Piedmont Club Wedding in Northern Virginia

Q1: Tell us about your wedding! What was the inspiration behind your day? Did you have a specific theme, style or color palette? Did you incorporate any cultural or religious traditions in any part of your day?
A1: We got married in Northern Virginia on a gorgeous fall day. We wanted to do the wedding somewhere local for us and away from the hustle and bustle of the city (Washington DC). Our venue had a beautiful outdoor ceremony space overlooking a golf course, which was exactly the kind of setting we were looking for. We chose colors that we thought were perfect for fall: deep blue, burgundy, and gold as an accent color. We thought that combination of colors really popped in our wedding photos. While we did not incorporate any cultural or religious traditions into the day, we did personalize the wedding ceremony and reception as much as possible. For the ceremony, or civil celebrant shared with our guests the story of how we met and our 6 year journey together leading up to our wedding. For the reception, we had childhood photographs of us at various ages on the tables to correspond with the table numbers. We also featured a picture of our rescue dog Scout in the rotunda of the venue with a sign noting the donations we made to two animal rescues in lieu of wedding favors.

Q2: Let’s talk wedding decor. How did you decorate your space for the ceremony and the reception? Was any part of the decor DIY?
A2: Much of our wedding decor was DIY as we wanted to personalize the space as much as possible. In addition to the custom table numbers with pictures of us growing up, we created and framed a lot of fun signs that we placed throughout the reception space. We also created “did you know” facts about us on the patio tables during happy hour. There were several unique facts about us that our guests may not know. For example, we both wore the same jersey number on our college sports teams or we both can say the alphabet backwards in under 5 seconds! The centerpieces and flowers were not DIY, but we did work closely with our florist to to ensure they tied in well with our wedding colors and the venue space.We wanted the ceremony decor to be simple because we had a beautiful backdrop of a golf course. Our florist pulled together two arrangements to complement the bridal bouquets and they were placed on two columns up front by the bridal party.

Q3: What were the florals like in your wedding? Did you use flowers in any of your design elements like the bridal bouquets, centerpieces or ceremony backdrop? Did they play an important part in the overall style of your wedding?
A3: We found an amazing local florist in Northern Virginia. She worked with us to create a custom design for our bouquets and ceremony arrangements. We wanted the pop of burgundy in both the bouquets and boutonnières. I (the bride) also love dahlias and had to have them in my bouquet. The final arrangements were amazing! We wanted something other than flowers on our tables. So, for centerpieces, our florist helped us design three candle and greenery arrangements, which we alternated among the tables in the ballroom.

Q4: Did you personalize the day in any way (food trucks, guest entertainment etc.)? What were some of your favorite parts of your wedding?
A4: We did a lot of personalization as we noted in some of the earlier questions. One additional personalization was that we wrote our own vows chock full of fond memories, inside jokes, quotes from our favorite movies, and words expressing our excitement for our future together. Of course we both also mentioned the love of our dog, Scout!
One of the best aspects of our wedding was having all of our family members and friends in the same place at the same time to celebrate with us. That doesn’t happen too often so it was very exciting to see and spend time with everyone.

Q5: Let’s talk fashion. How did you both choose your wedding day look? Describe the looks in detail.
A5: Bride says: My dress is by Stella York! It was one of my favorite designers and the dress was perfect for my wedding day. I love dresses with high necks and this one had that and also an open back. I was so happy to have found the perfect dress that fit my personality and style. I found a matching bracelet, earrings, and hair accessory that also happened to match the stones on my wedding shoes. It helped tie the look together for the big day.
Groom says: I wanted a suit that you could really tell in photos was blue. I wanted something between a Royal and Navy color and found it in Generation Tux. I found the perfect suit on there for myself and all of my groomsmen. I also found blue bow ties to match the groomsmen attire and I wore a white bow tie as requested by my bride. I picked brown shoes (also from Generation Tux) to compliment the blue suits. Most importantly, I bought my groomsmen bright colored socks to give each guy a bit of a unique look.

Q6: How did you meet? Tell us about the proposal.
A6: We met in graduate school and were both part of a small cohort. We had an instant connection and started dating soon after we met.
From the Bride: Four and a half years after we started dating, we went on a belated Valentine’s date in downtown Washington DC. Ethan took me to a nice dinner and then we walked around the monuments on the National Mall. For a while, we had been wanting to experience seeing them all lit up at night. Once in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Ethan dropped to one knee and popped the question!

Q7: What was the most anticipated or special moment of your wedding day?
A7: I, the bride, convinced the groom that we should take dance lessons for our first dance. We took 4 lessons to learn some steps that we could incorporate in our dance. For music, we chose the song “Yours” by Russell Dickerson and, while neither of us are gifted dancers, we had so much fun performing the dance in front of our guests on our wedding day. In case you were concerned, no toes or dresses were stepped on during the final performance.
Another special event during our reception was the marriage dance where married couples gather on the dance floor. Throughout the song, the DJ announces a number of years and anyone who has been married that long stays on the dance floor. The DJ gradually increases the number of years to thin out the dance floor until few couples remains. It was special because we had two couples (the groom’s grandparents and the bride’s great aunt and great uncle) at our wedding that have been married for over 60 years. It was a fun little way to celebrate them!

Q8: Do you have any wedding planning or marriage advice that you’d like to share with other couples planning their day?
A8: It is important to book your big vendors far in advance (we did this  at least a year out). Once we had the date and venue, we immediately went to work finding the right photographer and DJ for the big day. Looking early helped us get the vendors we wanted before they were booked up by other couples.
When the highly anticipated wedding weekend arrives, be sure to soak it all in and enjoy yourself because it flies by. Don’t stress about little things that might not go exactly as planned because it all comes together in the end and the day will still be unbelievably special.