Congratulations Megan & Paul!!

I am a new fan of Accuweather.com.

All the weather reports called for rain throughout the day and I checked every weather service available. Accuweather was the only one that said it would be partly cloudy/partly sunny with a chance of rain late in the afternoon and later at night and it was right on the money! The weather teased us all day and made my nerves crazy! Thankfully, the rain held out until well into the reception.

I really liked working with Paul & Megan. They are so laid back and easy going that it makes my job so much easier. Megan found me through one of her friends at church, who was one of my clients last year. Paul is like a big teddy bear with a remarkable resemblence to James Gandolfini from the Sopranos. One of my favorite moments was that our month-out planning session was held at a park along the GW Parkway. One had just finished the site walk through and didn't feel like driving all the way back to their house. The scenery kept us inspired and the outdoors kept the session moving along before my laptop battery ran out.

The weather was going to be a challenge for the wedding day with temperatures soaring into the high 80s and low 90s as we had an outdoor ceremony & reception. But I knew how much Paul & Megan wanted their outdoor wedding so we were going to do the best to get it done! My assistant Brittany and I got to Collingwood Estate early to setup and within minutes we were sweating bullets. The little fans attached to the tent did their best to keep things cool. The skies were clearing up and even the sun came out. But 30 minutes before the ceremony was suppose to start, a huge, dark, ominous cloud was moving quickly up along the Potomac River. I started to panic. Thank goodness that we padded the schedule with plenty of time so all the pictures being taken prior to the ceremony were complete. With the go-ahead from Megan & Paul, we were actually able to start the ceremony a few minutes early. But the rain held out and Megan & Paul had the outdoor ceremony with the beautiful Potomac River behind them just as they had wanted. It was so hot that we couldn't tell if Paul was tearing or just sweating profusely!

The 2nd scare I had was for the bouquet toss. We planned a bouquet toss off the front balcony of the house on the 2nd floor, which required the guests to move out from under the tent. Also, this was when Megan was going to surprise Paul with a birthday cake. Yes - Paul got married on his birthday! Of course, 5 minutes before were going to do the toss, I see another dark, ominous cloud. Only this time, I thought it was really going to rain. And one of the bartenders said he could smell the rain coming. So just as we finished the bouquet toss and the surprise cake, it started to pour for the rest of the night. Many years of good luck for Megan and Paul!!

One of the really fun things about Collingwood is that it is quite a walk from the house down to the river front so they use a golf cart to transport people and things. It's just a hoot to see the bride ride in a golf cart as well as the quartet!

Overall, it was an incredibly laid back evening of fun. Team Megan & Paul included: Erica & Kristin from Innova Photography, Red, Hot & Blue for the yummy BBQ (it doesn't get anymore comfy than some good ole' BBQ), the best smelling cake from Manassas Cakery (the smell from this cake was unbelievable and you could smell it all throughout the house), dancing tunes provided by Ron of Kirkabee DJs (whom I had a lot of fun with trying to figure out how to not get us electricuted if it rained and trying to duck away from camera angles), beautiful sounds of Day Family Chamber Players (a family that plays music together, stays together).

Congratulations Jessica & Cristian!

Finally back on Eastern Daylight Savings Time.

This was my first wedding since I returned from China. Jessica & Cristian got married at Georgetown University's Copley Crypt. Now, everybody knows about Dahlgren Chapel but the Crypt is this cool, little church, perfect for a small wedding. I think GU is one of the prettiest place because there are so many little nooks for interesting photos. I believe you can only get married there if you attened GU.

It was another hot day! I must be cursed. It either rains or is hot as heck on the days I'm working a wedding.

Jessica and Cristian's wedding was one of the most memorable ones for melding two cultures together. Cristian's family is from Chile. To honor that, parts of the mass was said in Spanish, the program was bilingual, two of their friends did the Cueca, the national folk dance of Chile,
Pisco sours were served throughout the night, and Jessica's mom toasted her new family in Spanish.

Team J&C included: family style cuisine by 3Citron, Kim & Trevor from Photos Unscripted (I can't wait to see those pictures and I loved these two), Philippa Tarrant for her beautiful floral creations, and the dolphin ice sculpture/luge (oh the pictures from that!)

Floral Design in Asia

I'm back!!

I just returned from a 2-week trip around China and we had wonderful time. Of course, on our last day, there was a wedding getting setup at the hotel where we were staying. Also, apparently a bride was staying in the room across the hall from us. That morning, at like 9am, the groom and groomsmen came to do the traditional Chinese 'door games.' It was loud as heck!

Anyway, I saw some very creative floral arrangements and thought I'd share them. I'll try to post some vacation photos (over 400!) on my personal blog.


Lobby design

A lobby design

At a restaurant

Another lobby design

At a restaurant - interesting concept for a chuppah?

Lobby Design