Meredith might honestly have been one of the most laid-back brides I’ve ever worked with.  Howard was a pretty cool cucumber too, actually.  They’re going to have a great, relaxed marriage…once they’re finally in the same town together, that is!  Meredith will be finishing up her Ph.D. in Austin, Texas while Howard continues his medical/Army training in Norfolk for the first few months of their marriage.

(Photo by the outstanding Jake Holt …more of his photos to come!)

Lori from Windows Catering came up with the awesome table set up for this wedding, which I loved!  It was perfect for the space and the number of people we had, and the DJ (Ron Gray of Kirkabees) remarked that he had been to the venue dozens of times, and had never seen it set up like that!

Isn’t it awesome?!  The dance floor was inside the tables and the chairs were both outside and inside of the square with openings at each end.  It made for great conversation at the tables, too!  Here’s another picture of the set up.  (Above picture, and those below, taken by one of our assistants that day.  I had to hand off my camera because of all of the running around!)  Note the gorgeous blue pintuck linens provided by Windows.  Meredith picked these out, along with the orange linen napkins not only to go with the Mexican theme of the wedding, but also as a nod to the fact that she and Howard are both UVA grads.  Go Hoos!

This was my first time at the Thomas Birkby House, but I hope it won’t be my last!  Wish does a lot of weddings there, which we love, thanks to the beautiful venue and the lovely on-site coordinator, Mary Louise.

This venue has it all — adorable historic house (complete with lots of hidden nooks, a GORGEOUS bride’s room, and even cute porches to hang out on), a beautiful courtyard, a big permanent tent, and the most gorgeous gardens!  The little gazebo is where their cake shows up later (although in this picture it was still living inside, in the air conditioning):

See the little banner hanging inside the gazebo?  Meredith special ordered it in orange and blue.  Here is the blue one, which was inside the tent:

We also set up a few tables inside in case people wanted to escape from the heat.  Once the sun set, though, it was absolutely lovely outside, so these didn’t get used much:

Also inside the house was the escort card table.  Although the couple had place cards at each seat, Meredith’s dad came up with a cute “icebreaker” game that also served as an escort card.  Each guest had the name of one half of a couple on each side of their escort card.  When they found their match, that’s who they were sitting next to at dinner!

The staff at the Birkby House hung the lanterns Meredith and Howard purchased inside the tent (which you can see in the photos of the tent set up above), and one of our assistants hung a few in the trees as well.  I love the orange stars!

The florist, Barbara Von Elm of Growing Wild, joked to me in an email that we’re dating.  That’s how much we’re seeing each other these days!  You’ll be seeing her handy work for another one of my weddings in just a few weeks, not to mention several other Wish weddings!  She brought in her own Mexican pottery that she had in her house to decorate the cocktail tables in the theme of the wedding…how sweet is that!

Of course, the flowers didn’t stop there.  The tables inside the tent were lined with dozens of small vases filled with different flowers, and the arbor for the ceremony was decorated beautifully as well:

Instead of clinking glasses or ringing bells, the guests shook the maracas that the couple provided as favors at each place setting:

A lemonade stand was set up by the Windows staff at the entrance to the courtyard.  It came in awfully handy when the sun was out!

Instead of a traditional guest book, Meredith and Howard had a friend design a poster for them to have signed:

Lori and I had never heard of the company that provided the cake, Terracocoa, but holy moly, you better believe I know them now!  Not only was this cake GORGEOUS but it was one of the most delicious wedding cakes I’ve ever had.  I normally am not a fondant fan but this cake was chocolate with a Burnt Sugar Fondant.  The cake tasted almost like fudge, that’s how rich and decadent it was.  It was I.N.S.A.N.E.  And I know me some wedding cake, kids.  Baker/decorator/owner Marilyn Mueller did an amazing job.  So yummy:

The only teeny, tiny issue with the cake was, well, fondant is fairly thick.  As such, it’s not always easy to cut into.  In spite of my instructions on how to daintily and beautifully cut their cake, by Meredith gently and lovingly resting her hand on Howard’s, preserving their gorgeous photo for years to come, Meredith decided to take a…different approach:

That girl cracks me up.

I also want to give a special shout out to K.C. Felton of The Elegant Artisan and Aisha Alves of Picture Perfect Makeup (whose web site I just went to in order to link to it and saw a good friend of mine, whose makeup they did for her wedding, on the home page!).  Meredith and her bridesmaids looked GORGEOUS!  Meredith is, much like me, a very low key kind of gal who doesn’t wear much makeup.  Aisha and KC did an amazing job of making her look gorgeous but natural.  You’ll see what I mean in the photos below.

Which brings me to Jake Holt.  Ah, Jake Holt.  I have such a crush on this adorable Texan.  See, Meredith and Howard live in Texas and were originally planning to get married there.  However, you know, stuff happens, and the wedding got moved to Leesburg instead.  The couple had fallen so in love with their photographer that they asked him if he might be willing to travel to Virginia to do their wedding.  He even brought an assistant with him on their ROAD TRIP from Texas! (yes, these boys DROVE from Austin.  Crazy.)  Below are just a few pictures from his blog but I hope to have even more once he’s finished editing.  This guy was SO amazing to work with, and his pictures are…well, just see for yourself:

Ooh, I forgot to talk about the bouquets.  The bouquets were great!  Meredith had specifically asked Barbara for a fragrant bouquet, since she doesn’t wear perfume.  Barbara accomplished this in spades!  I could smell that baby all the way down the hall and I swooned.  Gardenias and peonies will do that to a girl

Jake really took advantage of the downtown area of Leesburg (so much so that I had to go chase him down a few blocks and tell him it was time for them to come back!)

To any Loudoun County Police that happen to read wedding blogs…those are totally fake margaritas that were being carried around the streets of Leesburg.  Right, guys?

Howard’s brother is tall, but not THAT tall.  So I couldn’t understand why this happened to his tie:

I saw someone trying to fix it, but we just gave up and told him to keep his coat buttoned.

Jake even set up a little “photo studio” outside after dark, to take some great little portraits and candid shots:

(Oh yeah, the couple supplied the pillows for the benches too…they seriously thought of EVERYTHING!)

This is probably my favorite shot of the entire day:

And now, we must talk about the pinata.  Oh yes, there was a pinata.  Actually, there were two, which was a good thing since the first one broke free from it’s string.  Unfortunately, it broke free from it’s string right over a bar and broke about 20 glasses.  ::Note to future couples considering having a pinata at their wedding.  Over the bar = bad idea::  The second pinata we got right:

Walk softly and carry a big stick.  This is what I tell my brides.

Meredith and Howard’s wedding was an amazing day, filled with an adorable bride and groom, and awesome vendors.  And, at the end of the day, after the broken glasses and pinata parts are cleaned up, your gifts and liquor are all packed up, and all that are left are your wedding coordinator and catering manager, we’re still smiling.  (No, Jake Holt did NOT take this photo, how could you tell?)

Thanks Meredith and Howard for an amazing day!!!  Hope you had a great time in Hawaii!