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Last weekend I had the pleasure of coordinating Sarah & Abs’ wedding at the Torpedo Factory Arts Center.  What a gorgeous day!  We’ve worked at the Torpedo Factory several times over the years and it’s one of our favorite spots.  Sarah & Abs were really one of the most fun couples we’ve had this year.  I broke into a smile countless times just being around them and their friends.  What a great crew!

Let’s kick off with some pictures!  The professional images you see are from the very talented Kristen Leigh Photography.  Kristen is such a doll to work with.  Check her out if you’re looking for a photographer!  Images without her cute “K” watermark are ones I took with my iPhone.

Barbara at Growing Wild did a phenomenal job with Sarah’s bouquet:

Sarah’s green shoes pretty much sum up her personality.  Fun, vibrant, energetic, elegant, and unique!

Sarah and her ladies took some time before the ceremony to take portraits.  I loved this one:

Inside, the ceremony’s all set to go.  If you’re been in the Torpedo Factory during the daytime it looks totally different!  John Farr Lighting Design does an incredible job in making this building transform for events:

Sarah and her dad make it down the aisle:

A gorgeous wedding ceremony at the Torpedo Factory.  Sarah & Abs had a friend, Pastor Dave Saville, perform the service.  He was really wonderful!  It was light, touching, and heartfelt.  I really enjoyed working with Pastor Dave and happily recommend him to anyone who’s looking for a young and modern officiant.  It was a nice departure from the typical wedding officiants I see:

During cocktails, Kristen took photographs of the bridal party in Alexandria.  This cute spot is just around the corner from the Torpedo Factory:

Here’s what Kristen saw:

Kristen got some great shots of our newlyweds along the Old Town Alexandria waterfront.  This is near and dear to me since my husband and I took similar photos over three years ago!  I thought this particular one was so elegant….just a beautiful moment frozen in time while the rest of the world buzzes around them:

Couldn’t this easily be the front cover of a magazine?

Back inside, the party was in full swing!  To start, guests found their escort cards in these cute wheat grass boxes (provided by Growing Wild):

The other half of the Torpedo Factory (opposite from the ceremony) was set up for dinner even before guests arrived.  All we needed were chairs!  Once the ceremony ended and guests moved upstairs for cocktails, Windows Catering set the chairs in place around the tables.  I love this image because it shows a little bit of the wonderful lighting and centerpiece pinspots:

A few more shots of the reception area.  Nicole at Windows Catering is a doll to work with and her staff was phenomenal:

Look familiar?  Once the chairs were out of the way we used the ceremony spot as the dance floor!  Ray from Chris Laich Music Services did a great job keeping folks on the dance floor the entire night.  Doesn’t the space look totally transformed with funky lighting?

Windows’ accomplished pastry chef made the gorgeous and tasty cake.  Sarah & Abs chose to forgo the traditional cake cutting ceremony so this baby was just dislayed then sliced up by the caterer:

On a final note, I wanted to share a video of their incredible first dance!  Sarah and Abs must have practiced this for MONTHS.  Their guests were totally shocked at the last move…watch it and see what I mean!

Thanks, Melissa & TJ, for referring this wedding to me!  I’m honored you thought of me for your friends and am glad I got to see you at the wedding.

For more photos from this wedding, check out Kristen Leigh’s Blog.

Congratulations again, Sarah & Abs!

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!

Last week I mentioned that we visited The Atrium at Meadowlark for a walkthrough.  Well, our first Meadowlark bride of the year tied the knot!  Our big hearty congratulations go to Kirsten & Daniel who celebrated their nuptials among close family and friends.  I’m holding out for professional photographs from Heather Z but for now my own images will do.

Since guests had to walk past the reception area on their way to the ceremony, we tied a ribbon across the bridge.  This prevented guests from leaving their jackets, purses, and other personal belongings at the tables before the photographer took room photos:

The ceremony from a sneaky ‘inside the atrium’ viewpoint:

After the ceremony, Heather Z was tasked with taking a lot of family portraits.  This is typical at a lot of weddings but you never see the ‘behind the scenes’!  Here’s Heather hard at work, making sure everyone’s face gets in the image:

Here’s Kirsten and her bridesmaids taking in the reception.  This is also a great shot of their bouquets from Maryam Flowers.  Can you guess which one is her sister?

Kirsten and me:

Here’s the Atrium, all set up!  Isn’t it gorgeous?

Kirsten’s friend Stephanie owns Soiree Papier, a stationery company.   Look at these adorable escort cards she made for the wedding:

Kirsten & Daniel also chose to donate to a handful of charities instead of giving favors to their guests.  Here’s a terrible photo of the cute cards that explain the charities:

Stephanie also made these great table numbers and the Mr. & Mrs. card for the sweetheart table:

Maryam did a great job on the centerpieces and bouquets!  Gorgeous!

Danielle at Windows Catering went above and beyond.  It’s the little things that make big differences.  Have you ever seen a buffet at a wedding?  Most have those unsightly chafing dishes that look like they’d be more suited for a school cafeteria.  These two small chafing dishes were decorative and unassuming.  The other foods were presented on gorgeous platters in smaller portions so everyone’s meal was hot and fresh from the kitchen:

Windows provided the cake too.  Yummy!

A shot of the party at night with all the twinkly lights in the trees:

Congratulations again, Kirsten & Daniel!  I really enjoyed working with you both and will miss our regular meetings at La Madeleine.  Say hello to your kitties for me!

I almost fell out of my chair when photographer Greg Gibson sent me this images. Seriously. I’ve been around quite a few wedding images in my day and these just blew me away! They are from Arienne & Rahman’s wedding which took place over Memorial Day weekend this year. Greg’s photos are a far cry from the ones I put on the original blog post. Here goes:

DaVinci’s did a knockout job on the flowers:

This particular high school principal is a hottie!

A few last moments before entering the church. Can you spot me? (::I’m at the top of the steps, just to the right of Arienne’s hand::)

This image captures exactly how it felt to watch her:

They stared at each other like this through the whole ceremony:

Did you know you need a photo permit to take professional pictures in front of the DC monuments? Luckily the US Capitol doesn’t require this and it makes a great background for portraits:

I just can’t get over these portraits! I think Arienne & Rahman have their future cut out in modeling:

They even look amazing in black & white!

The Galleria at Lafayette Square, all ready to go:

Their big entrance:

First dance:

They looked so happy the entire day:

Getting emotional during a sorority tradition:

Windows Catering provided the cake. Yum-o! Thanks Danielle, for all your hard work:

OK…now we see where he gets his dashing good looks from:

There were SO many single ladies! These kind of bouquet tosses are fun:

Congratulations again, Arienne & Rahman! Seeing these photos reminds me of how wonderful your wedding day was. Everything was so filled with pure joy and the overwhelming sense of family. Thank you for including us in your special day.