United with Love - Fresh Inspiration For Washington DC-Area Weddings

I love that Kalsoom and Jay chose a “French country chic” aesthetic for their luxurious fall Washington DC wedding at the Omni Shoreham, captured by An Endless Pursuit!  It perfectly fits their stunning all-white outdoor ceremony decor (and the reception that follows!). Kalsoom incorporated her mother’s Bangladeshi heritage into the day, and the couple had a Pakistani celebration a few days before. Each detail is most certainly more beautiful, and more unique, than the next!

From Kalsoom: Our wedding took place on October 27, 2012 at the Omni Shoreham in Washington, D.C. The ceremony & cocktail hour took place outside, while the reception was indoors. The broader aesthetic for the day was “French country chic” using lavender, ivory & green for our color palette.

From the beginning, Jay and I wanted to intertwine our cultures, families, and personalities into every part of the day. I’m Pakistani, but because my mother is Bangladeshi, I decided to wear a custom designed white sari down the aisle (I wore a Pakistani outfit a few days before at our Pakistani event).

Jay and I wrote the ceremony script ourselves, which told the story of how we met & got engaged.

My younger brother Mesh, a singer/songwriter, performed a beautiful song he wrote which had everyone (especially myself) in tears, while my cousin Sumanah, who is an incredible poet, read a poem she wrote for the occasion. Our friend Samar also read one of my favorite poems, making the ceremony feel incredibly authentic and intimate for everyone there.

I think what I will remember most is how much love I felt around us that day. Thanks to our international upbringing, we had friends and family come from all over the world to be there for our day. I also will never forget my brother’s song he performed during the ceremony – we are incredibly close, so it was really emotional for me! There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience.

The following Washington, DC area wedding vendors contributed to Kalsoom and Jay’s wedding:

Venue: Omni Shoreham
Photographer: An Endless Pursuit
Wedding Planner: Simply Chic Events
Calligraphy: Pretty Mail Calligraphy
Floral Designer: Greenworks
Rentals: DC Rental
Cake: Kendall’s Cakes
Hair: Bridal Hair by Remona
Makeup: Faces by Liz
Bridal Attire: Rina Latif
Groom’s Attire: Ralph Lauren
Officiant: Dave Huffman

Don’t forget to visit our vendor guide for more fabulous Washington, DC area wedding professionals or our real wedding gallery for more beautiful Washington, DC area weddings!

Photo Credits: An Endless Pursuit

We are riding wedding registry week right onto this week too with just a few more posts for you! We did this post with a few DC area places to register for your wedding, now we want to follow it up with even more local options. Don’t get me wrong, I love Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma and I practically live in Target, but if you’re looking for something different outside the traditional registry stores in the Washington DC area, here are a few great, local places to consider!

Photo Credit: The House That Lars Built via Brooklyn Bride

Crème de la Crème
Specialty pottery, table linens and home accessories
This specialty gift and home accessories boutique located in Charlottesville (with locations in Leesburg and Middleburg, too!) specializes in French and Italian pottery, linens, and feature unique pieces from Europe, Asia, and the United States. To learn more about setting up a gift registry, contact the store at (434) 296-7018 or cdlccharlotte@aol.com.

Sapore
Artisanal oils, vinegars, and sea salts
Talk about a creative registry! Sapore has a collection of artisanal oils, vinegars and sea salts that are a must-have for your married home pantry. Additionally, they offer serving dishes and a wide collection of specialty foods as well. You’ll also want to take a look at their cusom bottle labels if you’re looking for fun guest favors or for some goodies for wedding welcome bags. For more information on Sapore’s wedding registry, contact Renee at (202) 544-4133 or renee@saporeoilandvinegar.com.

The Happy Cook
Cookware, cutlery, glass and more
You can stock up on all your cooking and baking ware needs with The Happy Cook, a one-stop-shop for kitchen gadgets in Charlottesville, Virginia. Guests are able to purchase gifts online or in store, and can also take advantage of free (yes, free!) gift wrapping and storage service for late pick-up. As a “thank you” for registering, The Happy Cook offers you a gift certificate of 10% of the value of the gifts purchased from your registry so you can treat yourself later! For more info about setting up a gift registry, contact the store at (434) 977-2665 or customerservice@thehappycook.com.

Simpatico
Italian ceramics, pottery and dinnerware
A charming piece of Italy right in the heart of St. Michaels, Maryland, where do I sign up? Simpatico offers customers a wide range of personally selected, and not to mention gorgeous artisan products directly imported from Italy, many of which are exclusively sold through Simpatico. Also to consider: the ceramic hand-painted ceramic wine toppers that make for sunning wedding favors. To find out more or set up a registry appointment, contact Mary Louise at (410) 745-0345.

Reunions
Home furnishings and antiques
This unique specialty shop in Alexandria features home furnishings, as well as gifts and accessories for the home such as silver, china and other antique items. Reunions tracks what is bought off your registry list and also provides wrapping and shipping services. For more on the wedding gift registry process, contact Barbara at (703-931-8161) or info@reunionsva.com.

Urban Country
Contemporary home furnishings
Urban Country Designs is a luxury home furnishings and interior design store located in Bethesda, It addition to furniture, Urban Country also offers gifts, accessories, lighting, bedding, jewelry, fashion accessories, baby gifts, and bath products. Contact the store for more information of gift registry at (301) 654-0500 or registry@urbancountrydesigns.com, or set up a registry online here.

A Mano
Handmade, imported French and Italian ceramics
A Mano, a boutique shop in Georgetown, has assembled a collection of the most unique, handmade items available. Store founder Adam Mahr frequently travels through Europe and returns with the unique handmade, imported French and Italian ceramics, lines and other decorative accessories. A sales associate will help make gift selection easy and simple, keeping in mind things like future availability of patterns, your current style, and past shopping preferences. To learn more about the wedding gift registry process, give them a call at (202) 298-7200 or send an email at amanoinc@aol.com to get started!

What are your favorite local go-to’s for wedding gifts? Better yet, where are you going to register for your wedding? Don’t forget to check out this other list of local places to register in the Washington DC area. In the meantime, check out our past posts on wedding registry. And, check out our list of the best wedding vendors in the Washington, DC area.

You’d never know you weren’t on a vineyard by the looks of Kellye and Sean’s reception! After their Catholic wedding ceremony, captured beautifully by Timmester Photography, guests were greeted with wine cork place cards, a delicious meal and mini wine bottle favors! Kellye and her mom got their DIY on for the reception to both personalize it, and make it budget friendly! That’s what we call a win-win situation!

From Kellye: My mom and I made the menu cards, programs, favors, and place cards. I do event planning as my profession, so details are very important to me and doing these elements on our own was a way to cut costs so that we could splurge on other things.

Our Table numbers were on wine bottles that we had shared together, place cards were in wine corks that we collected with family and friends, and favors were bottles of wine with personalized labels.

We splurged with the band and solo pianist for the grand piano during cocktails. We also splurged on a lighting package, it was worth every penny. It definitely transformed the space.

Kellye’s advice to other DC-area couples:

Don’t sweat the small stuff, seriously. There is so much planning that goes into a wedding and SO many little details. Something is bound to not go exactly as planned and chances are, none of the guests will notice. Don’t get wrapped up in all the details and forget what the day is about. Take it all in and enjoy every second of it, it only happens once!

The following Washington, DC area wedding vendors contributed to Kelly and Sean’s wedding:

Ceremony Venue: Holy Cross Catholic Church
Reception Venue: Columbia Country Club
Photographer: Timmester Photography
Floral Designer: The Delighted Eye
Rentals + Linens: Perfect Settings
Lighting: Atmosphere Lighting
Reception Music: Retrospect Band
Cake: Custom Cake Design
Stationery: Allison Barnhill Designs
Hair: Hey Red!
Makeup: Le Mariee
Bride’s Shoes: Kate Spade
Bridesmaid Dresses: Ann Taylor

Don’t forget to visit our vendor guide for more fabulous Washington, DC area wedding professionals or our real wedding gallery for more beautiful Washington, DC area weddings!

Photo Credits: Timmester Photography

When you’re headed to Napa for your honeymoon, why not get the trip started early and have it serve as your wedding inspiration!? That’s what Kellye and Sean did for their Maryland wedding ceremony, captured by Timmester Photography. They held a traditional Catholic ceremony in Maryland before moving to their country club reception, filled with vino-inspired details! But, you’ll have to come back later this morning for that!

From Kellye: Our wedding was traditional with a romantic feel. We both love wine and planned to honeymoon in Napa, so we used that as inspiration for our color palette. The colors were vino (deep purple), sage green, and ivory.

We also cut lace from the sleeve of my moms wedding dress for the florist to wrap the stems of my bouquet. That was probably the most special detail.

I was in 6 weddings in 2012 (the year of our wedding) and attended a total of 12 weddings. It was an expensive year for my friends and I, so I really wanted to keep costs down for the bridesmaids. One way that I ensured that was with the bridesmaid dresses. I ended up finding them at Ann Taylor online and was able to find a 40% off coupon code and free shipping for the girls to use. The dresses were true to size and were super cute all while being affordable.

My favorite memory is having all of the people that we love and care about all in one place. It was truly an amazing feeling. We felt so loved. One person that could not be there was my grandmother who is not well. The day before the wedding my Aunt gave me my grandmother’s wedding ring as my something old. I got to wear it on my wedding day with my rings and have not taken it off since.

The following Washington, DC area wedding vendors contributed to Kelly and Sean’s wedding:

Ceremony Venue: Holy Cross Catholic Church
Reception Venue: Columbia Country Club
Photographer: Timmester Photography
Floral Designer: The Delighted Eye
Rentals + Linens: Perfect Settings
Lighting: Atmosphere Lighting
Reception Music: Retrospect Band
Cake: Custom Cake Design
Stationery: Allison Barnhill Designs
Hair: Hey Red!
Makeup: Le Mariee
Bride’s Shoes: Kate Spade
Bridesmaid Dresses: Ann Taylor

Don’t forget to visit our vendor guide for more fabulous Washington, DC area wedding professionals or our real wedding gallery for more beautiful Washington, DC area weddings!

Photo Credits: Timmester Photography

Are you learning lots during our wedding registry series?? I know that we brought a whole lotta info your way this week (and a bit more will come next week!), but it is all good info that will hopefully help you in your wedding registry process! I hope that you, yours and your mommas have a great weekend! We’ll see you back here for more DC area wedding awesomeness on Monday!

Photo Credits: Leo Druker

A few links for you…

• The latest bridal fashions to hit the runway!
• Loads of bridal bouquet ideas.
• Fun bridal shower ideas!
• Free DIY Mother’s Day printable.

… and what you missed right here!

• Cozy winter Virginia wedding engagement session.
• Unique wedding registry ideas.
• Wedding gift registry pros and cons!
• Fresh and laid back wedding ceremony and reception.
• The do’s and don’ts of a wedding gift registry.
• Wedding registry basics!
• Sleek and modern multi-faith wedding ceremony and reception.