I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Melanie & Adam on their gorgeous wedding at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, DC.  I met Melanie in the spring of 2009 and it was a pleasure every step of the way.  I wish I could take credit for this girl’s fabulous details but all the cute touches are her own!

I was really thrilled to be working with a phenomenal team of vendors.  A big special thanks goes to Mark Medrick at the Fairmont, who really made sure the service was top-notch.  I wish I could steal him from the Fairmont to work weddings for Wish –he’s a true gem!  Another big thanks goes to Regeti’s Photography.  Amy & Srinu Regeti are, well, amazing.  Take a look for yourself!

Our bride, Melanie, gets finishing touches by the very talented makeup artist Carl Ray:

She’s looking pretty fabulous, eh?  All ready for a wedding!

I love the ‘Regeti’s-style‘ portraits.  They come up with such lovely, natural, and elegant poses:

Melanie & Adam are Jewish so they saw each other before the ceremony.  In Jewish tradition, the signing of the Ketubah (marriage contract) is the real wedding ceremony.  They get married before the bride walks down the aisle!  Luckily this event also means that we can do some cute ‘first look’ and formal portraits before the events begin:

I have a pretty lucky history with weather and this wedding was no exception.  Big gray storm clouds threatened some rain but it held off long enough to get some stunning photos in the Fairmont’s garden courtyard.  These portraits go perfectly with the garden theme of the wedding:

I would be remiss if I didn’t give credit to our wonderful florist, Alison de Wit at Distinctive Floral Design.  Check out Melanie’s bouquet!  Just wait until you see the centerpieces.

Don’t Melanie & Adam have a handsome group of friends?

After the portraits were done, the bridal party and family headed up to sign the Ketubah in a private ceremony.  An hour later, it was time for the second (public) ceremony.  Rabbi White did an excellent job in keeping the service lighthearted but also endearing.

Obviously this photo was not taken by the Regeti’s:

A special shout-out goes to the Cherry Blossom String Quartet.  I love working with these guys since they’re always on time, play beautifully, are professional, and are very easy to work with.  Plus, we did Julia’s wedding a few months ago 

I especially loved this photo of Adam reading his vows:

After these two lovebirds tied the knot for a second time, guests celebrated with some cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.  Even though it wasn’t raining, the heat outside prohibited us from using the courtyard like Melanie had hoped.  Luckily the Fairmont’s lobby is quite large and we had a private area with plenty of sofas and mingling space.

The ‘English garden’ theme was really played up with her adorable vintage-esque birdcages and fresh English roses:

I especially liked the little pewter chairs that held the escort cards:

Back in the Colonnade, the ceremony room was being ‘flipped’ for the reception!  If you’re having your wedding ceremony and reception at the same venue, this is a wonderful way to make the best use of the most beautiful space.  The Fairmont’s ballroom is particularly beautiful since there is so much natural light from the pretty garden courtyard.  I bet you couldn’t even tell that these tables were waiting ‘in the wings’  the whole time:

Vintage postcards marked tables instead of numbers:

Check out these lush centerpieces!  Doesn’t this just scream ‘romantic English garden tea party‘?

As cute details and wonderful conversation pieces, Melanie & Adam displayed vintage wedding cake toppers from several family weddings:

Another detail that can’t be overlooked is the stationery set.  These wedding invitations and programs were HAND-PAINTED by Kristy Rice’s fabulous team at Momental Designs.  The floral motif is based on Melanie & Adam’s china pattern!  I think this is a wonderful piece of art that really sets the tone for a fabulous event:

The wedding cake by Cherry Blossom Cakes was truly yummy:

Yet another photo not taken by the Regeti’s:

I couldn’t get over this photo of our newlyweds cracking up during one of their toasts.  I wish I could remember what the joke was!

Instead of a traditional guest book, Melanie & Adam chose a photo booth and photo guest book by Posh Booth:

Of course it wouldn’t be a Jewish wedding without the Hora!  DJ Chris Laich kept everyone on the dance floor all night:

Cutting the cake:

Here’s our lovely couple with Mark Medrick, the wonderful host at the Fairmont.  He was excellent every step of the way.  If you’re interested in having your wedding at the Fairmont, definitely get in touch with him!

Melanie & Adam wanted an extra surprise for her guests before they left for the evening.  She chose a macaron display with several flavors of macarons.  Boy were the guests surprised when they walked out of the ballroom and spotted this spread of treats!  These scrumptious macarons were provided by Michel Patisserie:

Of course the Regeti’s did a much better job with the photos than I did:

It will be a few more weeks until we have some video of this event, but it was filmed with a regular HD camera and also Super 8 film (!) by Blue Sky Films.  I can’t wait to see what Colin shot & how it’s edited together.  Those guys always come up with some wonderful films.

…and they lived happily ever after:

Congratulations again, Melanie & Adam!  It was really a joy to work with you both and I wish you many successes and much happiness over the years.

PS – want more photos of this wedding?  Check out the Regeti’s Photography blog!

I have known this bride for a LONG time.  I began my career years ago at Wolf Trap and one summer, had a WONDERFUL intern named Julia.  Fast forward over 10 years later, and I see on Facebook Julia’s getting married!  I email her to congratulate her, and she says “oh, and by the way, I need a planner…”  Of course I signed right up!

Julia planned every last detail but Chris, a graphic designer, designed all of the paper pieces, including the menus, invitations, and programs!

I absolutely LOVE this photo of the couple, just after they were married, at the church’s entrance.  How gorgeous is that vintage fur stole, compliments of the bride’s grandmother?

After the ceremony, everyone headed to the Fairfax Marriott at Fair Oaks to start the party.  This Marriott has a GORGEOUS cocktail area, made even more beautiful by the lighting from Swank Audio Visuals:

Throughout the planning, Julia kept talking about the “wow” factor in the ballroom.  Well, she definitely got it!  With a combination of the already beautiful ballroom:

Linens from DC Rental:

More lighting from Swank:

…and my favorite part, the centerpieces!  Chris and Julia had three different centerpieces.  Two of them were provided by a Wish favorite, Barbara Von Elm at Growing Wild:

And the third was designed by Julia and put together by my beautiful assistants and me! (and which you’ve seen before, as they’re for sale!)

(The small bride’s cake was based on Chris’ design from the invitations!)

As if that wasn’t enough sugar, Julia’s mom baked mini breads for guests to take home, sealed with the couple’s custom monogram (again, created by the groom) and gave them the recipe for the bread to bake at home!

A few more gorgeous pictures of the day:

M.J. and Corey were married in October in a gorgeous ceremony at one of the nicest hotels in DC, The Mandarin Oriental.  Lara Swanson, their AMAZING photographer, was kind enough to share some of the beautiful shots she captured that day:

LOVED M.J.’s gorgeous bouquet, compliments of one of our favorite florists, Petal’s Edge:

A family friend of M.J.’s, who just happens to be the White House Calligrapher, helped design all of the printed materials:

My favorite string quartet, Cherry Blossom Strings, performed for the ceremony and the cocktail hour.  You’ll see their violist’s wedding in a few months, as we’re coordinating hers in January!

The adorable flower girls making their way down the aisle:

M.J. and her dad in the gorgeous light of the day.

LOVE this shot taken from the balcony of the bridal suite at the Mandarin:

It’s lovely when brides pick a color for their bridesmaids but then let them choose a dress that fits their personality and body type.  M.J.’s ladies all looked wonderful.  Here are more beautiful bouquets from Petal’s Edge:

How cute is the flower girl, trying to get a peek of the first kiss?

I really loved the straps on her gown:

Cute shoe shot:

Beautiful calligraphy by Bonnie Jean Eastep (email me if you need contact info!)

Beautiful cake from Kendall’s cakes:

More great touches:

This band was AMAZING.  The John Winntet is based out of Richmond, and I HIGHLY recommend them.  These guys rocked the house with everything from smooth standards to Jimmy Buffett:

Corey is an incredibly talented pianist (in fact, he was playing on stage the first time he and M.J. saw each other).  The John Winntet set up a piano so that Corey could jam on a few songs with them!

Adorable cookie favors sent the guests home at the end of the night, provided by Bundles of Cookies in Bethesda (the bride says to tell you she highly recommends them!).

Congratulations, Corey and M.J.  Have fun in Brazil for your New Year’s honeymoon!

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!