Winona and Matt's Lyon Park Community Center, Arlington VA Wedding

Photo by Darcy Troutman Photography

Winona and Matt had their wedding this past May at Lyon Park Community Center in Arlington, VA. Winona is larger than life! She beamed from head to toe the entire wedding day.  She is a bride who knew what she wanted and exactly how to make it happen! Matt is a groom who knew what his wife-to-be wanted and exactly how to make it happen! ;) Together, they planned an amazing day full of warmth and amusement for themselves and loved ones.

The slight rain and chill in the air could not put a damper on this special day. It was such a pleasure to help execute their vision. It was special to see how they incorporated their family and friends in many aspects of their wedding including the ceremony officiant, ushers, floral designers, and twinkle light stringers.  It was a sweet, sweet day, but also a little spicy thanks to the delicious Indian cuisine on the menu prepared by Spice Kraft. Enjoy this glimpse at their day with beautiful photos by Darcy Troutman Photography!

Winona and Matt’s Vendors:

Coordinator: Tarra Morgan, The Plannery

Venue: Lyon Park Community Center

Catering: Spice Kraft

DJ: Perpetual Sound, Craig Wood

Photography: Darcy Troutman Photography

Nick and Zach's DC Microwedding

Photo by VNess Photography

Things have been pretty quiet around here due to COVID. But I’m happy to share a micro-wedding from Nick and Zach, one of our clients who were supposed to get married in August at the Carnegie Institution of Science. Never fear, they’ll be partying there next year to celebrate their marriage (and I’ll be coordinating!), but in the meantime, they got hitched THIS August to make it official. They did some photos with their photographer, VNess Photography, at Rock Creek Park , had an intimate ceremony with immediate family at the Kennedy Center, and ended the day with a delicious dinner at All Purpose Pizza by the Nats Stadium. Huge congrats to this wonderful couple! I’m so sorry we weren’t able to celebrate this August, but SO looking forward to helping you with your party in 2021!!

Colin and Mara's Torpedo Factory Alexandria, VA Wedding

Photo by JPG Photography

Colin and Mara were married at The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA this past August - on a hot, but luckily, not stormy (!) day. Mara’s family is Portuguese and she was able to integrate some Portuguese touches throughout the event (including Portuguese music and of course - dancing!) that made it really special. They got ready at nearby Hotel Indigo and did photos prior to the ceremony around beautiful Old Town, while we were getting the venue ready for their big day! D Nicole Settings provided a gorgeous fern wall for their ceremony (which covered the somewhat odd staircase at Torpedo Factory!), while Main Event Catering, Growing Wild Florist, and John Farr lighting also did an awesome job making the space look beautiful. After a very personal ceremony, cocktails were outdoors on the waterfront patio (with no rain! whew!), followed by dinner and dancing indoors. The Bachelor Boys kept the crowd dancing all night long, and Gustavo from JPG Photography provided these beautiful photos. Enjoy!

Mara and Colin’s Wedding Vendors:

Coordinator: Katie Wannen, The Plannery

Venue: The Torpedo Factory

Caterer: Main Event Catering

Photographer: Gustavo, JPG Photography

Music: The Bachelor Boys

Florist: Growing Wild

Fern Wall: D Nicole Settings

Hair/Make-up: Modern Bridal Studio

Lighting/Draping: John Farr

What a Wedding Planner Would do Differently For Their Own Wedding, Part Deux

We’re continuing our series of “What Would a Wedding Planner Do Differently for Their OWN Wedding” with our very own Rebecca! (if you missed our Part 1, check it out here!). Rebecca has some wonderful advice (and beautiful photos from Jess Latos Photography) - so enjoy and learn!

I think every couple second guesses things about their wedding, or there are things that they would do differently. For wedding planners, though, it's a WHOLE different ballgame! Our whole lives are about nitpicking every single detail, so not only do we do that BEFORE our weddings, but after them too!!

But first, let me tell you a little about my wedding, and some of the MANY, MANY, MANY things about it that I loved. I absolutely ADORED our venue, Capon Springs, an all-inclusive family resort that has been owned and operated by the same family for generations.

I KNOW, RIGHT?!??!?! It was everything we wanted -- within driving distance for (almost) everyone, DELICIOUS food, everyone could stay "on site" and we were allowed to bring our own alcohol (a HUGE deal for me...it was literally my only deal breaker when looking at venues.) Picture the resort from Dirty Dancing, and you have Capon Springs (or, for a more recent reference, the resort in the Catskills from Season 2 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel).

I LOVED all of our vendors. Having been in the wedding industry for over 10 years at that time, I knew a lot of vendors, obviously, although none of them were in West Virginia! Luckily we were able to have our "friendors" travel and stay at the resort and enjoy the weekend! (This included our amazing photographer Jessica Latos, our Florist, Katie Martin, our planners, Anjie and Laura, (this was before I worked for The Plannery!), and our officiant, Amanda Tate. The only "local" vendors we had to find were Hair and Makeup (the AMAZING SAS Studio out of Winchester) and our rental company for chairs.

Ok, so the things I would have done differently? They were, in the grand scheme of things, pretty minor.

Photo by Jess Latos Photography

The Ceremony Programs

I loved our programs, but for about a year before the wedding I had been collecting leftover flowers from my weddings as a planner, saving and drying the flower petals. Then I chopped them up into confetti, put them in glassine bags, and attached them to the front of the programs for people to throw.

DUDE! What even was the point?!?!? You totally can't see them in this photo. Which is SO not the photographer's fault! See that ribbon in the right hand corner? That's what we handed out to the kids who kicked off our processional (our wedding parade). I should have just made more of those (they were SO EASY to make!) and had our planners hand them out to the people on the aisles. That picture would have been a lot better. (Also? How freaking cute are these kids?!?)

Photos by Jess Latos Photography

First Look Location

I would have specifically chosen our first look location, or scouted something out with our photographer. It was raining on and off that day, so I TOTALLY understand why she picked the location she did (it was just outside of the cottage where I got ready). But...well, just look...

Photo by Jess Latos Photography

Meh...it's fine. There are just TONS of gorgeous locations at Capon Springs (see...

So I would have been more specific about choosing a location.

Wedding Ceremony Sound

The sound was TOTALLY messed up for our ceremony, but that's not really a planning thing I would have changed -- it was just an unfortunate thing that happened. (Like I said, it was raining on and off all day, and literally at the last minute it stopped, the Capon Staff ran out and wiped down the benches, and we were able to go with our plan A...which I was SO HAPPY about!)

Photo by Jess Latos Photography

But, unfortunately, something happened and I think the speakers were too far from the DJ or something, so you couldn't really hear the music or the officiant if you weren't in the front row. Clearly, 3 1/2 years later, it's still something I think about.

We were planning to do a few large family photos after the ceremony, but it was pretty chilly (see all those people in coats above?!), so I told my planners "Forget it, tell people to just go inside for cocktail hour), and it is something I don't regret AT ALL! The food at our cocktail hour was SO GOOD, and people were pretty happy to be inside in front of the fire place!!!

Wear Your Glasses! (aka be yourself!)

Another thing I don't regret...see any differences between these two pictures?

That's right...GLASSES! I got contacts for the wedding, but I am SO not a contacts wearer. I took them out immediately after the ceremony, and felt a huge sigh of relief. And I've never worn contacts another day in my life! If you're not normally a contacts wearer, don't force yourself just for your wedding! I promise, you'll look beautiful in your glasses!!

Inventory Your Wedding DIY Items

The only thing I regret from the reception is that I didn't use a tool I now use as a planner, which is a personal inventory (something I've learned from Katie Wannen!) We do a personal inventory for all of our couples, which is a spreadsheet that I break down into ceremony, cocktail hour and reception, and for each section I list EVERY SINGLE THING that the couple is bringing, or that needs to be set up, even if someone else is bringing it. I list how it's getting there, where it's going at the wedding, and what's happening to it at the end of the night. If I had done that for the wedding, the one thing that I STILL think about that was missing from the reception, a bar menu that I (ok, more artistically talented friends of mine) worked on REALLY HARD, would have been displayed. (It was like this, but with drinks, not food. The food one is cute too!)

Photo by Jess Latos Photography

This was really just a problem of miscommunication -- I think different people each thought someone else had done it, so it didn't get displayed until I noticed it missing...and by then it was towards the end of the night. It's such a stupid thing to be upset about, but I made up REALLY clever names for our drinks that went with our TV-themed wedding!

("What were they," you ask? Well, there was the "Snake Juice" (Parks and Recreation) (This was 1921 Crema Tequila...I highly recommend it.)

"The Rory" (Gilmore Girls) (A DELICIOUS Grapefruit Moscow Mule)

"There's Always Money in the Banana Stand" (A "sounds weird but is amazing" combo of Banana liqueur and Cream Soda

"The Ron Swanson" (Lagavulin)

Take Care of Your Wedding Guests

Lastly, I regret not just biting the bullet and buying a ton of blankets to set out at the reception. Guys? It was COLD up there. Craig and I went up to the pavilion to greet guests as they arrived (sort of a reverse receiving line, which I highly recommend), but we were freezing -- especially the one of us with a sleeveless dress! Luckily one of my dad's friends had a blanket in his car, and at some point my new mother-in-law went and got me my sweatshirt (and trust me...a red hoodie looks AMAZING with a white lace wedding dress if it's cold enough!) A few of the female guests even changed into jeans or leggings it was so cold! We had three big, warm fireplaces, but if you were sitting far away from them, it was still pretty chilly. I wish I had thought to get some nice warm blankets from Amazon so people could wrap themselves up in them. (Notice I didn't say I wish we had moved our reception inside -- LOOK AT THIS COOL SPOT! I could never have moved it indoors...it would have hurt my soul).

Jess Latos Photography

Beware the Wedding Vendors who Overpromise

Photo by Jess Latos Photography (an example of a vendor who promises and delivers!)

Every once in a while I write a post that goes out not only to our potential clients and those engaged folks, but also to my fellow wedding vendors. This is one of those posts, and is a bit of a cautionary tale about vendors who overpromise.

I recently assisted in a wedding in which the clients had very expensive taste, but - frankly - didn’t want to spend the money that accompanies those tastes :) That’s fine, and it happens a lot. But my job as a planner, and every wedding vendor’s job, is to help clients understand what can and can’t be done for X amount of dollars, and then provide alternatives or options. There’s a real danger in “yes”ing your clients (or, if you’re planning a wedding, in having vendors that seem to be too good to be true - are promising a lot, for not a lot of money). If vendors overpromise and underdeliver - the clients are going to be disappointed. That’s not anything anyone wants on their wedding day.

In this specific case, there were multiple vendors who had said they could do X, Y and Z, but actually had never done it before (!) and frankly, couldn’t deliver. One vendor not only failed to do what they said they could do, but actually created a dangerous situation (that I had to insist be taken down). Another vendor simply verbally embellished certain aspects, but it wasn’t in the budget to really follow through on what they’d claimed they’d be able to provide.

So I urge vendors not to “yes” your clients, thinking it’s better to get the sale than to have the tough conversation and have them walk away. It’s not. Having a disappointed and angry bride or groom is way worse than being honest and upfront about what you can and can’t do. And clients - appreciate the vendors who are honest with you. And trust them :) If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Instead, work on either shifting your priorities and budget (move some funds from one area over to another), or shift your expectations and see if some other creative ideas and different options might create a similar result for less money. Because the last thing anyone wants - both the clients and the vendors - is to have anyone be disappointed, frustrated, or even angry on their wedding day.

Linda and Chris Carnegie Institution for Science DC Wedding

Photo by Margaret Wroblewski

Yes, we worked another Carnegie Institution for Science wedding. And yes, I loved it just as much as I always do! This really is one of our favorite venues and Linda and Chris’s wedding was no exception. They got married in late August this past summer, and it was such a lovely day! They didn’t want to see each other prior to the ceremony, so they had some family photos done separately and then we made sure we hid Linda (and her stunning-as-all-get-out dress) away in the upstairs library. After a beautiful ceremony officiated by a friend, they took some more photos outdoors (the weather was great!) while guests enjoyed the cocktail hour and photo booth inside. After a delicious meal by Main Event Catering, some toasts and the cake cutting, we got to my favorite part: a surprise Linda had arranged (with my help) for her groom after their first dance. She had Old Line Garrison - an awesome organization that brilliantly brings together Star Wars costume enthusiasts with charity - surprise Chris with stormtroopers crashing the dance floor! Old Line Garrison was so wonderful to work with - they’re an entirely volunteer-based organization that will show up to events and weddings as Star Wars characters out of their sheer love of dressing up, and for a donation to a charity. SUCH a cool idea - and Chris LOVED it (as you’ll see from the photos, by Margaret Wroblewski, below.

Some other favorite details include the glow sticks they handed out for an end of the night photo (which always makes the dance party more fun!), and the fact that they actually rented fake flowers for their centerpieces (from Wedding Flowers for Rent). I NEVER would have known - the flowers were really exceptionally lovely and it was a cost-efficient option I’d never seen done before and was frankly surprised at how beautiful they looked!

Congrats again to you both!

Linda and Chris’s Vendors:

Coordinator: Katie Wannen, The Plannery

Venue: The Carnegie Institution for Science

Caterer: Main Event Catering

Photographer: Margaret Wroblewski

DJ/Photobooth/Uplighting: DJ Dan Goldman

Cake: Fluffy Thoughts

Hair/Make-up: Les Bourgeois Artistry

Personal florals: Flor de Casa Designs

Centerpieces: Rented! Wedding Flowers for Rent

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

5 Wedding Traditions Worth Breaking

As you already know, I’m not a fan of the “have to”’s and “should”’s that often surround weddings. Yes, sometimes certain traditions or ways of doing things are there for a reason - cause they make the most sense or are the easiest way to do something! That being said, there are a couple of wedding traditions I’m all about breaking - so here are my top 5 that I think are heading the way of the dinosaurs:

Who walks down the aisle?

Photo by Susan Hornyak

I hold this one near and dear to my heart because I made a fairly non-traditional choice when it came to my own wedding processional. More and more I’m seeing lots of couples kick the tradition of the bride’s father walking her down the aisle to the curb - and I’m loving it. Jewish weddings already get it right (and have for years) by having both parents escort both parts of the couple down the aisle. I’ve seen the bride and groom walk down together. I’ve seen brides process in on their own (cue Destiny Child’s “Independent Women” now please). Recently, two grooms had us create TWO aisles and they both processed in together with the ring bearers/flower girls, to meet in the center (love love love that). I personally chose to have my Mom walk me in because I was close to both my Dad and Step-father and didn’t feel right choosing between the two. Either way, it’s a personal choice and every couple deserves to feel they can be creative if they need to be! Do what’s best for you and your family - both past and future!

RSVP Cards

Photo by Love Life Images

Embrace technology! Throw those physical RSVP cards of yore directly into the trash. As I mentioned on a previous post, wedding websites now allow you to collect RSVPs online. Do it. It saves you money, time and you won’t find yourself scratching tiny numbers in pencil on the back of your RSVP cards wondering why you ever decided to plan a wedding in the first place. Yes, some older folks get confused by the internets, but it’s still worth going this route and just picking up the phone for those few who can’t handle the online option.

The White Dress

Photo by Leo Druker

A lot of brides still love the white dress, and I get it. I wore one. But this tradition is changing and I’m LOVING it. Weddings are a celebration - why not wear color? Or best of all, why not wear pants? A jumpsuit? Have outfit and costume changes? The possibilities nowadays are endless and so many more options are available to both brides and grooms. Go for it and don something new for your special day - you’ll still feel special, I promise.

The Champagne Toast

Photo by Darling Photographers

Very few couples have traditional champagne toasts anymore. Once again, save the money (yay!) and just have folks toast with the drinks that are in their hands. I can’t tell you how much champagne I see dumped out of untouched glasses at the end of the night. Not having special flutes and a “special” champagne toast won’t make those moments or the words spoken any less meaningful. So ditch this tradition and focus on the words rather than the (sparkling) wine.

The special dances

Photo by Ayesha Ahmad

Listen, I love me a first dance. And I also love me some parents dances. But don’t be afraid to either ditch them or approach them with some fun and creativity. Super shy? Don’t have a first dance. Don’t feel like taking the dances so seriously? Mix it up and play with it - one of my favorites was a couple of mine from last year who not only did a first dance to Adam Sandler’s Grow Old With You, but then went into a first dance mash-up including Indian and western line dancing. It was hilarious, them, and perfect.

Easy ways to personalize your wedding

Nowadays lots of my clients express a desire to personalize their wedding. In fact, I’d even go so far to say that they feel the pressure to personalize every single detail. I don’t find that necessary. I think the personalization of weddings has gotten a bit out of hand (much like the fun DIY weddings of days past). So I wanted to outline my top 5 favorite and EASY ways to personalize your wedding:

Your Wedding Ceremony

Photo by Chris Ferenzi

Lest ye forget, the ceremony is the whole reason you’re having a wedding in the first place. It marks the official moment you and your partner actually get married. I find that the best way to personalize your wedding is to make the ceremony truly reflect you as a couple. How? That could simply mean making sure your pastor or rabbi really knows you both individually and as a couple. It could mean you both taking the time to write the ceremony yourselves. It could mean incorporating some favorite readings that reflect your own partnership and future together. There are tons of ways to make your ceremony personal - I always urge clients to put the most thought into this part of the day, that so often gets overlooked, because it really is the emotional center of the entire event.

Music

Photo by Shandi Wallace

Whether you’re a musical person or not, music connects to most of us on a pretty emotional and personal level. So another very easy way to personalize your wedding is to be thoughtful about your music throughout the event. Process into your ceremony to a special song. If you’re doing parents dances, pick songs that mean something to you both. Have music that you love but that isn’t danceable or ceremony-worthy but still reflects you or your partner? Use it at the cocktail hour!

Wedding logo

Photo by Justin McCallum

I used to scoff a bit at wedding logos - I felt as though it really hit home that your wedding was something to “market” (belch). But - I will say that if you take the time to create one that feels meaningful to you and your partner, you then have ONE thing that you can use everywhere! It makes a lot of decisions way easier - what to put on the program, the cake, lighting, favors, invites, website, etc? Your logo. BAM. Decision done, now you can go off and do other fun things with your day, all while personalizing that wedding of yours :)

Look beyond the centerpieces

Photo by Hannah Hudson Photography

Another very easy way to personalize your wedding is to add small little touches to your dining tables - and I’m not talking about votives. I’ve had clients add different Funko Pops to each table cause they were both huge comic fans, clients who framed hilarious quotes from their first online dating conversations, and clients who incorporated all the national parks they’d visited into each dining table.

Cake Toppers

Photo by DuHon Photography

Again, we’re talking easy here. Since you may want to buy a cake topper anyway, why not make it personal? I’ve seen folks have mini figurines made of them (and their dog!) on etsy, one bride’s father hand-crafted their cake topper, and my favorite (I am a musical theatre nerd at heart, remember), a couple use Tangled characters on top of their cake (even Pascal made the cut!). I’ll also mention, my Mom and step-dad deserve a starting-the-trend award since they absolutely SHOCKED their parents back in 1988 by putting some small clown shoe figurines (my step-dad had studied clown/mime back in the day) next to small high heeled figurines in lieu of the traditional cake topper. So this one is close to my heart!

Wedding Guest Table Assignment Ideas

How do you tell your guests where they should sit? There are actually a lot of options out there and chances for you to get creative when thinking about wedding table assignments. Below are my top five favorite ways to communicate those assignments to your guests!

Escort Cards

Photo by Jessica Crews

The most common option is via the traditional escort card, which lists the person’s name and what table they are assigned to. A couple of things to consider with this option is that you need an escort card table to display and arrange the escort cards (though it can often be “flipped” later into dessert or even a favor table, fyi!). Menu choices can also be indicated on the escort cards. One little tip from me to you: if you don’t need to indicate menu choices (i.e. you have a buffet or family style meal), put couples on ONE escort card to save money on how many you need to print! And finally, per one of my earlier tips… alphabetize them, please!!

Non Traditional Escort Card

Robinson Imagery

You can take the same concept, but get creative with some non traditional escort cards! I’ve had couples at an outdoor, farm wedding attach names and table info to fruit (!), insert names/table info to potted succulents or attach the info to other favors. The sky’s the limit as long as you can communicate the name and table details to your guests!

Banners or Signage

Another option is to create a board or creative sign with each table listed and your guests names underneath. This requires the signage to be easy to locate for guests to look at during cocktail hour - and also requires that your guests have good memories :) You can also do the same concept on banners or other items that also list names beneath table numbers!

Wedding Placecards

Photo by Mantas Kubilinskas

In addition to table assignments, you may also want to assign folks specific seats at those tables. I’ve had couples have fun with it during their Halloween weekend wedding (with vampire teeth as place card holders!), or you can get creative and use new tools like the Cricut to carve out their names, or make things easier and simply add their names to the top of each menu on their place setting.

Don’t! Have a Cocktail Reception Instead

Photo by Stephen Gosling

I don’t recommend this for everyone - in fact, it’s rare that a cocktail style reception with no assigned seating really works. But it can! A couple of things to consider is that if you’re not providing assigned, formal seating for everyone, you still need to provide plenty of OTHER seating - from low-top cocktail tables, to lounge chairs, you still need to have seating for everyone. In addition, make sure the food you’re serving is actually edible with one hand and no utensils - people hate standing up and eating awkward food. It’s the best way to make guests grumpy. Also, generally don’t recommend this for large weddings. This style of a reception works best for smaller, more intimate groups. And finally, make sure you clearly communicate the style of reception to your guests so they know what to expect (hey last week’s blog post, how you doing?).