Christine & Loy’s DIY Filipino Wedding in Maryland

Today’s real wedding from the Washington, DC area features a beautiful, DIY Filipino wedding full of elegant and personal touches. Thanks to the great people at Two Bright Lights and super talented DC wedding photographer, Jeff of Jeff Simpson Photography, I get to share it with you!

Here is Christine, Loy, and their beautiful, DIY wedding:

Christine shares:

In the year that it took to plan our wedding day, Loy & I discussed the importance of the day itself, and we both agreed that the day symbolized a lifetime of love and happiness. We thought an intimate wedding with familyand friends with whom to share that love and happiness was most appropriate.

Since the wedding was to take place in the spring, we chose a cherry blossom motif. Being residents of the metro DC area, the annual cherry blossom festival provided the perfect backdrop for our second engagement photo shoot.

Wow, Jeff’s photography is so unique from what I have seen before … This almost looks like a painting or some sort of graphic design piece

How cute does Christine look here? Love this smile shot.

Click inside for the rest of these feature – including way more details from Christine about all the DIY and personal touches from their Maryland wedding!

Christine shares more about their ceremony:

The wedding rite was celebrated in a Catholic church where Loy and I first met as choir members several years back. Our families were very involved on the day itself. Loy’s father, a deacon, administered the wedding vows.

Love this reflection shot in the piano!

Seriously, these wedding formals are like nothing I have ever seen before! So different!

Christine dishes on their wedding reception venue, the beautiful Oxon Hill Manor:

We chose a beautiful reception venue – a historic manor with English gardens, a reflecting pool, and a stunning view of the Potomac River – so beautiful, in fact, that we didn’t feel the need to add significantly to the indoor décor, saving us time, money and effort. We wanted to make the most of the scenery by having the reception outdoors, but the heavy rains that morning prevented the setup of tables, chairs, and audio-visual equipment outside. Thankfully, Loy and I had a contingency plan, and the reception ended up indoors. By the time the reception started, the skies cleared and turned a beautiful shade of blue. The guests had the best of both worlds: the intimacy and comfort of dining indoors, and the spectacular view of the outdoors.

Christine’s siblings got involved too:

Our siblings sang and read Scripture passages during the Mass and also rendered meaningful song selections during the reception.

In keeping with their Cherry Blossom wedding theme, and wanting to have a bigger part of the overal wedding, Christine & Loy did a lot of DIY for their wedding:

The invitations, ceremony programs, reception programs, centerpieces, place cards/souvenirs, flower girls’ pomanders, backdrop, and the goodie bags for the kids all perfectly matched the theme since Loy and I designed and put them all together as DIY projects over many weekends.

Some final words and fantastic advice from Christine:

I learned that a great wedding need not be expensive. Incorporating personal touches through DIY projects will make your affair more meaningful. Keep in your heart all the good things that happened that day with no regrets. But most of all, be thankful for finding that special someone to spend the rest of your life with, and enjoy your perfect day!

Seriously. I couldn’t have said it better myself!

Congratulations Christine & Loy!! Thank you so much for sharing your wedding story with us today! A special thanks again to Jeff Simpson Photography (& Two Bright Lights) for the beautifully artistic wedding pictures seen in this feature!