go, we had practically nothing left! That never happens!

Style Inspiration: We had fun coming up with a style that suited them. The final direction was inspired by the venue and their love of sports. Clarendon Ballroom’s art deco design inspired parts of the stationery set. Their love of sports can been seen not only in the stationery elements but also in the sport props we used for the photobooth and the golf ball escort card display. The overall feel they wanted was something modern, classy and minimalistic.

Guests hamming it up at the photobooth wearing the sports props we provided. The goggles are hilarious! Photo: Angela Gaeto Photography

Colors: Kara chose a black dress for the bridesmaids and she had imagined that they would carry white flowers. That was the starting point, and we just added a medium blue to as it was a color they both liked. The black and white scheme is a classic combination but is flexible enough to feel modern as well.

Classic yet modern black and white. One of my favorite looks ever. Love the tablecloths from DC Rental. Photo: Angela Gaeto Photography

These are the two coordinating tablecloths we used: Black Wavy Stripes (top) and Mojo Confetti Tuxedo (bottom) from DC Rentals.

More photos and a vendor recap in Part 2 — Vicky

Real Wedding: Soumya & Tejus Part 4

Lastly, here are the photos I took from Soumya & Tejus’ wedding showing more of the details. Go back to Part 3 for professional photos and Part 1 and Part 2 for my event notes.

Fairview Park Marriott - Mandap for the ceremony. Note: the ceremony & reception were both in this same ballroom. Notice how the lighting changes the whole mood and feel of the space.

The Ganesha welcoming guests

A traditional gate welcoming guests

Photo Booth by PartyBooths

guests leaving a message for the couple with their photo booth photos

Cake by Creative Cakes

Real Wedding: Soumya & Tejus Part 3

Go back and read Part 1 and Part 2 if you’ve missed them. What I love about South Asian weddings is that they are so rich and vibrant in color, often in such contrast with Western weddings. Here are the pictures from Regeti’s Photography.

Tejus & Soumya goofing around

Tejus & Soumya - a beautiful portrait

Fairview Park Marriott bathed in blue lighting for reception

Fairview Park Marriott - The sparkly stage for the sweetheart table

Me & Jag Singh goofing around during setup! Who says we don't have fun?!

Real Wedding: Soumya & Tejus Part 2

Continuing the story of Soumya & Tejus’ wedding from Part 1 … We couldn’t pull off such a spectacular event without a team of skilled professionals. I really enjoyed working with this team!

Symbol of the ganesha done in rice

Fairview Park Marriott: Event Manager Khatera Panjshiri-Ibrahimi — The main floors of the hotel went through a recent renovation. There is one huge ballroom that we used for the ceremony and reception. For the reception, the room fit 500 guests and a dance floor and stage comfortably. The pre-function foyer is spacious although not huge. There is ample parking and all your guests can easily stay at the hotel also. The hotel is located near the intersection of Rt. 50 and I-495, which is extremely convenient to get to other places although there is not a whole lot going on near the hotel.

Sound & Lighting: EventEQ, Jag Singh — Awesome is all I can say. Jag did an awesome job with setting up the lighting, sound and video simulcast for the wedding. He is super easy to work with and very helpful. The photos will speak for themselves on the lighting. The packed dance floor, young and old, speaks to the quality of the music he played to get everyone moving!

Photographer: Regeti’s Photography, Srinu & Amy Regeti — I wanted to thank Amy for referring this client to me. Srinu and Amy are super easy to work with. Amy was a rock star getting all the group photos done in record time! I cannot wait to see the results. The Regeti’s have such a unique style to their photography that is truly unique. The colors are always rich and vibrant.

Decorator: Prabha Bhambri — First time working with Prabha and I can see why clients keep coming back to her. I accompanied Soumya and her Mom to Prabha’s house to finalize the wedding design. It was really interesting to see how Prabha takes ideas, bits and pieces, from previous projects, interjects some new ideas and forms a totally new and unique design just for Soumya. The photos will speak to the more modern, simple yet elegant decor that Soumya chose. Many guests commented on how wonderfully different the design was! Good job Soumya!

Videographer: Blue Sky Films, Neil Benjers — Neil was really great to work with also. During the planning process, he reviewed everything we sent him and was very open to the ideas the bride had about the style she was looking for in her video. During the wedding, you rarely noticed him amongst all the guests!

Photo Booth: Party Booths, Eric — What a fun idea! Everybody took turns taking pictures in a throw-back style photo booth! Afterwards, they adhere the photos to a scrap book and left message for the bride and groom. What was more amazing is that the booth came in a suitcase and Eric, the attendant, assembled it all on site!

Cake: Creative Cakes — Another beautiful wedding cake. They also provided a birthday cake with an Absolut Vodka bottle for 2 girls who were turning 21 that evening.

Breakfast & Lunch Catering: Woodlands, Anand Poojary — Anand is such a nice guy and the bride’s family has been going to this restaurant for many years. They also catered the Sangeet. The food was wonderful and everything was ready on time. He and his wife just had a baby and were able to find a baby sitter so that they could attend the reception. I’m glad they were able to have some fun! He has a restaurant in Gaithersburg and Langley Park. Please make a visit if you are ever in the area.

Dinner Catering: Heritage India

Stay tuned for photos from this awesome wedding!