February 9, 2024

DAR DC Winter Wedding

I’m getting this post up just in time for the second wedding anniversary of K&D. They had a lovely DAR winter wedding in 2022.

Getting Ready at the Viceroy

February is technically winter, right? I mean, sure, DC could have two feet of snow or 75-degree weather. It is a crap shoot. We had cool temps but sun and no precipitation for this DAR wedding – pretty close to ideal to me!

Plus, if you’re going to embrace a winter wedding vibe with (faux) furs, velvets, and deep hues or jewel tones, a surprise warm day is a bit of a buzzkill.

DC Winter Wedding at Daughters of the American Revolution

Wedding Ceremony: St. Matthew’s Cathedral

This winter wedding day began at what was our first time at this iconic DC church. It was such a pleasure to work there.

K&D really went through it, not only having a Covid reschedule but later their original venue closing their doors and canceling on them. In light of this, their friends got together to surprise them with wedding alpacas! They coordinated with me (thank you!), and we landed on the alpacas greeting guests outside the church before the ceremony as the best option for the flow of the day. K&D were genuinely thrilled with the fluffy guests.

DC Winter Wedding - St. Matthew's Cathedral

Since the church service was a little earlier in the day, we had time for a swing by the Capitol for some portraits before heading back to DAR for more photos and, soon enough, cocktail hour.

Cocktail Hour: DAR O’Byrne Gallery

Something that K&D handled really well was the idea of giving their guests a copper mule cup as both a wedding favor but also something they can use on the wedding day for their signature cocktails. They put together a cute but helpful sign so that guests would understand how to use and possibly also store their cups. Since the dinner is in the Library, once we move guests to O’Byrne for dancing, they won’t have dinner tables around to store their personal items.

Dinner Reception: The DAR Library

I love to host your wedding dinner in the DAR Library. I think it is a special and unforgettable experience for you and your wedding guests. K&D leaned into the library theme with their table numbers, and used florals, menu cards, and glassware to highlight the deep hues of their wedding color palette.

K&D opted, for the sake of fitting all their guests in the Library, to eat their dinner in one of the opera boxes. I love this idea, and there is more space up there than you would initially think. Before dinner began, the toast-givers stood in the box with them and addressed the crowd below. A few guests did visit them during dinner, but overall I think K&D had an intimate and romantic sweetheart table experience.

An astute observer will note that while most tables were linen-free, we did have this gorgeous blue velvet on three of the dinner tables. Those tables were either rental tables or not typical dinner tables and thus required a covering.

DAR DC Library wedding dinner reception 106 seats max

Here is the floor plan from the DAR Library dinner. I hope it helps show how we fit a max of 106 guests there.

Dancing: DAR O’Byrne Gallery

Since we ate in the Library, we danced in O’Byrne! And cut the cake there too 🙂 As I mentioned above, the Library closes after dinner, so the guests must take all their personal items (purses, jackets, etc) into O’Byrne for the final hours of the party. Because of this, I try to make sure that we have as many tables as possible and sometimes cubbies to store these items.