I was informed (by an outside source) that Mark and Stephen's wedding was the "event of the year" and I certainly cannot argue with that statement. Their wedding was absolutely raucous with, by far, the dirtiest dancing music I have heard at a wedding. And that was before we went to Town for the after party. Plus, look at these two gentlemen:
Mark and Stephen got ready at their home near Meridian Hill Park. Chloe, their enormous spotted great dane, helped with prep by cowering in a corner the whole time.
Then we scooted to the park for some portraits and family formals.
OMG I love them.
Big thanks to
Porter for coming out to help me with this wedding. I don't know if she prompted this one, but it's hilarious (sorry Stephen!)
From there, we headed on down to National Harbor. Mark has a very accommodating friend who lent his beautiful house, backyard and dock for the wedding.
The grooms came in
on boats.
Huge shoutout to Megan from
Events in the City who made Mark and Stephen's day totally beautiful. Check out the Chloe wedding cake!
And do you believe this? They had a
drag queen at their wedding! She introduced them way back on when.
Then everybody boogied like mad.
Bam.
[Because regular people don't care and I'm so proud, here's a side note for photographers: I made this exposure
in camera. This was 10 seconds, holding my hands over the bottom and sides of the lens so I wouldn't overexpose the bright parts of the frame. Pretty neat, right?]
Then we went to Town for the after party. I don't normally get to go to hip, exciting places. It was neat just to be there.
Congratulations you guys!
Mark and Stephen's fabulous vendor team:
Design and planning: Megan Pollard with
Events in the City
Ceremony & reception venue: Private residence
Catering:
R&R Catering (some of the best wedding food I have EVER had!)
Florist:
Flowers on 14th
Entertainment:
Sherry Vine
DJ:
DJ Drew G
Cake:
Fluffy Thoughts
Mark and Stephen's strapping suits:
Eric Finn
Bridesmaids dresses:
Two Birds
The Carnegie Institution for Science has such a cool layout. The main room is this huge round three-story thing with a big dome and a beautiful twisty staircase. It's a popular site for ceremonies in the round. Upstairs, the getting ready room is a really cool old library with tons of books and wooden desks, complete with globes and leather furniture and all things old-school and happy.
Bill and Harry had this incredible light setup at their wedding. It's been more than a year (oy) so I don't remember all the bits, but during some point in the ceremony, a key word from their officiant switched the lights from purple to gold - I think it was something about the sun coming up. Amazing!
Did I mention their colors were yellow and gray? And it was yellow and gray everywhere, from their boutonnieres to the lemonade-looking cocktails to reception decor. Their planner/designer Candy+Co Events did a fantastic job (see Kelly's post from the day to get information for other vendors).
They had a LOVE ice sculpture, enough said. Also, it is really difficult to photograph ice!
I know, I'm making a big deal out of decor and I'm always like "oh, who cares about the decor?" but seriously, lemons as escort card holders... lemon trees, cake pop dessert station that was totally decimated and from which I was not able to obtain a single cake pop? This wedding was so adorable.
First dance.
And that is that! Congratulations Bill and Harry and thanks again to Kelly and Natalie for having me along.
This was last Friday, you know, the day the heat index went to 112 or something like that. It was, in a word, hot.
The folks at Pizzeria Paradiso were very nice to us. We all needed about 5 giant glasses of water after the ceremony and a bit of a portrait session around the park. And then I moved all manner of patio furniture around and they didn't care at all. Folks are so nice to people getting married.
Congratulations you guys! It was a pleasure documenting your (second) day!