Today I have photos from Melissa and TJ’s Memorial Day weekend wedding!  Wish had FIVE weddings that Saturday so several of our coordinators were busy bees.  We have lots of “Real Weddings” lined up for you in the next couple weeks.

Melissa and I first met at the Washington Bridal Showcase.  Right away I could immediately tell that this energetic bride would have a great wedding!  She proved me right and I enjoyed every second of their big day.

This couple chose Leesburg’s Raspberry Plain as their wedding venue.  If you’re not familiar, Raspberry Plain is a big, gorgeous mansion just north of historic downtown Leesburg.  Unfortunately over the past few years there have been a few subdivisions built nearby which means it’s not as remote and isolated as it once was.  However, it’s still a FANTASTIC spot for a wedding!  Unlike other historic venues, there is a large room built on the side of the mansion which means you can enjoy the beautiful architecture of the house but can still seat all your guests in one large space.

R&R Catering is the exclusive food provider at Raspberry Plain and they’ve really gotten it down to a science.  Working with Megan there was a pleasure as it always is.  Congratulations in advance to her and her husband on their upcoming little one!

Andrea Marie Photography was on hand the whole day to capture the images you see below.  She was on her toes the entire time and came up with some really beautiful and creative shots!  ::My photos are mixed in here and there…I’ll bet you’ll be able to figure out which ones aren’t professional::

Raspberry Plain, all ready to go:

Linda at Heaven on Earth Wedding Flowers made these beautiful bouquets:

I especially loved the big wreath Linda made for the front door:

Melissa got dressed at Raspberry Plain so there was plenty of time for photographs and sentimental time with Mom and Dad.  Her parents were the cutest:

Look how adorable the flower girl was!  Here she is in her pretty Tiffany Blue dress, holding one of the bridesmaid bouquets.  I love that the flowers are bigger than her head!

Raspberry Plain has two perfect spots for outdoor ceremonies.  This is the garden to the side of the house.  Melissa’s colors were obviously hot pink and Tiffany Blue.  I loved the combination…the hot pink rose petals just set off the aisle:

Melissa had so many adorable details:

R&R Catering set up a small lemonade stand so guests could get a refreshing drink before being seated for the ceremony.  Good thing they did — it was HOT outside!

The ceremony, in progress.  In the foreground you can see the Cherry Blossom String Quartet.  They always do such a beautiful job at weddings:

The gardens are a perfect spot for formal photographs too:

Inside, R&R was busy setting up the reception in the Atrium.  Raspberry Plain is large enough to hold about 200 guests, I’d estimate:

Melissa’s table numbers each featured a different photo of the newlyweds through their relationship:

The escort cards were displayed on these big boards.  I suspect they were large poster frames wrapped in black fabric but I couldn’t really tell!  Melissa wrapped blue ribbons around each of them and secured the cards alphabetically:

More and more we’re seeing non-traditional guestbooks at weddings.  Gone are the “sign a line” books that will sit on a bookshelf for the rest of their lives.  Melissa & TJ chose a “Make a Wish, Take a Kiss” station.  Guests filled in cards with their wish for the newlyweds.  In exchange, they could take a Hershey’s Kiss.  I always like seeing what advice gets passed on:

Debbie at Cakes by Design brought this gorgeous four-layer cake with Tiffany Blue ribbon.  Unfortunately the cake got bumped and had a slight frosting problem during transit.  Debbie fixed it right up on-site and it looked flawless before the reception began.  I snagged a small piece and it was DELISH!

When cocktail hour was over, the bridal party was introduced into the reception like at most weddings. However, each couple got to pick ktheir own song!  Jake from Dream Day DJs (who was awesome, by the way), mixed this especially for the wedding and I thought it turned out great:

Now for the highlight of the day!  Melissa and TJ spent HOURS practicing their first dance which was quite impressive.  It started as a fairly traditional ’stand and sway’ to an oldies love song then broke out into a series of hilarious dance numbers.  Even better?  This was a COMPLETE SURPRISE to EVERYONE!  Not even their bridal party or parents knew what to expect.  Here’s some photos from the big moment:

And we even have a video!  This was taken by my assistant, Nicole, who unfortunately had a less-than-perfect vantage point.  You get the idea:

Then later, Melissa and her dad switched it up again!  Their sappy dance turned into the Chicken Dance:

I even got a short video of the newlyweds cutting their wedding cake:

Melissa & TJ, I really had a great time working with you on this wedding.  Your families were wonderful and you have so many folks who truly love you.  I hope you had a wonderful honeymoon and I’m looking forward to catching up when you return!