When it gets to October, an incredibly busy month for most wedding planners in the DC area, it’s nice to have an easy wedding! Stephanie and Matt chose a lunch time celebration for their wedding and we had just beautiful weather for such an occasion. I personally love lunch time weddings because they tend to be more relaxed, although no less fun than an evening wedding!
Vendor Round Up
Venue: Hollin Hall Mansion. This is a beautiful venue in Alexandria. Associated with the Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church, the Mansion is not only a charming house but the garden surrounding it is perfect for outdoor events. Although the Mansion itself is not the best alternative for a rain site for a ceremony, the Meeting House Chapel is a great alternative. Stephanie and Matt had about 80 guests and I thought it was the perfect number for a buffet lunch. You could probably fit another 30 people if you were doing a sit-down dinner with no dance floor.
Photography: Ed Fraser from A Candid Image. I had worked with Ed before when he was shooting for another photography shop. Easy going guy.
Floral Designer: The Flower Market. Very creative arrangements using pumpkins. See Part 2 for photos.
Caterer: R&R Catering (Laura Eaton). R&R is one of the recommended caterers for Hollin Hall and Laura is almost always the supervisor for this venue. Another outstanding luncheon. My favorite was the sweet potato mash and mulled cider. Perfect for fall!
Music: Celebrated String Quartet. One of my go-to string ensembles. Bridgette is excellent to work with in the planning stages. Usually, I hire them just for the ceremony or ceremony and cocktail hour and you don’t really get to hear how talented these artists are. This time, because of the event being over lunch with no dancing, Stephanie and Matt chose to hire them to play during the entire reception. It was wonderful! They played classical, swings, standards, rock, and just a huge variety of music. I even got to sit down for a few minutes to soak in the music. Ah … my private little concert! What a treat!
Cake: Edibles Incredible. Alan did a wonderful job and the cake was pretty good! One layer was pumpkin and the other was apple. I liked the pumpkin a lot – had to have a few slices to make sure! What I loved was the sugar fall leaves on the cake. Just beautiful work. See Part 2 for photos.