It is now so strange to stop and think about the insanity of the past year.  It feels like yesterday that Nathan and I were communicating on Skype while he sat in a bunker in Afghanistan- talking about how much I would love to visit Hawaii and hearing about his wonderful family in Charlottesville.  I was never one for cliche’s and never one to believe in that “moment” when you meet the person you are going to spend the rest of your life with.  Until I met Nathan.  You could say we met through mutual friends, or at a bar (Hunan’s in Clarendon!), or online, or in a dream… but all I can say is the moment I first saw him I leapt into his arms and it was all over, butterflies and everything.  Long story short: we fell in love, met the parents, got engaged, and had the most spectacular, amazing, more-than-we-could-ever-ask-for wedding (“and we all lived happily ever after…”).

Total Spent: Too Much 🙂

I will warn you now, this entry is going to be a long one!

I want to start all this by pointing out the most talented group of vendors a bride could possibly ask for, which is what my event planner called “The Dream Team.”  They never missed a beat and pulled our great party together in five months (July to December)… It can be done!

 

Laura Ritchie is AMAZING.  She gets down to the nitty gritty details and always knows exactly what she’s talking about.  She was the first planner I interviewed, and knew from the moment she arrived she was the planner for this wedding.  She is young and excited about being spunky with details, but keeps it traditional when it matters.  She had some fantastic ideas for everything, and I was so lucky to have her help!  On the day of the wedding, she coordinated absolutely everything, including truck decorations and final clean-up.

Laura Ritchie (right) opens the door for the bride & groom “first look” Photo credit: Kristi Odom Photography

The Fort Belvoir Officers’ Club was a perfect venue for our military-themed wedding.  We had heard quite a bit of complaints from other brides about getting in touch with the Club, but we had a very active wedding planner to solve that problem!  Trinetta was our main contact, and we stuck with her for the details.  At one point about two weeks out from the wedding we were contacted by another staff member who said we had not decided what food we were going to have at the wedding, but once we had spoken to Trinetta we were able to smooth it out.  Advice – stick with Trinetta.  She knows what she’s doing.

The Fort Belvoir Officers’ Club Photo Credit: Kristi Odom Photography

Kristi is the most talented photographer and I was so extremely lucky to have her photograph the wedding.  She was there the entire day, took family photos, artsy photos, and generally gorgeous bride/groom photos.  I have heard through the grapevine she is going to pursue wildlife photography, and as sad as I am to hear she won’t be doing many weddings I am so incredibly excited for her!!  Every photograph in this entry is a photograph taken by Kristi.  Please do not disrespect her amazing photography!  If you would like a copy of a photo you see on this website, you can contact Kristi directly to discuss.

Photo Credit: Kristi Odom Photography

Claudine Fay is a truly wonderful hair stylist and makeup artist.  She was on the wedding planner’s “Dream Team” list, and was easy to set up an appointment for a trial.  The trial consisted of a complete updo and makeup, and pictures to remember the style.  Four months later she was at the wedding venue at 8:30am ready to work with an assistant to do the bridesmaids’ makeup.  Her styling is gorgeous and I was getting comments all night about how beautiful my hair and makeup was!  She’s quick, detailed, and doesn’t overdo it with makeup, just keeps it very natural.  I would use her again in a heartbeat.  My bridesmaids loved her, too!

Hair & Makeup by Claudine Fay Photo Credit: Kristi Odom Photography

Mom and I went in to David’s Bridal a week after I had become engaged to get some ideas before we went to look at a bigger designer.  I had tried on a gorgeous dress, but we just didn’t love it, so I just kept trying on more.  There was a girl next to me with her posse showing them the finalist dresses she had already tried on before, and then she tried this one dress on that blew everyone away.  Mom and I looked at each other, and when she took it off we stole it from her dressing room to try on!!  We loved it, and bought it that day.

Photo Credit: Kristi Odom Photography

Mike and Noelle are like flower gurus.  They create the most beautiful and unique flower arrangements!  They were on the vendor list from Fort Belvoir, but were also recommended by the wedding planner, so I knew we had to use them (plus, we got a discount from the Officers’ Club!).  We had a pre-wedding appointment to decide the arrangements, and Mike was very helpful in telling us which flowers would be in season for our December wedding.  We decided on roses, dusty miller, amaryllis, alstroemeria, posies, hydrangea, stock, and winter kale.  It was all absolutely gorgeous.

Flowers by Brookhill Florist Photo Credit: Kristi Odom Photography

Dan was an absolute HIT at our wedding.  He was playing old-school tunes, modern tunes, alternative, country, and top hits, with no stall.  Everyone was on the dance floor at one point (even my grandmother!) and I was getting comments days after the wedding about what a fun DJ he was.  Before the wedding, I handed him a “must play,” “likes,” and “do not play” list, and he created his own playlist from my suggestions.  It was perfect.  My dad decided to write a song for our father/daughter dance, and sent it to Dan to upload the day before the wedding, which turned out to be a wonderful surprise for me.  I would recommend him for any wedding in a second.

The songs we chose were:
First Dance: “I Won’t Give Up” – Jason Mraz
Father/Daughter Dance: “The Dance” – Chris Hardy
Mother/Son Dance: “I Hope You Dance” – Lee Anne Womack
Bouquet Toss: “Eye of the Tiger” – Survivor
Garter Toss: “Holding Out for a Hero” – Bonnie Taylor
Garter/Bouquet Winners: “Nothing is Gonna Stop Us Now” – Starship

Dan also did the lighting for us for both the ceremony and the reception.  He lit the columns of the ceremony with an amber glow, and switched out the lights for the reception to a very icy blue color.  It was perfect!

Dan in the background! Photo Credit: Kristi Odom Photography

Sage was a perfect addition to our ceremony.  We found out somewhat last minute that our church would not work out, so we had to adjust to hold the ceremony in the Officers’ Club.  My wedding planner suggested Sage as an orchestra for background music, and I contacted Kyung to try and set something up.  They were extremely easy to set up, had a ton of song choices, and were very organized.  My brother-in-law was going to sing a solo, so we gave his contact information to Kyung and they were able to organize a practice session before the wedding.

The songs we selected were:
Intro: “Star Wars Throne Room”
Bride Walk: “Canon in D”
Unity Candle Solo: “You Raise Me Up”
Exit: “Don’t Stop Believin'”

Photo Credit: Kristi Odom Photography

 

The wedding cake we received from Sweet Ladies was absolutely amazing.  We had seen the cake at a vendor show at the Fort Belvoir Officers’ Club, and I knew that had to be the cake we chose.  Before the wedding we sat down for a tasting, and decided on layers of almond filling and red velvet filling.  Unfortunately the only time we had to taste the cake was during the cutting, so I wasn’t able to taste how wonderful everyone said it was!! But the cake itself was beautiful and perfect and cut smoothly with the army sabre!

Cake by Sweet Ladies Bakery Photo Credit: Kristi Odom Photography

We also purchased a groom’s cake from Sweet Ladies in the shape of my husband’s Ford truck.  We went with the red velvet cake with chocolate frosting.  It was so detailed and he absolutely loved it, especially the words on the license plate.  It tasted delicious and soft like they had just made it the day before.

Cake by Sweet Ladies Bakery Photo Credit: Brittanie Goldsmith

One day my wedding planner sent me an email with the subject: “AMAZING IDEA FOR THE DAY OF PAPER!!”  As excited as this subject made me, I had no idea how amazing her idea really was until they arrived at the wedding.  My planner worked with Rachel to design the most amazing escort cards, which were white ink etched on acrylic. They were SO neat!  They also designed some super pretty menu cards, which were gray ink on transparency paper attached to shimmery cardstock and a rhinestone at the top.  It WAS an amazing idea!

Escort Cards by District M Creative Photo Credit: Kristi Odom Photography

 

Menu Cards by District M Creative Photo Credit: Kristi Odom Photography

We had spent so much money on the actual wedding, we needed to find a place with good food for the right price.  Everywhere we looked in Alexandria was way too expensive, and we didn’t want to go to a pizza place.  I happened upon Houlihans online so mom and I went in to talk with someone.  They promised us a menu of $20 per person and the back room, which was large enough to fit all 30 of us at two long parallel tables.  When we got there for the dinner, the back room was under renovation and we had been placed in a side room with tables everywhere.  Some of us ended up in booths and some at tables, which really separated people from the group.  The food was decent but nothing great, so I suppose you get what you pay for as far as dinners.  We were glad to have our own space in the restaurant.

Rehearsal Dinner Photo Credit: Chelsea McClung

After doing some shopping around and talking to previous brides, I realized that invitations can get ridiculously expensive.  The designer invitations I chose would have come out to about $1500, so when I ordered samples from Exclusively Weddings, I was relieved to find a similar quality for 1/8 of the price.  My planner said most people end up throwing away the invitations anyway, so as long as they were pretty and not too thin of quality they would be fine.  Unfortunately I didn’t realize they would have to be put together until they arrived at my house, but we had a fun time putting them together with some wine and a few girl friends!

DC Rental was super easy to work with for all of our rental gear.  We chose two types of chairs, chivari cream with white cushions for the guest tables and ghost chairs for the bridal party table.  We also picked some really neat clear bubble chargers, and 3 different style linens for the tables.

Since I didn’t have a personal relationship with the following, I figured I would list them out rather than write a book about each one.  Just keep in mind I didn’t have problems with any of the following vendors, so I have no complaints!


Save the Dates – Magnetstreet
Send-off Ribbon Wands – Etsy by tiasdresses
Thank You Notes – Invitations by Dawn
Table Numbers – photoframes.net, pinterest, and Michael’s crafts
Bridesmaids Dresses – Wedding Shoppe
Bridesmaids Jewelry & Gifts – David’s Bridal
Guest Hotels – the Lorien, the Monaco, and the Hampton Inn
Transportation – Chariots for Hire
Guest List Management – WeddingWire