Do you remember Victoria & Michael’s wedding at the Westin Grand in Georgetown?  I just got some of the professional photos from Joseph Allen and wanted to share them with you.

First, how stunning is this portrait of Vic, taken in their awesome honeymoon suite at the Westin Grand DC?  Mike’s a lucky guy!

We lucked out on the weather and were able to hold the wedding ceremony outside in the hotel’s courtyard.  I really loved the patterned parasols that Vic found:

Gettin’ hitched:

They’re married!  After the ceremony, our newlyweds took a stroll around Georgetown:

How cute are these two?

I really thought that Vic’s long veil suited her and her gown just perfectly.  Plus it made for some fun portraits:

Woo woo!  They even got a little sexy!  Didn’t Joseph do an amazing job on these photos?

Another cute Georgetown street shot:

Meanwhile back at the Westin, guests were enjoying cocktails in the courtyard and we were putting the finishing touches on the reception room.  If you want the convenience of a hotel wedding but not a typical hotel ballroom, check out the Westin Grand!  It has big beautiful wooden columns, a wooden floor, two steps down to create an elevated dance floor area (or head table area or cocktail area or ceremony area or whatever you want it to be), and a funky little nook that’s perfect for the bar and a seating lounge area.

I would be amiss if I didn’t point out the GORGEOUS centerpieces provided by DaVinci’s Florist.  The black vases were topped with rose and calla lily domes and also featured dripping crystals.  The candles on the tables made the crystals sparkle and the whole piece made the room look very dramatic:

Another stunning feature was the black and white damask wedding cake made by Lara Stuckey at Fluffy Thoughts.  Isn’t this thing beautiful?  I liked how the tiers alternated square and round.  You can also see Vic’s bouquet which we displayed next to the cake:

Well, that’s the party, folks!  Vic & Mike also had a traditional Chinese tea ceremony which was an intimate moment for both families.  She also changed into a traditional Qi Pao for the second half of the reception:

For some more detail shots and my perspective on the day, be sure to check out the original post about Vic & Mike’s wedding at the Westin Grand DC.  I really loved this wedding and hope you do too!

This is part of a series on The Special Event show 2009.  See this post for more information.

The second day of the conference held a special treat for us wedding planners.  The Wedding Luncheon was held at the Hard Rock Hotel in the gaslamp quarter, almost directly across from the convention center.  This beautiful hotel was built in 2007 and is sparkling clean both inside and out.  The luncheon ticket included a walk-through exhibit of wedding ideas called the Designer Wedding Gallery.  I’ll have those photos up sometime this week.  For now, let’s check out the main event.

The Hard Rock Hotel, San Diego:

Ladies in beautiful wedding gowns walked around the lobby area of the function space:

Stepping inside the ballroom took everyone’s breath away.  There must have been somewhere between 40-50 tables.  At front there was a large stage flanked by two huge screens.  When everyone was finding their seats they played popular music videos.  Then when the speakers took the stage they were projected for guests in the back:

Here’s a video of the room in all it’s pink and blue glory:

Of course I have photos of all the different table setups.  Rumor has it that there were thirteen different table settings in the room!  These are just a few of the ones I particularly liked:

A couple with flash so you can see the detail and actual colors:

The stage with funky swagged drape and larger-than-life crystals strung across the back:

Carley Roney was the guest speaker and described the ‘millennium bride.’  Nothing we didn’t already know but it’s good to see The Knot is keeping up with the trends:

So what does a $195 ticket get you for lunch?  We started with a light salad and California cheese plate.  Executive Chef Jeff Walter explained that nearly everything on the menu was locally sourced:

The main entree was lamb and some sort of locally-caught fish.  I’m not really a lamb or fish person but both were pretty good.  My favorite was the layered sweet potato gratin in the center:

Cyndi Lauper, Cher, and Madonna (lookalikes).  I wish I had photos of the front of these ladies!  I spoke with Cher for a few brief moments.  She was surprisingly realistic and knew just about everything about the actual Cher.  They were all really talented and roamed the party to keep people entertained:

I think the most impressive part of the whole thing was the amount of work that went into it.  This amazing party was planned by Rachel Peniche of Plan It San Diego and Kathy Wright of Kathy Wright & Co.  Here’s a time-lapse video showing how it all came together:

Seeing as how there were 400+ wedding planners in the room, I figured there MUST be more blog posts about this amazing party.  You can see a few more perspectives and photos here, here, and here.

I have more great stories from The Special Event!  Stay tuned the rest of this week for my recap.