Miss Capitol Hill Wedding Recap - Posed Photos

Once we had the big reveal it was time to take the posed family photos.  Don't worry, though, I'm not going to post most of those...I always found it kind of boring when people posted family photos cause nobody besides myself knows those people so it's not very helpful for other brides. But I will post some with the bridesmaids/groomsmen. 

All photos below the work of Linda Wallace 

^Before we went for photos we had to get the flowers!  This is my calla lily bouquet from Blue Ridge Floral Design and my purse!  I looooved my purse.  I don't know why I even wanted one, but I did, and I searched high and low and never really found anything that I liked that wasn't insanely expensive. I ended up buying something that was "o.k."  Then the day before the wedding I had a last minute errand to run and ended up at the Charlottesville shopping mall (which is tiny) and the only real department store they had was a Belk. Which is a pretty inadequate department store...but there on a sales rack marked down half off was my no name brand purse.  It matched my dress perfectly and was only $25!

^Here is one of the groomsmen's bouts, also from Blue Ridge Floral Design 

^Here we are with all the groomsmen.  Navy Blue, three button suits from Men's Wearhouse, navy blue ties with green shamrocks and groom's kelly green tie with navy blue shamrocks from Wild Ties.

^Socks from The Gap 

^Bridesmaid dresses from Maggy London at Nordstrom. Flowers from Blue Ridge Floral. Bridesmaid hair from Daphne Latham. 

^My cutie flower girl in her Rare Editions dress from Dillards. 

^Once photos were over we all began to leave for the church. Linda captured this great photo of my Dad looking on as fiance and I shared a moment. 

Vendors So Far:

Video- Monachetti

Photography - Linda Wallace

Hair/Makeup- Daphne Latham

Dress Designer - Vwidon

Dress Salon - Promise for the Saavy Bride

Shoes - Vera Wang new from Ebay

Bracelet- Carolee

Veil- Occansey Design 

Purse - Belk 

Flowers - Blue Ridge Floral

Suits - Men's Wearhouse

Ties - Wild Ties

Socks - The Gap

Bridesmaid Dresses - Maggy London from Nordstrom

Flower Girl Dress- Rare Editions from Dillards 

Saving on Centerpieces

Recently I ran across two centerpiece ideas that I thought could be good cost savers.

The first is from the wedding of Anna and Jere as photographed by Millie Holloman

Vases such as these can be found deeply discounted at Save-On-Crafts, and Starfish, Sand Dollars, and other assorted shells can be found cheaply at sites like Sea Shell Co. and Quality Shells .


The other centerpiece was from the wedding of Vicki and Mike as photographed by Jennifer Dery

^ I have no doubt that this centerpiece was probably pricey if done through a florist, but it seems like something that would be simple to re-create as the use of actual florals is pretty minimal.

I think the key to this look is quantity....the more bowls used, the luxer the look. Your big cost will be the bowls ...but you can find similar styles at Save-on-Crafts, Ikea, and even some pretty nice (but more expensive) ones at target.

Center-Piece Test Drive

Like Miss Mitchellville I 'm not gettin' hitched until October 2009, which by my count is um, oh, a million light years away. One part of long engagements I'm coming to appreciate though is that I can do a lot of wedding day-dreaming, and I don't have to worry about making a decision right away. However, on Sunday, just for fun, I decided to put some day dreams in action and test out putting some center-pieces together

Our reception will be a small cocktail affair, so fewer people means fewer tables. The cocktail part means I'll have a few big 5 foot rounds, but I'll also have small cafe (2-seaters) tables and some cabaret (the tall bar type) tables. All this should give me some flexibility in the number and size of arrangements I'll need. So I've told you, now it's time to show!

Here's the first one I put together. Ignore the jars for right now! And the ribbons! This is just what I had around the house! I'm just focusing on the flowers.

This is a single hydrangea stem, about $3 from Whole Foods. I tucked three little clusters of white daisies at various places in the bloom. The daisy bunch was approx $4 and had over a dozen flowers. Hydrangeas are great because they are in season April to October and a single stem is inexpensive and practically a center-piece on it's own. I'm thinking of testing out something similar for my bouquet.

This was the big surprise on Sunday since I'm not really into roses! I've been saving these Martinelli's Apple Juice bottles because they are so cute and have a little leaf pattern on the top. I put a couple of little daisies and these little pink roses in the little jar and it was just little! And cute! The roses are "filler" roses, I believe, and came in several shades. There were about 12 blooms in the package and it was only $4! PS--If I wasn't sold on my own color combo (chocolate and pale blue) I would be all about the pink and navy. The flashy pink just POPS! off the more conservative navy.

I picked up these pink peonies on a whim as well. They are not in season in the fall, but I was experimenting, right? I'm not using any tricky tricks to get the flowers in the jars, I literally just set them in there. I think keeping the color palette simple and using only 1-2 flower varieties per arrangement made it easier to make them pretty.

I can't think of anything more simple, fresh and unassuming than this! A single peony in a little jar with a bright contrasting ribbon. I kept trying to tie bows around the jars, but found I actually like the simple knots better. Anyone can tie a knot!

Here's three of the different size arrangements on the kitchen table. This is what I would likely want for the couple of big tables. I'd use one small arrangements on each small table. Sorry the pic is so dark, I was having a lighting fail.

All told, I spent $20 on flowers and I have a 18 blooms left over. I had the ribbon from previous crafty stages, but if I'd had to purchase it, I would've spent around $10-$12, mostly because I used two satin ribbons. It took me under an hour, start to finish, to put everything together. We're on day two and all the flowers are still looking good.

Thoughts? Does anyone else plan to try their hand at doing their own wedding flowers?

Oh Orchids!

O.K., as much as I loved the look of classic callas for my own wedding, the next time I plan a wedding I think the below orchid bouquet would be pretty amazing. The stark simplicity is just breathtaking.

All photos below from the wedding of Malia and Jeff as captured by photographer W. Scott Chester.



As you can see the bride was perfectly accessorized with a great pair of earrings and a simple veil. And I just loved her mom's look too...the vibrant dress and sexy shoes are mom appropriate but not old lady. And how cute is that flower in her hair?

Purrfect Purple

I'm totally digging this fab bout (and awesome tie) from the wedding of Sean & Kate as photographed by Blue Nalu. The peacock feather is the perfect accent.

And Kate's bouquet ain't too shabby either!

99 Red Balloons Go By...

Mental Note...for next wedding be sure to include red balloons. And vintage looking bicycle. And old-timey car. And streets of Poland. And totally untraditional wedding gown.

How incredibly charming (no I didn't use the banned phrase) and enchanting are these photos from amazing Poland based photographer Marta Potoczek? The world can have its chivari chairs and uplighting and globos and martini bars...this is my type of wedding.

This bride totally qualifies as a Bada$$ bride

Once Upon A Time In Mexico

Not only are the details of Demi & Frederick's Mexico wedding amazing, the photography from Parker J Pfister is simply breathtaking. I can't wait for his new site to be up and running.


^Although they look nothing alike I can't think of a bride that more resembles Grace Kelly then Demi does in this moment. Look at her elegantly gloved hands.


^Her dress was a classic


^Beautiful shot


^Don't think your bouquet has to be large to make an impact. The small size was the perfect compliment to her outfit and the bouquet brooch is amazing.

^Don't forget the bridesmaids. They all looked so elegant...and the bride's dress choice really did compliment all their figures.

^They each carried these simple yet elegant bouquets.

^Love that pop of blue. Very fitting with the Mexican location, but the white keeps it toned down and tasteful

Giving Props

Being a green and white bride myself, I naturally gravitate towards that color scheme. I really love what Jacob and Rachel did with it and how unique their wedding centerpieces were. Using props on the table alongside flowers really made their centerpieces unique and my guess would be that they cost less since the use of fresh flowers was minimal. See if you can also spot the use of fauna in addition to the flora.

All photos credited to Sarah Bussey Photography







^ I know this HAS to be the first time you've seen a turtle shell used in a wedding. If it isn't then I definitely need to hear details.

In My Perfect Wedding World

My calla lily bouquet will look like this bride's! It's elegant, graceful, and pretty much perfect. Bravo to her florist for getting this classic 100% right.

All photos below credited to Evoke Photography from the wedding of Amy & Mike.

Lush from Labbancz

Now on the complete other side of the spectrum from Jenna Bush's casual soiree is this lavish wedding that Marie Labbancz had on her blog today. Even though my personal tastes learn towards the modern and subdued, it's a bit of voyeuristic fun for me to see really romantic style weddings like the one below. Hey, if you're going to go lush then you need to go all out!


^The Brides dress was a Pnina Tornai gown from Kleinfeld Bridals . I can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen a white dinner jacket and tie combination (as opposed to bow tie) but I'm liking it.


^Check out that back! Silk Roses were a theme throughout the wedding


^I've often expressed my love for long tables as opposed to round...need I say more?


^Silk roses were incorporated into the invites as well


^Normally I really hate when flowergirls are dressed up as little brides (as I'm sure you can tell by my flowergirl dress) . But this dress is just so much fun I think any little girl would feel like she was in heaven in it.


^Both of the tuxes were custom made


^And of course we can't forget the cake

For more pics check out Marie's blog.

Moving On Up: Casey Templeton Photography

One photographer I've had my eye on for a little while now is central Virginia based photographer Casey Templeton. Casey won the 2005 College Photographer of the Year award and shot for National Geographic as part of an internship in 2006.


Since that time he has been shooting weddings, and even though he's a relative newbie to the whole wedding scene I can see how talented he is, and how much more talented he's becoming with each new wedding on his blog. In a few years I think he's going to be the photographer we all wish we could afford but can't!

In my opinion he's been blessed with some really beautiful and stylish brides. Below is just an example!


All photos below the work of Casey Templeton

^Is this dress not the most unique thing you've seen? (you can click to enlarge)



^Here is an up-close pic of the back (you can click to enlarge)

^I love this brides unique bouquet and those beautiful gold doors

Centerpiece Alternative from CB2

I got a new CB2 catalog in the mail today and I spied a great option for a centerpiece alternative. In general I'd say most flower centerpieces average between $60-100 in our area. Multiply that by 10-20 round tables and you're looking at a $600-2,000 flower bill just for reception centerpieces.

I think the below Lumiere Candleholders bunched into groups of 5 or more would be a really modern and chic alternative. And if you're like me and hate round tables imagine how amazing these would look all lined up in a row down your long tables? I can just see the warm glow of the candlelight now.


^ The candleholders come in a clear hand blown glass style (strong as a chem lab beaker glass). They have both large ($9.95-$12.95) and small ($3.95-$4.95) styles.

^As well as a style of the same glass that has been painted silver ($4.95-5.95)

Below are some more views so you can get a feel for the overall look.













Depending on how many you get for each table and how many tables you have you could decorate your reception tables for as cheap as $250 (5 of the $4.95 candles for 10 tables).

Afterwards you could use some around the house, sell some online, or let your guests take them home (that's better then a centerpiece that dies in a few days!)

Simple Beauty

I found this beautiful detail shot on the blog of talented Atlanta photographer Liana Lehman. The centerpiece encorporates a lot of hot wedding trends right now...clusters of vases instead of one floral centerpiece, using antique flea market glass, and the use vivid colors with black. Personally, I just like the simplicity. It's very refereshing.

If you're a Georgia bride be sure to check out more of Liana's work on the Liana Photography website and her blog Liana's Bananas. If you want to see more of the wedding from whence this pic came check out Callie and Eric's North Georgia Wedding.

Summer Breeze

This is the time of year when I really start to crave the warmth and color of spring. Winter still keeps trying to hang on, but I know it's on it's way out. I stumbled across these shots on the photography blog of photo artist Marie Labbancz and they totally got me in the mood for summer. It reminds me of a summer harvest but the shot of purply blue makes it new and fresh.

Marie shot this table scape for Bride and Bloom Magazine. The flowers were done by the extremely talented Donna O'Brien of Beautiful Blooms (check out her site for major floral eye candy) and the tablescapes were put together by Kendall Brown of Eclatante Event Design.

My Vendors - Real Wedding

I was super excited to read this month's issue of the VA/MD/DC Knot magazine. Why? Cause my venue, the Clifton Inn, and my florist Blue Ridge Floral was featured! You put a lot of faith and trust in your vendors and you think you've made the right decisions but it's always reassuring to see a beautiful wedding done by the people you hired. For more pictures you can look here.

All photos from the very talented Adam Barnes Photography

Wonderful White

Looking through photos of weddings it always seemed to me like colorful bridal bouquets were the norm. Seemed like most brides had a punch of color that usually matched their bridesmaid dresses. My bouquet will be all white calla lilies, so I was thrilled to see a whole section on white flowers in the recent issue of InStyle Weddings. But on the same page it said "About 85 percent of brides ask for white bouquets." Really??? 85%? Wow...white and green are a lot more common then I thought, and you sure can't tell that by all the wedding magazines, blogs, pictures, etc. Here are a few of the beautiful bouquets for inspiration.

All floral designs from Mark Held

^ Tying bouquets with ribbon is the norm now, but I LOVE the organic, modern, and simplistic feel of the calla lilies tied with a thinner stem.


^Glamelia's use to be very popular in the 40's-50's and in many countries they are still synonymous with "bridal bouquet." Now they seem to be making a comeback and Katherine Heigl from Grey's Anatomy carried one in her recent wedding. If you are like me you are asking yourself "what the heck is a glamelia?" Basically it is individual petals or blooms (usually rose or gladiola petals) wired together to form one large blossom.



For more white bouquets check out this season's InStyle Weddings.

Botanical Art

I ran across these beautiful image from Dallas based florist Mami of Botanical Art. Originally from Japan, her training is in the art of Ikebana, which is evident from her delicate and graceful designs. Be sure to check out her wedding and design gallery for inspiration for your own wedding. Her designs really are works of art.

Real D.C. Weddings

Another great Real D.C. Wedding popped up on the D.C. Knot board last night. Knottie Jackpot76 had a blue hued wedding at Woodend Sanctuary with subtle Asian accents. Check out her bio for all her great vendors and wedding advice, and check out her photo slideshow for some bigger images from her photographer Mark Bettinger at Rodney Bailey -Picture Perfect Wedding.

All Photos Below Credited to Mark Bettinger at Rodney Bailey -Picture Perfect Wedding

^Veil from MyWeddingVeil.com ; Hair Flower from Leah C in NYC

^Flowers from Petal's Edge

Hair Flower from Leah C in NYC

^Flowers from Petal's Edge

Black Flowers

This week I happened to run across two weddings done by Alexandria area florist Helen Olivia in which she used black flowers. The most common black flower you will see is the black calla lily. It's actually a dark dark purple but because it's so dark it looks black. What are your thoughts? Do you like black flowers? Would you use them in your wedding?



^Flowers from Helen Olivia. Picture from Holland Photo Arts. This bouquet also includes black orchids.

^Flowers from Helen Olivia. Pictures via DC Knottie PostcardsfromDC and photographer John Bechet.

^Picture from Apertura Photography.

^Flowers by The Bloomery

New Blog Find- The Bride's Cafe

I know, I know...who needs another wedding blog to read each day? In the ever crowded world of wedding blogging it's hard to get excited about a new comer and hard to imagine someone could come up with new and fresh ideas that we haven't already seen from superstars like Style Me Pretty, Something Old Something New, and BrooklynBride.

So why should you get excited about this one? 1) The blog's creator is the super talented floral artist Janie Medley and she's one of our own! Yep, based out of Richmond she serves the D.C., Maryland and Virginia areas. 2) Her first post is already GORGEOUS. I love how modern the bride's dress is, I love the pop of color from the flower bouquet and there's a dog in the pic...all dog pics are winners in my book.

The Brides Cafe will easily become a must read.





^Photo from Justine Ungaro. Flowers from Janie Medley.

Philippa Tarrant

I'm still in the midst of choosing a florist but before I started even talking to florists I did a ton of research by looking at different floral websites. I wanted to be able to offer my florist plenty of images that would easily convey the "feel" I was going for. Plus I wanted to find as many floral types as possible in my wedding colors that I liked so if [insert name of really expensive out-of- season flower X] was not available then I could say "well that's o.k. what about flowers y and z?"

I really liked the artistic talents of D.C. florist Philippa Tarrant. As you can see from the
photo below she uses a lot of vibrant colors, unique textures, and has a modern approach to floral art.




For the average bride with the average budget someone with such skills might be out of your price range but that doesn't mean that you still can't draw inspiration. If you look outside the "wedding" album on her site you can get a lot of of unique ideas that could be easy to create and possibly even to Do It Yourself (DIY). So if you are a budget bride I bet with some practice you could imitate some of the below









The added bonus is that with minimal floral designs like the ones above you can really save money on flowers because you're only using one or two flowers per display and/or using non-floral materials such as branches.

For more beautiful pictures or if you'd like to contact Philippa to see about your own wedding check out her website.