Congratulations, Danielle & Ryan! (part 1)

Danielle and Ryan are perhaps two of the sweetest people I've ever met. Really! They exchanged vows in May at Raspberry Plain in Leesburg, VA. Genevieve Leiper Photography captured gorgeous images, R&R Catering provided the fantastic food and service, Kirkabee Deejays entertained the crowd, Cakes by Design brought a gorgeous tower of sweetness, Heaven on Earth created beautiful decor, and Reverend Ken Knapp officiated the ceremony. Special thanks also goes to Chariots for Hire who transported all of their guests.

These first two photos are so adorable! Danielle and her mom are popping the champagne. Do you see the family resemblance?Ryan looks spiffy as I pin his boutonnière:Look how gorgeous she is! Ryan is one lucky guy:Of course the guys aren't so bad themselves:The ladies take advantage of the beautiful scenery at Raspberry Plain for some informal portraits:The ceremony in the garden is all ready to go. Check out the HUGE floral pomander balls in the back:
After the ceremony, Danielle's mom keeps her train off of the ground. I don't know why I love this photo but I thought you might like it too:After the family portraits, the bride and groom snuck off for some private time during cocktail hour:OK, maybe it wasn't so private after all...First dance in the Atrium at Raspberry Plain:Dinner time! Do those chairs look familiar?Kirk kept everyone on the dance floor all night:Genevieve stole the newlyweds for this amazing shot:
I couldn't resist sharing this one either:
These street lamps line the driveway at Raspberry Plain:
Stay tuned for Part 2! I have many more details to share on this beautiful wedding.

Some Great Summer Reads

We are out of the office today on an adventure to New Jersey! The Wedding Salon is hosting one of it's big swanky bridal shows and we are checking it out with Sara from Bella Notte.

After that, I am headed to NOLA for a quick last-minute getaway. I've never been and am very super excited. I'll be out of the office from Thursday through Sunday and checking email once a day. In the meantime, here are some fabulous blogs you might want to check out.

the ones you've probably heard about....
Blue Orchid Blog
Hostess with the Mostess
Parisian Party
Snippet & Ink
Planning....Forever Events
Lucky Me!
Style Me Pretty

the ones you might not have heard about....
Sparkliatti (Sasha Souza)
Earth Friendly Weddings
Michelle Rago
Etsy Weddings
Eco-Chic Weddings
Social Design

the ones that are local to Washington, DC....
Armin DeFiesta
{ritzy bee}
Washingtonian Weddings
The Bash Blog
Love Life Images

and for those of you who want to be wedding planners....
The Smart Planner
WEDDEX

Submit Your Photos to the Washingtonian!

Attended a wedding lately? Perhaps you were a bridesmaid or just a regular old guest? If you took photos, the Washingtonian magazine wants to see them! They could even be featured on their fantastic wedding blog. Click here for some more information and to learn how to submit your snapshots.

Congratulations, Trish & Justin!

Trish and Justin were one of our full-planning clients this spring along with Dora & Kaisorn and Christina & Vincent. After working with this couple for over a year, I started to get attached! These guys are so full of love for each other, their families, and even their wedding vendors.

The happy couple chose the Decatur House Museum for their celebration, which turned out to be perfect for the earthy green and brown decor. This historic venue is located on the edge of Lafayette Park, slightly north of The White House. Their wedding cake came from Amphora, the dress from Kleinfeld's, the floral/lounge/lighting from DaVinci's Florist, bagpiping by Norm, the catering by Linwood's, entertainment by DJ Greyhound, and beauty by Margoux LeRoux.

Here's some photos from the Regeti's Blog to start things off:The ceremony is ready to go! We marked reserved chairs with a wide mocha-colored satin ribbon from the Offray outlet. Special thanks to Party Rental Ltd. for making sure we got these beautiful brand-new chairs. Trish's mother bought these beautiful sandalwood fans in anticipation of the June heat:Justin and I are deciding on which candles to use for the ceremony. I both two colors just in case. Green or white? We went with white:See? Being a wedding planner is not rocket science....it just requires the special growth of four extra fingers to hold eighteen things at once.

"Okay...you sure you like this guy?" I think at this point I was either fixing her veil or winding up for a right hook:Eight seconds before the first bridesmaid processed down the aisle, we noticed wet spots showing up on the brick courtyard. In order to beat the rain, I made them process a tad quicker than usual. By the time we got through their 16-member bridal party, the sprinkles were a bit too much to subject the bride's hair to. I don't think she or her dad seemed to mind the umbrella one bit: The ceremony (which the groom wrote himself!) incorporated a Polish tradition to honor Trish's grandmother:Her adorable parents look on:DaVinci's did such an amazing job with these flowers. I can't tell you beautiful and fresh they were in person!After the ceremony, The Regeti's took a bunch of portraits of the bridal party, family, and newlyweds. I loved that these two could not keep their hands off of each other:And of course a little bit of sassy kilt posing:The reception's ready to go. Trish bought these adorable little lanterns on eBay!The escort table featured a gorgeous hanging votive display and the cards sat on moss:
We made the escort cards! Paper Source carries pre-cut and pre-scored cards that are perfect for it:The first dance:You'll have to stay tuned after the rest of the photos are released! Some of their other details include an awesome lounge, a candy bar, and a suspended wreath over the ceremony. To see a couple more images (and some from their rehearsal dinner at Hillsborough Vineyards), go check out the Regeti's Blog.

As a closer, we do have fun at weddings! Rebecca and I learned that the Secret Service doesn't like their traffic cones to be run over. We also gave away boxes of candy to guests at the end of the night and discovered a circa-1972 microwave in the basement. Ryan even came over to lend a hand during the room switch. Here we are cutting a rug during the 17 seconds of down-time:

Creative Ideas to One-Up the Sister-in-Law

One of my favorite business resources is a message board called iWed. This forum has been such a great place to learn, to share ideas and to be inspired.

Recently, a planner came to the board asking for some ideas for her client. The bride's brother had recently gotten married and his wife stole all her fun ideas! Since many of the guests will be coming to the next family wedding, our poor bride needs some creative ideas to show the family what they missed at the first event.

I was really impressed with the long list we had going and thought I'd share some of my favorites. Each idea is a link that sends you to our favorite local vendor or to a photo of the effect. Here are the top ways to show up that sibling or friend:

Food:
Candy bar
Popcorn bar
Ice cream bar
Krispy Kreme donut favors
Order pizza as a midnight snack
Mini dessert buffet in lieu of wedding cake
Champagne or martini bar
Fondue station
Ice luge

Decor:
Vinyl initials
Painted dance floor (Gala)
Pinspotting the centerpieces
Luminaries
Fireworks
Lounge area

Entertainment:
Caricature artist
Cigar roller
Pro dancers teaching some moves
A fun first dance
Photo book as a guest book
Photo booth
Roaming magician
Roaming paper cutter

Ceremony:
Handfasting
Sand ceremony
Candle lighting ceremony (each guest has a small candle and the flames are passed from bride and groom to their parents and then on to rest of the congregation)

What do you think about all these ideas? Do you have some more to add to the list?

(::sneak peek::) Danielle & Ryan

Image by Genevieve Leiper

*go green* Going Local & Organic

Kudos to Jennifer at Earth Friendly Weddings for constantly posting about awesome green wedding ideas. I keep up with her blog on Google Reader (which I love) and wanted to share a specific post with you. When you have a few minutes to spare, check out the video she posted here. It's a lecture by Mark Bittman, a New York Times food critic and now an eco-friendly advocate. Mark reminds us all about our eating habits and how it affects the environment.

In my attempt to buy things slightly more locally, I've made the switch to Whole Foods and am keeping an eye on the foods I buy. I stopped in at the Fair Lakes store the other day and lo and behold, there was Emeril Lagasse! He was filming a new show called Emeril Green to be shown on Discovery's new Planet Green network. Here's a photo I took on-the-sly with my BlackBerry:In doing some more research on locally grown produce and foods, I realized there is a new farmer's market that comes through Reston, Fairfax, and Herndon on a weekly basis. The one on Thursdays is right in our backyard -- we could walk over to the Reston Town Center to fill up on our veggies! I'm really looking forward to checking it out tomorrow.

I'm also experimenting with the idea of joining a farm with a CSA. Community Supported Agriculture is essentially like pre-buying produce from a local farm. You pay a lump sum at the beginning of the season and they bring you fruits and veggies from the farm once a week through the spring, summer, and fall. It seems like a great deal and I'm looking into the one at Great Country Farms. AJ used to do this when she was here in DC. Does anyone else do this? Any advice?

The Pink Book Blogs

If you haven't stumbled across The Pink Book Blog yet, go check it out! This fun blog follows brides, hot trends, offers advice, and also has several local versions tailored to specific cities. Currently they have DC, Indianapolis, Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis.

Why am I telling you this? I'm very excited to announce that I'll be a regular guest blogger on The Pink Book Blog and their DC version! Add them both to your Google Reader or check back every day for new posts.
If you're a newlywed-to-be in the DC area (grooms are okay too!), they're looking for some more bloggers. Shoot them an email to apply or email me to get your application.

Featured at The Smart Planner!

We're always staying in touch with the wedding industry...not only here in DC through the International Special Events Society but by going to regional conferences and also taking part in communities across the Internet. I met Liene Stevens (from Blue Orchid Designs) through a planner's forum called i-Wed. Liene writes a great blog for her company and also recently launched a new blog called The Smart Planner. Designed for wedding planners, it offers business advice, motivation, and resources.We're proud to say that Soiree was just featured on The Smart Planner! Read the interview here and be sure to post a comment.

Twitter Us!

Heard of Twitter.com yet? It's a cool new way to let friends know what you're doing. Similar to a status message on instant messenger, users post their current activities.We've added Twitter to the sidebar of this blog (check it out to the right) so you can see what we're up to at any given moment! Today we'll be buying luminary bags for Trish, finishing off her escort cards and table name cards, loading up the truck, and running her rehearsal at the Decatur House before sending them off to the rehearsal dinner at Hillsborough Vineyards.

If you have a Twitter account, please follow us! To create an account, click here.

Christina & Vincent's Professional Photos

Thanks to Heather Z Photography, Christina and Vincent are already enjoying some of their beautiful images! Here they are, stolen straight from her blog:If you're on the market for a wedding photographer, Heather is a great find! She's very talented but still relatively new which makes her a wonderful value. If you'd like to learn more about the vendors at this wedding, please visit the first blog post about this day.