Congratulations Rama and Neel!

My very first wedding! Well, not really...I've assisted the amazing Laura and Jessica with QUITE a few others, as well as helping friends and family members with their weddings for years. But Rama and Neel were my very own clients, and for that I am SO grateful! My first wedding was certainly a new experience...a 400 guest, all day Indian affair! Having never been to an Indian wedding, nor having been to quite a large wedding, I was worried, but luckily Rama and Neel had a ton of family members to help. I couldn't have done it without them!

The wedding was held at Foxchase Manor in Manassas and was decorated by the fabulous Prabha Bambri. Check out some of these amazing photos, taken by one of Soiree's favorite teams, The Regetis:

The ceremony included so many amazing colors, and there were even costume changes! I'm a sucker for a costume change...maybe it's the Diana Ross in me?

Outfit #1:

Outfit #2:And later in the evening, there were even more costume changes! Outfit #3: (How cute are Rama and Neel, with Rama's sister Deepa and her fiance Anand?! Their wedding is coming up next month...congratulations to you two as well!)

One of my favorite parts of the ceremony was the rice ceremony. The showering of rice on each other symbolizes the offering of mutual love, faith, fertility and prosperity.

After the ceremony there was an amazing luncheon catered by friends of Neel's parents. They catered dinner as well -- yum! The beautiful cake was provided by Cakes by Marida. Marida is retired from baking the cakes...her daughter, Donna, does the baking now. However, the adorable Marida, her husband, and her grandaughter arrived to deliver this beauty!

The ceremony flowers were also provided by Prabha...I love how th tall centerpieces are lit from below with what I can best describe as a jello like substance with a light in it. I had to explain to a table full of college guys from Emory University that no, they could not eat the "jello"!Speaking of college guys from Emory, Neel's little brother, Ajay, is in an A Cappella group at Emory called No Strings Attached. Not only were these guys sweet and hilarious, but MAN could they sing?! I don't know how Ajay did it, because he had just given a toast that didn't leave a dry eye in the house...especially mine! Little brother has an AMAZING voice!!

Special thanks goes out to both sets of parents for working with us before the wedding, as Rama and Neel live in New York City. Congratulations again to the happy couple...thanks for making my first wedding an amazing one!

Congratulations, Courtney & Tom!

Courtney & Tom got hitched this weekend! Their beautiful wedding started off at the Hyatt Regency Reston where Courtney chose to get ready. The boys congregated there too in a different suite. They were all picked up in two white stretch limos provided by Reston Limousine who did a phenomenal job (beautiful cars and nice drivers...what else can you ask for?). The ceremony was held at the adorable Vale United Methodist Church in Oakton, VA. If you imagine the quintessential country church, this is the same place. The party continued at Hidden Creek Country Club which just underwent a facelift and is looking quite snazzy. We'll have some great photographs from Heather Z Photography shortly. For now, here are some non-pro shots from the day:

Vale United Methodist:This large traffic circle at the church was wonderful for the limousines to turn around in. Someone must have ordered the gorgeous poufy-clouded sky:The program basket is ready to go just in the entryway. These baskets came in handy later to hold their send-off sparklers!Inside the church. Isn't it just the cutest thing you've seen? It reminds me a little of Wakefield Chapel in Alexandria. We filled it up with about 100 guests:Kate at Reston Floral Design provided all the flowers:Here's the church all packed in. Rev. Norma Peyton did a great job on the service! She and her husband Rev. Wesley Peyton both perform religious and secular wedding ceremonies. Check out Heather Z doing her thing in the aisle:A small piece of Hidden Creek's newly decorated ballroom. This place is a steal and still has plenty of open dates for 2008 and 2009 weddings (ask for Phil):Here are their cute little escort cards, all lined up to go. The ribbon at the top indicates each guests' meal choice for the wait staff:Outside they have a great big deck that overlooks the 18th hole. You can just barely see it beyond the sliding glass doors in the background:This photo is terrible but shows what it looks like with guests in the seats. This is just two thirds of the ballroom...there is another section to the left of the camera that looks just the same:The wedding cake was from Connie's Cake Creations. I wish I had a photo of it! It was three tiers. The middle layer was marble, the bottom was white on white and the top layer will have to wait a year until we know for sure. In between the top two layers were some pillars and the florist filled it in with hydrangea and roses. Beautiful! There were some extra slices left so the club boxed them up and sent them home as favors. Every last piece was gone at the end of the night.

Ron Gray of Kirkabee DJs did a great job at reading the crowd and keeping guests on the dance floor. I always recommend Kirk and his crew since they consistently do a great job.

Special thanks to Ladan and Jessica, my assistants for the evening. Without their help things wouldn't have been nearly as stress-free! I'm so glad Ladan got some shots of the club before guests arrived. It looks so different since we were there in September for Katie & Zack's wedding.

Courtney & Tom -- I hope you both enjoyed every second of your wedding day! Congratulations and best of luck with your new future together.

I'm Famous!

Okay, not really famous like Hollywood.

Famous like Aletha at Pearls Events featured my own wedding on her blog! That's famous enough for me and I'm just thrilled to see that she liked my big day. I'm so flattered. Here are the inspiration boards she put together:I think my favorite image from the whole day is the portrait in front of the yellow building. That's the print we used in our signature guest book frame. The green circular numbers are the tops of our strawberry jam jar favors/escort cards. I also like the one of our wedding bands. Can you believe that mine fits inside his? It's also hard to see but squint and check out the hottness of my ruffled-edge cake stand. Thanks Grandma, for finding that gem for me!

Alison & Rob's Professional Photos

Last Friday I shared Alison & Rob's story and a few of my non-pro photos (thanks Kristie!). Now, just two weeks after the wedding, I have some of the beautiful images taken by Julie Walton Shaver.

Julie is one of those rare photographers that attends the rehearsal. Here's Alison, her dad, and I practicing at Mrs. K's Tollhouse Restaurant. Since the dinner was there that evening, it made the most sense to have the rehearsal on their beautiful lawn:
On the wedding day, Alison got ready at their hotel headquarters. The Crowne Plaza in Silver Spring served as a nice base camp:Lookin' good! Kim Steele did a phenomenal job on Alison's hair and makeup: Here's Rob at the hotel reading Alison's mushy note:It takes the guys considerably less time to get themselves together:A gorgeous portrait of Alison at the hotel. At this time we were waiting for the elevator to come up to the 12th floor. Julie just snapped it by the window. Do you see what I mean about her gorgeous Suzanne Ermann gown?The Grove at Woodend Sanctuary is set up so perfectly for an outdoor ceremony:I love the images that capture pure emotion:Our newlyweds! Julie whipped through the formal portraits fast enough that she had time for some fun ones. Here's our happy couple goofing around:Instead of introducing their 14-member bridal party, Alison preferred to just announce her and her husband. Here they are making their grand entrance into the ballroom: These little birds were a big hit. Alison meticulously glued them on to each escort card. I like how they're having a party at this table:They were even on the top of the cake! Design Cuisine provided the cake and it was scrumptious. That beautiful bamboo pattern extended all the way down each tier: John W. at Creative Deejays did a great job of keeping everyone on the dance floor:
Julie somehow pulled off this gorgeous ring shot:Congratulations, Alison & Rob! You two looked so in love on your wedding day and it was our pleasure to share it with you:For a few more photos of this wedding, check out Julie Walton Shaver's blog!

Anna & Todd's Wedding

A few weeks ago I posted a quick shot of Anna & Todd with a link to their photo slideshow. I got a few of the proofs and wanted to share them with you!

This happy couple chose the Hotel Monaco in Washington DC to host their wedding ceremony and reception. Ryan was on hand to coordinate the day and had a stellar team of vendors to work with. Most importantly, Justine Ungaro took incredible photographs of the day! Here's what the wedding looked like through her lens.

Helen Olivia provided stunning arrangements for the wedding. Here are the ladies' bouquets before the ceremony:The Hotel Monaco downtown has a beautiful space for a ceremony. I like how they chose to have guests on 3 sides of the chuppah and the aisle on the 4th:
A family friend performed the ceremony:This mariachi group is based in Springfield where I grew up! They are the Mariachi la Estrellas and can be emailed here:Again, gorgeous florals by Helen Olivia:John Farr Lighting Design provided this gorgeous hot pink and fuschia lighting:The Alexandria Pastry Shop brought this cutie:I love this series of emotional shots that Justine captured during a toast:What's a Jewish wedding without the hora?And they danced and danced all night to the sounds of the Fabulous Fantoms:Congratulations, Anna & Todd! We hope you had a wonderful wedding day and enjoyed every second of your honeymoon. Thanks for including us in your celebration!