Real Wedding Inspiration: Mary + Christopher

A sweet Washington DC wedding from photographer Laura Kay.

By Vané Broussard

Photographer Laura Kay has a great knack for punching out color and fun in wedding photos, which is why I was so happy when she sent along the wedding of Mary and Christopher.  I think the photo that did it for me though was seeing all the guests in that GORGEOUS reception hall at the Cosmos Club...its like Versailles...but WAY cooler!  The bride, Mary, fills us in on the rest of the day...




Planning a wedding in DC from Brooklyn was challenging.  It was even more challenging because I was raised in Houston, TX. My parents moved to DC when I was in college so I wasn't as familiar with where things were or who to contact for information on the trillion things you need to find out about while planning a wedding.  Brooklyn Bride helped point me in the right direction and our day of coordinator, Sara Franklin gave us lots of great advise. 

My now husband and I had been dating for about 10 years and decided on DC because it was an easy and exciting place for all our out of town guests to get to and visit.  We were married on July 3 which could have been HOT, I woke up that morning and it was a warm, beautifully, breezy day.  My sister and I drove down to Georgetown early for hair appointments.  Mine was beautiful and her's looked like an art project on her head (we had two different stylist)!  She didn't complain once.  We arrived back at my parents house and all the bridesmaids had arrived via my youngest brother picking them up from their hotels near embassy row.  Every single person was on time all day, Leah McKay was already doing makeup when I got home.  Hair by Diane was right on time and managed to squeeze in my sister.  Laura Kay popped in and it felt like she had been there the whole time and knew everyone!

 

Our ceremony was at 4:00 at St. Aloysius Church; it's connected to Gonzaga High School where my great grandfather, father and youngest brother went to high school.  Everything was perfect and we went straight to the reception at the Cosmos Club.  We decided on the Cosmos Club because my uncle is the head chef and having him in charge of food was a great stress relief.  We left everything up to him.  We did some quick pictures and then enjoyed our evening. 

We left for Thailand the Monday after our wedding and it feels so wonderful to be back in Brooklyn, married and enjoying the end of summer!



Vendors:

Invitations were by Smock.

A women named Maddalena Nappi Reidy is a calligrapher who did all of our envelopes as well as place cards.  A friend of a friend found her on craigslist list and used her for her wedding.  She is very affordable and so easy.  I just dropped everything off to her doorman and picked it up there when she was done!

Sara Franklin of Social Scene was our day of coordinator.  She was AMAZING!  She is a DC native and did so, so much more than just day of.  The entire day of, week before, two months before, 6 months before went so smoothly because of her.  

Laura Kay was our photographer.  I just can't say enough wonderful things about Laura.  I found her through Brooklyn Bride, loved her pictures and felt a connection that she was a recent Houston transplant to the DC area.  (I grew up in Houston).  Laura was an absolute joy to have be there while I was getting ready and during the entire wedding. She was calm and clear and professional and a genuine, beautiful person.  I love all of our pictures and can't  imagine the day without her.

Leah McKay did make up.  I met her the first day I met Laura. She came to my parents home to do a make up trial. Loved the make up and loved her even more.  She's been doing make up in the DC area for years and is sweet, has great skin care advise, down to earth and a delight to be around.  She came to my parents house again on the day of the wedding and did my make up, my mother, sister, and 6 bridesmaids. I can't recommend her highly enough, she helped me feel so beautiful.!

I had my hair done by Christophe Jouenne in Georgetown.  He will do house visits but was very expensive.  I didn't have time to travel again from Brooklyn to DC before the wedding so I didn't do a hair trial.  He came highly recommended by Leah and I couldn't have been happier with the beautiful job he did! 

Hair by Diane came to our house to do all the bridesmaids hair.  She is very affordable and very good.  She did my hair for my cousin's wedding a few years ago.  She brought two assistant's with her and even re-did my sister's hair who had gone else where and did not like it. 

Flowers were by Petal's Edge. I knew what I wanted, had a few pictures, really liked Rebecca who I met with a few months before and everything was beyond perfect! 

Music at the church and cocktail hour was St.Charles Quartet, they were really nice and professional,
and for the reception Escapade (my dad's choice and a lot of fun).