I had the pleasure of sharing my Memorial Day weekend with April and Lindsay as they got married in the beautiful Meridian Hill Park, which is just across the street from Josephine Butler Parks Center, where the reception was held.

April was glowing when she arrived at Josephine Butler to finish getting ready for the ceremony.  She insisted on taking this picture with me and my little assistant (who is due to arrive any day now!).  All of the awesome photographs were taken by Laurel Jensen of Laurel Jensen Photography.

And there is Lindsay getting on his boutonniere just downstairs.  The feathers in all the personal flowers were a great touch.  Bethany and Jeanne from Park Florist in Takoma Park, MD really did an amazing job with all the flowers.

April’s bouquet was absolutely gorgeous.  Bethany and her team secured a hankie that was April’s Grandmother’s to the bouquet using an antique brooch that April had found.  I loved the color scheme for all the arrangements.  The colors were romantic, but very appropriate for the laid back feel that April wanted to achieve for her Memorial Day weekend nuptials.

The couple’s family and friends gathered in the park to witness the ceremony performed by A.C. Warden of Capital Ceremonies.  A.C. did a great job customizing the ceremony to incorporate all the elements that were important to April and Lindsay.

As we all know, it was quite warm that Saturday, so the couple provided these really pretty parasols for their guests.  This blue one really made for some cool pics!  Aren’t these two cute!

The park really was a great backdrop for photos.  These two are a perfect match and Laurel did a fabulous job capturing the special moments.

The front view of Josephine Butler Parks Center in DC.

There are so many wonderful elements in this shot of the welcome/gift table.  April had given the florist a bunch of old scarves, hankies, table cloths and pieces of fabric that she loved and Bethany from Park Florist used them throughout the venue.  I love how this particular piece looked under this arrangement, which was contained in an old fashioned mason jar.  But the best part is the picture of Lindsay’s grandparents who were married 66 years earlier on the exact same day!

Guests were asked to write a message to the couple and leave it in an old box.  Special thanks to both of my assistants that day, Jasmine and Jenny, for helping with all of the set up.

Love this photo of the couple as they enter to join their guests and get the party started!

The reception space is perfect for smaller weddings.  If you love a ton of natural light, this is the venue for you!

All of the centerpieces were slightly different and while it is a bit hard to see in this photograph,  all of the tables had one of those unique pieces of fabric under the flowers.

Love the lace under this one!  I also like the use of the silver julep cups for the centerpieces.  The couple served mint juleps as one of their signature cocktails!

Josephine Butler also has this great terrace on the second floor just off the reception space, which is perfect for guests during cocktail hour and throughout the night.

April and Lindsay enjoying a fun moment during their first dance!

Ok, let me just tell you how delicious the food was!  As always, Peggy McGuire and the folks at Main Event Caterers did a superb job with all the details.   They are always a pleasure to work with.

April and Lindsay didn’t have a traditional wedding cake.  Instead, they decided to have some of their friends contribute homemade desserts of their choice.

The Capitol Building….made from white chocolate….yummmm!!!

The couple chose two pies from the selection to cut in front of their guests.

The couple supplemented the homemade desserts with some yummy cupcakes from Hello Cupcake!  Each flavor was topped with a monogram.  Main Event did a fantastic job with the dessert display.

Congratulations, April and Lindsay!  Thanks for letting me be a part of your day!

xoxo,

Felicia

Our last wedding of 2009 was Jen & Brent’s bash at The Barns at Wolf Trap.  Although we’ve been planning weddings for over four years and even employ a former Wolf Trap employee, we’ve never had the opportunity to coordinate an event in this beautiful space.  Jen & Brent certainly had a fabulous wedding to wrap up the end of the year!

I’ll share professional images from Amir at Photo Fanatic when I get them.  For now, here’s my take on the day!

Jen & Brent wanted a candlelit ceremony so that’s what they got!  Aside from some twinkle lights on the trees rented from DaVinci’s Florist, the only other light was from dozens of floating candles down the aisle:

Unfortunately my camera’s not that great in the dark but you get the idea.  It was gorgeous!

The ceremony and reception happened in the same room so once the ceremony concluded we sent all the guests to a cocktail /bar area down the hall.  I didn’t get a photo of the built-in bar at Wolf Trap but here’s the big foyer area:

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Jen & Brent had a kelly green & gray color scheme.  Isn’t that fabulous!?  I was so excited to see how the colors came together.  Here’s her escort card table.  I loved the whole limes in the vase underneath that big hydrangea arrangement:

Meanwhile inside, we were busy setting up the reception!  Keep in mind that we had NOTHING set up for the reception during the ceremony, not even staged tables waiting in the back.  We re-used the chairs to save on the cost and flipped the room entirely:

We had three different centerpieces on the tables to break up the room and show some creativity!  DaVinci’s Florist was really flexible and rolled with all the ideas.  Here’s the tall arrangements:

See how we re-used the ceremony floating candles on the tables?  This arrangement was on the table where the bride & groom sat:

The final table arrangements, featuring submerged orchids and floating candles:

Hold on, did you see that?  The adorable table number?  Jen made these all herself!

Another cute detail was the favors, Hershey’s Kisses in tiny customized glass jars:

For such a late fall wedding, Jen and Brent wanted the room to be DARK!  I thought it was a gorgeous candlelit reception, perfectly romantic for the occasion:

I wish I had a better photo of Jen’s dress but believe me, it was stunning!  She offset the asymmetrical gown with a birdcage veil that was so perfectly vintage-inspired.  Her flowing hair was kept down and had finger waves.  How many brides do we see anymore who keep their hair down?  This girl’s got style!  Here she is dancing with her dad:

Guests enjoying their meal, catered by R&R Catering:

I have to mention the cupcake tree, which was made by Jen herself!  The cupcakes came from Hello Cupcake and fit perfectly on the kelly green stand.  Check out the way they stack up:

OK, I just wanted to rub in how delicious these things were.  Are you jealous yet?

Another lame attempt at getting a photo of Jen’s gown!  Here you can actually see Brent too (sorry for the lack of representation, Brent — we love you!):

…and they danced the night away, thanks to David from MyDeejay:

That’s all for now, folks!  Jen & Brent, I hope you had a fabulous honeymoon and are enjoying the new year together as newlyweds!