Emily and Chris's Fathom Gallery Washington DC Wedding

Photo by Barbara O Photography

We love low-key, DC weddings. And this one was a perfect example of how low key can still be both stunning and incredibly special. Emily and Chris got married at Fathom Gallery in early October. Unfortunately it was raining for most of the day, but magically, the rain broke just in time for the tented ceremony!

After their intimate rooftop ceremony, the most special part of the evening was when the groom played live music along with his father!

Food stations, great cocktails, speeches, and the bride changing into a super-cute cocktail dress rounded out this awesome wedding. Check out the photographs by Barbara O Photography.

Emily and Chris’s Vendors:

Coordinator: Tarra Morgan, The Plannery

Venue: Fathom Gallery

Caterer: B.Lin

Photographer: Barbara O Photography

Ceremony Music: Quentin Walston’s Trio

Hair/Make-up: Logan 14 Salon

Wedding Cocktails

Photo by Rhinehart Photography

In honor of World Cocktail Day, we’re talking about how to have some fun with your wedding cocktails and cocktail hour!

Shaken or Stirred?

Photo by Shandi Wallace

Cocktails are a fun way to add some small details and a dash of fun. This couple chose to create personalized cocktail stirrers to play into their wedding theme. Whether it’s umbrellas, crazy straws, or monogrammed cocktail napkins, you can add your own twist (get it?) to your cocktails during cocktail hour.

Showcase your favorite spirit

Photo by DeNeuva Photography

A lot of folks personalize things by showcasing and sharing their favorite spirit with their guests. Whether it’s a whiskey bar, a martini bar, tequila tasting, what have you - it’s a great way to make your cocktail hour feel like YOU - and share a little of your favorite thing with your guests.

Share a sip with your new spouse

Photo by Go Kate Shoot

I always encourage couples to have a moment alone after the ceremony. The rest of the day - although fun - will be hectic and often chaotic. So why not grab a drink with your new spouse, relax and enjoy the moment?

Signature Cocktail

Photo by Shandi Wallace

This is an oldie but a goodie - most caterers offer to provide signature cocktails at the bar for free. And it’s especially fun to have each couple choose their own to reflect their own favorite!

Jordan and Zachary's Dockmaster Building DC Winter Wedding

Photo by Bee Two Sweet

I love me some winter weddings, especially on the water. This stunning bride and groom were dressed to impress as they cemented their love in classic Jewish tradition at the breathtaking Dockmaster Building, one of the awesome event spaces that the Wharf in DC can provide. One of my favorite touches: The couple incorporated books, old and new, from their personal library…a cornerstone of their relationship - and even incorporated flowers from book pages in the bride’s hair and bouquet!

Congratulations to Jordan and Zachary! Enjoy the spectacular captures from Brittany at Bee Two Sweet Photography 

Jordan and Zachary’s Vendors:

Wedding Coordinator: Tarra Morgan, The Plannery

Venue: Dockmaster Building

Caterer: Main Event Caterers

Photographer: Bee Two Sweet

Florist: She Loves Me

Cake: Buttercream Bake Shop

Hair/Make-up: TC Beauty

Why to Have a Winter Wedding

As we head into the holiday season, I thought I’d write a small ode to the winter wedding. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but there are some very good reasons to consider it - so for those of you recently engaged and starting to envision your wedding, I urge you to give winter a second chance!

Winter Weddings Save You Dough

Photo by Sam Hurd

Winter is what we in the wedding industry like to call the “slow” season - so most wedding venues will offer discounted rates for the colder, winter months. Similarly, you can often negotiate with other wedding vendors to potentially get their pricing down since demand isn’t quite as high.

Your Winter Wedding Brings Color to a Gray Season, in More Ways Than One

Photo by Mary Sandoval Photography

Let’s face it - after the holidays, the winter season can sometimes be a bit gray and gloomy. People are gonna be super psyched to have a reason to celebrate, and I’ve often found some of the happiest and rowdiest crowds are at winter weddings! Not only that, but having a wedding during the winter means you bring life and color, literally, to the world. No matter what you wear, you’ll pop in your photos against the stark but beautiful background of the colder months.

Embrace the Romance of a Winter Wedding

Photo by Sam Hurd

Winter is a time to hibernate, to snuggle with the ones you love. Many of the winter weddings I’ve worked have really embraced the romance of the winter, with lots of candlelight, warmth and frankly, the magic that comes with it. I had one wedding literally hand out candles to all the guests and do a candle lit ceremony (shut up, how gorgeous is that??!!). So whether it be a venue with lots of fireplaces, having hot cocoa stations, or just some beautiful tapers on long dining tables, winter is a wonderful time to fully embrace the romance of the season.

Winter Wedding Fashion

Photo by Amber Wilkie

Winter weddings mean you get to be a bit more creative with your wedding attire in order to stay warm. So whether you grab your grandmother’s old fur stole, go for a full-on suit, or don a white puffy coat, the options in winter are fun, fabulous and different.

What a Wedding Designer Would do Differently for Their Own Wedding

We’re continuing our monthly series of “What We’d Do Differently” for our weddings today with some wise words from Kim, our Event Designer! Read on to learn more about wedding dress shopping, spending time with guests, and one of the most often discussed vendors (in my experience), a wedding videographer!

So many memories come back looking through our wedding pictures—friends and family coming together, the music and dancing… the 100-degree weather while getting our pictures taken! While we couldn’t have planned for the heat, there were a few other things I would have done a little differently looking back:

Hire a Wedding Videographer

Four and a half years later and this is still my biggest regret. It was one of the things we decided to cut after signing a few vendor contracts and getting a better understanding of how much weddings actually cost. I was getting a bit worried about staying in our budget and was overwhelmed looking for other vendors so, I didn’t do much work in researching videographers who might be on the cheaper end or new to the field. I really wish I had. Even a student videographer would have been better than none! It’s the first thing I tell people when they ask if I had any regrets. I love watching other people’s wedding videos and still wish we had one of our own, but our photographs will have to suffice, which is OK because we loved our photographer!

Wedding dress shopping: more of it, and go it alone

I want to preface this by saying I loved my dress and still do. I went to two boutiques with some immediate family members both times and it was not too stressful to have their opinions. Thinking back though, I wish I had gone once more, alone. I think having a third time with just my thoughts and trying some styles I might not have considered before would have been fun. Whenever someone tells me they’re going dress shopping I get so excited for them and think about sneaking back to a salon and pretending I’m getting married again just to try on a few more ;)

Allow More Time To Visit With Wedding Guests

This might be a common one as Katie mentioned the same thing! For some reason we stayed in a back room while cocktail hour happened. Maybe I was worried we’d get off schedule if we went and walked around, who knows, but I think it would have been fine! We didn’t allocate time to do this during dinner either and I feel like we didn’t see half the people we invited. I know the day is crazy but I wish we set aside time for this. Looking back at our reception pictures it would have been nice for the two of us to be in more of them with our guests and not just each other.

Let the Train of my Wedding Dress Down!

OK, this sounds silly and so small but I noticed in a few of our pictures that I was carrying my train around. I wish I had let it go and trail behind me as it was meant to. I think I didn’t want it to get dirty (understandable) but looking back I only got to wear the dress once and should have showed it off more. Something to keep in the back of your mind while you’re getting pictures taken!

Of course none of these things ruined the wedding entirely—I loved every minute of that day. It’s easy to say I should have done this or that when looking back but, in the moment it all felt like the right choice. Hopefully my look back with give some perspective to current couples in the midst of planning. Whatever you decide, though, just make sure it makes you happy!

Kaylan and Kyle Longview Gallery Washington DC Wedding

Photo by Sloane Dakota Photo

I love nothing more than a couple that knows exactly what they want. Kaylan and Kyle kept true to their visions throughout the planning process. Their style and tastes were interwoven in every single solitary detail - from the bar menu to calligraphy work, to the sprigs of rosemary at each place setting, all thought out so meticulously, and so them. It is no surprise with Kyle being part prominent figure in the DC food and beverage industry that their dinner menu (provided by Spilled Milk) was one of the finest I have seen thus far at a wedding. The main attractions being Pancetta-Wrapped Quail Roulade and a Mustard-Glazed Rockfish, YUM! Cocktails were served out of a specially crafted Jockey Box, CO2 Tank with regulator… ummmm yeah, I had to look that one up! :) And let’s not forget the extremely enormous bottle of Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose that Kyle surprised Kaylan with, a 3L Jeroboam to be specific. It was literally bigger than my head. This wedding was the epitome of intimate wining and dining among beloved family and friends- an absolutely incredible night of love and laughter in Washington, DC. Congrats again, Kaylan and Kyle!

Kaylan and Kyle’s Vendors:

Coordinator: Tarra Morgan, The Plannery

Venue: Longview Gallery

Caterer: Spilled Milk

Photography: Sloane Dakota Photo

DJ: Kelton Higgins

Florist: Sill Life

Cake: Fluffy Thoughts

Hair/Make-up: Alison Harper

Abby and Scott's Carnegie Institution for Science Wedding

Photo by Sam Hurd

I really love December weddings. And I especially love December weddings at Carnegie Institution for Science, a venue so gorgeous, you don’t care if it’s cold outside! Abby and Scott got married this past December. After a first-look and some photos both at the hotel and the venue, they signed the ketubah and then were off to get married. They opted for an in-the-round ceremony which beautifully highlights the Carnegie’s rotunda. After cocktails they had a lovely dinner by Design Cuisine - I adored all of Abby’s choices for linens and design. She brought in some great green colors that accented the season, but also didn’t go to far into the wintery route and brought in some lovely blues as well! Enjoy these romantic and stunning photos by Sam Hurd, and enjoy dreaming of that cozy, cold weather that will be here before we know it!

Abby and Scott’s Vendors:

Venue: Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC

Coordinator: Katie Wannen, The Plannery

Caterer: Design Cuisine

Photographer: Sam Hurd

Music: DJ Mark Maskell

Florist: Highway to Hill

Make-up: Alison Harper & Co

How do you want to feel on your wedding day?

Photo by Shandi Wallace

I recently talked on my InstaStories about exercise, and how tangentially that related back to wedding planning (check my ramblings out here in my highlights, if you want the original source material!). Basically, I was thinking about how I, as a typical type-A person, suffer from anxiety and I’ve recently been using exercise to help manage my mental health, keeping me feeling good and happy.

I was then thinking about all you poor couples out there - brides and grooms who are so often marketed to about how you’re going to LOOK on your day. How to lose the weight for your wedding, fit into the dress, all that bullshit (including this recent NY Times article that sent me into a rage spiral). And not only that, but what items you’re going to have at your wedding that can be photographed and then blogged about. What the centerpieces will look like. What the venue looks like. Looks, looks, looks, looks, looks.

Which brought me back to feelings (cue “feelings…”). At The Plannery, as much as we care about how things look and that your florist or event designer is doing what they should and everything looks as you want it to look, what we actually care about, and what I consider my JOB - is that you feel good. Our main priority is how you feel, NOT how you look. If you’re feeling calm, relaxed, stress-free, able to have fun and in the moment then I have done my job.

Photo by Go Kate Shoot

And so though how you feel is what I believe sets us apart as wedding planners, that’s really hard to Instagram. I don’t have a lot of pretty pictures to show you what feeling good on your wedding day looks like (though I certainly can try, and sometimes the awesome photographers I’ve worked with capture just that!). But I’ll just ask you to step away for a moment from the social media, the wedding magazines and blogs, the mood boards (though we do love ourselves some mood boards), and think about this question that very few people ask you: how do you want to feel on your wedding day?

And then hire people who will make the process of planning a wedding, and your actual wedding day, feel really damn good.

Photo by Shandi Wallace

Hire the best and trust your wedding vendors

Photo by Sam Hurd

I recently write a blog post in which I discussed how important communication is to a stress-free wedding. I had one of my favorite wedding friendors reach out and say that the real key to a stress free wedding is “hire the best and trust your vendors.”

I loved it. Especially as a planner, and therefore someone who guides couples in that decision-making process. So I thought I’d dive into this topic a bit, cause it’s a good one - and one that a lot of wedding vendors don’t often talk about, but should.

Having a good wedding vendor team is essential to eliminating stress on your wedding day. Why? Because if you truly trust your gut in the hiring process, and find vendors that “get” you and ones that you feel confident in, then your work is done. You as the couple getting married get to lean back, relax, and let them do their thing. By letting go and trusting (which I realize, is not always easy), you also let go of the stress and worry on your wedding day.

So when choosing a wedding vendor I urge all of my clients to move past the numbers (though I always stay within their budget!) and really look at the person. Do you not only like their work, but them? Did you choose them just cause they were randomly recommended or did you really read reviews about them, and those reviews spoke to you in some way? Did you feel at ease and comfortable when you spoke or met with them? Or did some red flags get raised, but you pushed those away cause you just wanted a decision to be made so you could move on?

Photo by Jessica Crews

Wedding vendors have all dealt with couples that hired them and then didn’t trust them. And let me tell you - that’s not easy from our end, either. So I urge you all to take your time and listen to your gut when hiring wedding vendors. Better yet, hire a planner that you trust who will then recommend vendors that are a good fit :)

And it’s actually quite interesting that for this huge day, this day when you’re marrying your person, your partner who you will commit to and vow to trust, that you also need to apply that to the other relationships. Though they’re not romantic ones, they are important ones. So hire the best and then trust them to do their best so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy your wedding!

Adam and Ryan's Carnegie Institution of Science DC Wedding

Photo by Justin McCallum

Adam and Ryan signed on to work with me back when I was about to have my 2nd baby! I helped them get started - nailed down the venue and some of the major vendors, had my baby (!), then came back to help them out with the rest of their planning. And I’m SO blessed and thankful that they took a chance on a very pregnant woman. This might have been one of my favorite weddings of all time. They were so much fun to work with and I knew that their love and their wedding would be so special. Justin McCallum’s awesome photos capture every moment, big and small. They started the day with some photos around the Carnegie Institution of Science. Then after signing the license with friends and family, they had a beautiful ceremony in the round. One of my favorite details was that they’d ordered two custom gobos - one for during the ceremony (which listed both of their “maiden” names), and one after, pronouncing them, The Hunters :)

After the cocktail hour, their wedding party had some of the most fabulous entrances I’ve ever seen, including their officiant walking in to Like a Prayer, the ring bearer dancing, and of course, Ryan clacking that fan.

Dinner by Main Event Catering was delicious, as was their stunning custom cake (which incorporated their married logo) by Fluffy Thoughts.

And then… it was the best part of the night. Adam and Ryan did their first dance to Beyonce’s XO, and then announced the incredible Riley Knoxx. This infamous Beyonce performer surprised the guests with a 20 minute set and kicked off the dance party like no one else. (and BTW, she also appears in Taylor Swift’s new music video!). It was legit one of the best weddings I’ve had the honor of being a part of - I need more Beyonce in my life (who doesn’t??).

Thank you and congrats again to Adam and Ryan for allowing me to help plan and organize this awesome day! And a special shout out to Scorpio Entertainment. They not only kicked ass as DJ but had a ton of other elements to coordinate - like Riley’s performance/lighting/sound, the special logo lighting, etc - and nailed it all.

Adam and Ryan’s Vendors:

Planner: Katie Wannen, The Plannery

Venue: Carnegie Institution of Science

Caterer: Main Event Caterers

Photographer: Justin McCallum

DJ, Lighting, and Sound: Scorpio Entertainment

Florist: Highway to Hill

Cake: Fluffy Thoughts

Hair/Make-up: Ebonie Jones

Performance! by Riley Knoxx