Marion and Matthew: Alexandria Wedding

In October I had the pleasure of planning and coordinating a wedding in Alexandria at the George Washington Masonic Temple for my dear friends Marion and Matt. I was honored when they called me and asked for planning help. I have been in the wedding world for a long time now but I never want to step on toes or assume friends want my help...So of course, I was stoked to travel to their wedding and help in anyway possible. Marion and I randomly found the G.W.Masonic Temple while researching venues online and instantly fell in love! I believe her mom actually booked it without any of us seeing it. It was beautiful!

There are always a few set backs when we travel out of the area...and one main one is choosing vendors that will take care of our clients without ever having worked with them before. DC isn't hard as we work up there a few times every year...but this time, we were looking for a great lighting design company in the Alexandria area and couldn't really find one that fit Marion and Matt's style...so of course we went to our old backup (and fabulous company) Blue Steel Pro Lighting and brought them with us.

We also had the pleasure of working with Bialek's Music, Petals Edge Floral, Sinplicity Catering and Alexandria Cupcakes. These Beautiful images are from a the great Julie Ann Woodford (old pal and pro photog of Marion).

 Matt and his Groomsmen...a group of hilarious men...and a few are great friends of ours as well! 

Marion's bridal party was Beautiful! 

George Washington Masonic Temple

 The Groomsmen above see this view below...

Marion's wedding colors were Navy and Gold with a historic vibe to the entire wedding. I love the way that the bouquets above really popped off of her classic colors. Look at the flowers on the dresses below. we LOVED THIS!

The one thing that Marion and Matt didn't love about their venue was all of the red in their ceremony room. But to be honest, this is one of the things I loved. The ceremony room at the GW Masonic Temple had such a vintage vibe to it when we added the simple ceremony lights on the stage. 

One of my favorite shots from every wedding is right after the Bride and Groom are pronounced

 husband and wife. 

Marion has great classic taste. These Calla Lily arrangements were so simple, yet made such a statement.

All of our guests found their tables with their names attached to these cute Mt. Vernon Bells. You might remember we featured their engagement session at this historic venue. 

For each wedding we post I try and include our favorite event memory....and the next series of images are truly my very favorite moment from any wedding for all of 2010. Marion and Matt had a private last dance...no one was in the room except the DJ, Photographer (and me hiding in the corner)...Their last song was a moment to reflect on the day, enjoy themselves for a few moments and just decompress. Most of our clients have a last dance song with all of their guests...but we had to do things a little different for them and I absolutely loved it. You can see the true joy and elation in these images. What do you think? 

Marion and Matt...we love you now more than we did before. Thank you for letting us help guide you throughout the most important day in your lives thus far.