Tyler tells us, “We picked Lansdowne as our ceremony and reception location for its ability to hold the rehearsal dinner, the ceremony, and the reception as well as provide rooms for our guests at a reasonable rate.  We liked to call it our “wedding compound”.  It was also a great location for its proximity to Dulles airport for the large number of out of town guests and for the beautiful grounds which included three pools, 2 golf courses, and a huge spa.  At the end of the day we wanted everything to be easy – for us and our guests.  Lansdowne followed through, their staff was friendly and efficient and provided us with the wedding of our dreams.”

After booking Lansdowne Resort, Tyler’s parents (John and Amy) and Luke started in on the details.  They chose fuschia and charcoal as their wedding colors with black as an accent.  After meeting with a family friend who was starting her own invitation business, they decided to use a charcoal and black paisley background with bold fuschia coloring.  The paisley would become a theme throughout the wedding from the save the dates and invitations to the cake and linens.

As Tyler’s parents are from Atlanta, GA, Tyler purchased her Amsale Serena wedding gown at Bridal’s by Lori salon in Dunwoody, GA (the salon is now featured on Say Yes To The Dress Atlanta).  Monte Durham, the salon’s fashion director, was from the DC area and recommended Remona Soleimani of Bridal Hair by Remona as a top hair stylist in the area and Remona was able to recommend Nour Kazoun of Made Up Art as the best make-up artist.  Tyler exclaims that “Remona and Nour could not have done a better job and I felt like the most beautiful bride for my wedding day.” Of course, at District Weddings, we agree about these two Favorites!

Tyler’s friend and bridesmaid, Kim, suggested that she check out the headpiece Alyssa Milano wore for her wedding which was featured on the cover of People Magazine.  After investigating the designer, Tyler fell in love with the headpieces from Maria Elena.  She chose a very romantic piece that complimented her dress and her wedding day hair style.

As June 26^th, 2010 turned out to be an incredibly hot day, Tyler and Luke provided guests at the ceremony with sandlewood fans with their names and wedding date.  They proved to be incredibly useful for them men in suits and a good way to entertain the children.

At the ceremony, bells Tyler’s great grandmother had collected on her travels throughout the world were placed on the front two rows for family to ring as Tyler and Luke were introduced as man and wife.  Tyler’s parents, John and Amy, also had these same bells rung at their wedding 36 years ago.

The happy bride shares, “At the end of the day we wanted our wedding to be fun and enjoyable for people.  The day was not just about us, but it was about all the people coming to the event who had loved and supported us along the way.  A chance for them to celebrate our love and to imbibe on some good food and drink, while dancing the night away.”

The fabulous vendor team:

Ceremony and Reception Site: Lansdowne Resort

Floral and Decor: Divine Designs & Events

Photography: Paired Images

Officiant: Say “I do” Your Way, Jim Campbell

Ceremony Music: Cherry Blossom String Quartet

Hair: Bridal Hair by Remona

Make Up: Made Up Art

Bridesmaid Dresses: Betsy Robinson’s Bridal, Priscilla of Boston

Linens: Select Event Rentals

Lighting: Frost Lighting

If anyone can offer fabulous advice on ceremony music, Julia is the one!  Having played in countless weddings, and now planning her own, here are Julia’s recommendations…

Unique Ceremony Music Choices

Finally, a post where I can offer some real professional advice to all of the brides out there!  Being a ceremony musician, it will come at no surprise that I think each bride should pay close attention to the music they play during their weddings.  And for those that make it their mission (like I have) to make everything personalized at your wedding, this is definitely another place you can do that.

If you start with the ideas below, you can work directly with your musicians to come up with songs that work for you and the instrument they play.  Of course, there are so many instrument combinations that you can go for, here are a few of the most common combos: String Quartet, Harp & Flute, Vocal with Piano, Classical Guitar, Organ, Bagpipes, and steel drums.

Not all musicians will be able to arrange music or find existing sheet music for something that is not in their repertoire, but this will at least get them thinking about unique options. (Most musicians will certainly jump at the chance to play something contemporary.)

Idea #1: Consider your favorite band

In 2003, we did a wedding with all specially-arranged versions of Coldplay songs. The couple were huge fans of the band, so they picked different songs for each part of the ceremony:

Trouble – Seating of the Mothers
Yellow – Bridesmaid Processional (they were wearing yellow dresses, too!)
In My Place – Bride
Clocks – Recessional – click here to listen

I would love to play a wedding where we played “Strawberry Swing” as the processional and “Viva la Vida” for the recessional. If I weren’t so traditional, I’d definitely be doing that myself.

Cherry Blossom String Quartet

Idea #2: Songs with titles/words including the bride/groom’s names

We arranged “Michelle” by the Beatles for a bride named “Michelle” and “Mark’s Song” for a groom named Mark.  Other ideas: “Bill” from the musical Carousel, “Mandy” by Barry Manilow, “Donna” by Ritchie Valens or “Sarah” by Jefferson Starship.  The list goes on and on.  Google your name with the word “song” and I’m sure you’ll find something.

I’m having my dad and I dance to the song “Julia” by John Lennon for our father/daughter dance.   Not only is my name the title of the song, but my dad sang this song to me a lot when I was young.

Idea #3: “Theme” songs

We once arranged the theme song from “Out of Africa” for a bride whose family was from Africa.  And we recently played the main love theme from “Shakespeare in Love” when the bride walked down the aisle at Tabard Inn in Dupont.   It was so appropriate for the venue, especially under the colored tent.

Or, if you are interested in a seasonal theme, the bridal party processional, bride processional, and recessional could each be a movement from the applicable season in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.  For instance, for a winter wedding you could have the 1st movement of winter for the bridesmaids, second movement for the bride, and the third for the recessional.

Idea #4: You have a favorite song

Say it is off the wall and wacky. Who cares? It is your wedding and I say, express yourself.   I really wanted to walk down to Adagio from Corelli’s Christmas Concerto; so I am.  In fact, no one really ever picked that song for a wedding ceremony until we (as a quartet) started recommending it to our clients.

We have played all sorts of wild and out-of-the-ordinary songs while people have walked down the aisle.  There was the University of Maryland Fight Song, there was Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are,” “Come Away with Me” by Norah Jones and there actually was a bride who requested Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” (we eventually talked her out of it).  Have fun with it!

I’ll let Julia tell you more about herself, but I just wanted to say that I am SO thrilled to receive so many Bride Blogger requests.  If you are planning a wedding and would like to share your updates with us, let me know and I’ll do my best to work you into our rotation!  We’d love to hear about your plans!

Here’s Julia…

Hi District Wedding Brides!  I’m really excited to guest blog about my wedding planning experience and will hopefully be able to give you some insight for planning a fabulous DC wedding.

Let me first give you a little bit about my background: I’ve been playing the viola since I was 9 years old, so in all, I’ve been playing for almost 20 years now.  It feels like my whole life and honestly, if I didn’t play, I’m not sure I would feel like “me.” It’s that big of a part of me.

In college, I met some fellow students/alumni that played gigs around town and they asked me to join them. From there, the rest is history. We built “a few gigs around town” to a thriving business (The Cherry Blossom String Quartet). Over the past 10 years we’ve played about 600 events. So, let’s just say, I was ready to be a bride.

So, how did my fiance (Chris) and I meet?  We actually met on Facebook!  Back in 2006, when Facebook was still brand new, they gave you the ability to search for new friends.  There was a button called “social net” and if you pressed it, 10 people from your network, or geographic area, would pop up.  You could then take a look at their profile and see if you wanted to make a new friend.

One day, Chris pressed the button, I came up as the #1 person, he looked at my profile and emailed me.  I didn’t even want to sign up for Facebook (about 3 months prior), but my sister was tired of getting emails from my friends looking for me. What luck, right?!

I emailed Chris back and we emailed furiously back and forth for the next 3 days.  We finally had our first date, which lasted 12 hours.  It started with the Museum of Art downtown, went to see the Cherry Blossoms, went to lunch back in VA, went to pick up his dog at his parent’s house (who I met) and then watched 2 movies.  I guess you could say it was love at first sight.  From that moment, we have been inseparable.

So, how did we get engaged?  Chris and I had talked about being engaged around our 3 year-anniversary of dating. Here is the story.  Sorry, its a long one!

During the summer last year, my mother inherited my grandmother’s jewelry, as she had to be put into a memory care facility (due to Alzheimer’s).  Inside my grandmother’s safe was her sister’s engagement ring.  My grandmother’s sister, Sarah, was older by almost 20 years, so she took care of my grandmother.  So, she was very close to my mother and to me.  She was an artist. Her entire basement was filled with vases, paintings, lampshades, you name it.  She decorated them all.  I’d like to think that in that way, we are connected; both artists.

Sarah married Connie, who was quite well-off after the Great Depression. So, her ring was exquisite. A Victorian ring from around 1920/30s in Platinum. When I saw it, Chris and I hadn’t had “the talk” so I just look at it in awe.  It wasn’t until the holidays that I started to think that maybe my mother would be willing to give us the ring for me to wear.

My mother did agree.  And then the whole family was involved, well, except me.  Chris went shopping, unbeknown to me, and picked out the ring.  He told me it would probably not be ready by our 3 year anniversary.  Of course, that was just so he could buy some time.  He was planning an engagement party for after he proposed.  He invited our families and friends and arranged for my best friend to fly from Denver.

The actual proposal happened before lunchtime.  Chris got back from coaching a little league football game and asked me to help him plant flowers.  I really thought he was kidding.  I had gluttonly spent the entire morning in bed curled up watching TV, so I slumped downstairs to help.  But, very reluctantly.

As I pulled one of the purple flowers (my favorite colors) out of the plastic holder, attached was a ribbon with a pouch. Inside, was my ring.  I honestly can’t remember that moment anymore.  I think it was because I couldn’t believe it was actually happening.  He asked me to marry him and I turned around to see his friend videotaping the whole thing! And that’s how this whole thing began…

THANKS, Julia!  Your story is so darling, and we’re so excited to hear about your wedding planning process!  Julia and Chris are planning a January 2010 wedding, so we have six months of updates to look forward to!  Can’t wait!