Dumbarton House Wedding
Hello and happy Monday! This morning, savor a fresh cup of coffee and welcome the week with the beautiful wedding of Kate and Aaron…Thank you to Jennifer Domenick of Love Life Images for sharing the lovely pics!
Kate, today’s beautiful bride, shares…
I always wanted a wedding with a DC theme. I love my hometown and I thought our wedding would be a great opportunity for our out of town guests to get to know DC since they were probably last here on their 8th grade trip :) I knew I wanted to get married in September at Holy Trinity church since that is our parish, so the date of September 18 kind of fell into place. We met with Katie Martin and Tara Davis at Elegance and Simplicity and they led us to the Dumbarton. It was so close to Holy Trinity and it was perfect for the kind of wedding I wanted – elegant, classic, DC-themed, and an amazing party. Of course I wanted it to be really pretty, but the thing that was the most important to me was the fun factor – I wanted an amazing band, great drinks, games, all the elements to a great party – I was so lucky that turned it to be even better than I imagined.
As far as the details, Michelle from Main Event and Tara from E & S were so great. I really wanted long tables in the Dumbarton’s tent but apparently it had never been done there before. Everyone was doubtful that it was possible given the space available, but since they knew I wanted it, they made it work and it was beautiful. I wanted everything to be really clean and simple so we did white everything with tons of greens/white flowers running down the center of the long table in vintage vases with hundreds of votives. We also had white lanterns and candles everywhere – on the steps, along the ledges – everything was glowy and warm.
Since Aaron and I are a doctor/teacher pair, Tara had the great idea to incorporate apples into all the decor since it’s associated with both jobs :) We had apple escort cards under a gorgeous tree of manzanita branches, and two signature drinks – “Just What the Doctor Ordered” and “Meet me After Class” – that Michelle’s maitre’d invented for us at our tasting. They were beautiful and both incorporated apple/teacher/doctor themes. Meet me After Class was an apple-tini with a graham cracker rim that was like a school snack, and Just What the Doctor Ordered had tonic. We also had vases with apples and floating candles everywhere, and votives going up and down the stairs into the the tent.
We had lawn games at the cocktail hour and lots of pictures hanging from the trees. One of the other great elements was the Snapshot studio from LoveLife Images. It was so much better than a photobooth – our guests were literally in there all night – we have over 275 images from in there! I wanted the atmosphere of the cocktail hour and reception to feel elegant, but not stuffy, and the little touches really made it seem relaxed which I loved.
Like any bride, there wasn’t one moment I wasn’t loving or having fun – it was just so incredible to have everyone I ever loved all in one room having fun! However, if I had to pick a few, one of my favorite moments was probably during the ceremony when Aaron and I exchanged rings. We were so happy, and I felt like my nervousness of messing up during the ceremony was over and I was just really looking forward to the party. I had this gorgeous long veil and when I was walking down the aisle at the end of the ceremony, my sister went to straighten it and it accidentally pulled out of my hair! She was so upset but the guests loved it. Everyone was laughing and clapping and I think we played it off well – I mean, the pictures are hilarious!
My other favorite moment is at the reception when our amazing band, ‘Round Midnight, noticed that our crowd was ridiculously into dancing – it was literally a packed floor for four hours – no one sat down. In the middle of “Shout,” the lead singer came out and went up to me and Aaron and got us to sing! He started teasing Aaron about that part in the song that goes “now that I got my woman…” etc. and got him to sing it! The guests and I were literally dying – it was so random and hysterical. Good thing that Aaron is such a fearless person – he sang like he was Marvin Gaye or something – like literally he sounded like a lounge singer. It was so crazy. Then the lead girl singer of course came out and the crowd was going crazy to pressure me to sing… it was so funny. Everyone kept coming up to us being like, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were doing that!” But seriously we had no idea! it was too funny. Jennifer took such amazing pictures of the whole thing – they’re our favorite shots of the day.
The fabulous vendor team:
Photography: Jennifer Domenick of Love Life Images
Ceremony: Holy Trinity Church
Reception: Dumbarton House
Coordinator: Elegance & Simplicity
Bridal Shop: Kleinfelds
Dress Designer: Monique Lhuillier
Hair: Carola Myers
Makeup: Carola Myers
Suit/Tux: Ralph Lauren
Florist: Elegance & Simplicity
Caterer: Main Event Caterers
Tent: Sugarplum Tent Company
Cake: Kendall’s Cakes
Transportation: Chariots for HIre
Officiant: Father Donald MacMillan, S.J.
Reception music: ’ Round Midnight (band)
Invitations: Vera Wang
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