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!

This past weekend we helped Lindsay & Josh celebrate their nuptials!  Since Lindsay and Josh live in Atlanta, I worked almost exclusively with Linday’s mom Sue.  Since the church had their own wedding coordinators, Sue asked me to just coordinate the reception at the Omni Shoreham hotel in Washington, DC.    I think we put together a pretty great shindig!

The Diplomat Room at the Omni hosted our cocktail hour.  Alison at Distinctive Floral provided all the gorgeous floral arrangements for the event:

I have to admit that I was really proud of the escort card table!  The escort cards, ceremony programs, table names, and menu cards were all printed by The Dandelion Patch.  It’s very difficult to get all the cards evenly spaced on a round table but I think I did a good job:

Cocktail hour had to be moved inside because it was raining so hard on the outdoor patio.  Luckily the hotel plans for such things and it turned out great anyway.  The real gem is the Palladian Ballroom, though!  Check out our amazing reception:

Atmosphere Lighting did all the uplighting around the perimeter of the room and also pinspotted the centerpieces.  Lindsay & Josh named all their tables after DC-area landmarks and monuments.  This table was called “The Pentagon.”  I thought the table settings looked very elegant with Distinctive Floral’s silver footed pedestals:

Linda at Cakes by Linda created this gorgeous show-stopper of a cake!  The lace pattern mimicked Lindsay’s wedding gown and you could smell the sweet buttercream icing just by standing nearby:

The lace is just too pretty to not show up close:

Lindsay & Josh chose Marquise, a band booked through Andy Kushner Entertainment.  I always like working with Andy’s company because the bands they represent are phenomenal and their staff is very responsive. Marquise was wonderfully professional, energetic, and sounded great!  They kept guests on the dance floor the whole night.  You can see the band set up there to the left in this photo:

Later in the evening, the Omni staff brought the wedding cake to the dance floor for the cake cutting ceremony.  I thought this was a great photo because it shows you lindsay’s gorgeous gown.  It was satin with lace detail and had a beautifully elegant satin bow around the waist.  I wish I had a photo from the front but you’ll have to wait until I get the professional images from Freed Photography (Chris Newkumet was great!):

Sue, I had a wonderful time working with you on the wedding and am thrilled to have been a part of your family’s special event.  Lindsay & Josh, I hope you enjoyed every minute of the day and are having a fabulous time in Italy this week!

Stephanie and Chris were married this past May in a beautiful outdoor ceremony at The Mansion at Strathmore in Bethesda, Maryland. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, and below are some of the professional shots by the very talented Michael Bonfigli. The afternoon started with the outdoor ceremony on the patio of the mansion, and was immediately followed by a cocktail hour on the patio steps. Guests were then invited inside for dinner and dancing.

Stephanie and I are discussing how she will walk down the stairs to meet her father:

Taking a few private moments before the ceremony:

I love these next two! The ladies are just about ready to head down the aisle and they realized they’re a few minutes late:

Getting hitched on the mansion’s front steps:

And they’re off!  The newlyweds snuck off for a little alone time before the reception started:

I just love the interiors at Strathmore:

Restaurant Associates (Strathmore’s in-house caterer) did a wonderful job with the food and service:

The beautiful centerpieces and floral decor were provided by Distinctive Floral Designs:

Look at this adorable cake topper!  This scrumptious cake was baked by Sticky Fingers Bakery in DC. It was delicious, and completely vegan!

Strathmore is a such a perfect venue for an intimate party:

The band, Retrospect, kept people dancing all night long:

And they’re off!

Congratulations again Stephanie and Chris! You had a beautiful wedding and it was a pleasure to be a part of!