Rachael & Grayson’s Virginia Wedding at the Fort Meyer’s Office Club

This afternoon’s adorable real wedding is by Evelyn Alas Photography. It features traditional families, a long line of military men on the groom’s side, and a beautiful ceremony at the Old Post Chapel & reception at the Fort Myer’s Officers Club  in Arlington, VA.

Rachael & Grayson have a beautiful love story and, naturally, had a beautiful wedding too! I am so happy to be able to get to share all the details with you today!

Rachael & Grayson’s Virginia Wedding at the Fort Meyer’s Officer’s Club

Let’s hear how Rachael & Grayson met [from the bride herself!]:

…Well I guess I should start with how we met. A few years ago, on Christmas Eve, Grayson and I were roped into doing a reading for church by our lovely choir instructor/ church organist… neither myself nor Gray were in choir, but that didn’t seem to matter to her. Even though we’d been in the same church a hundred times this was first time I’d ever seen Grayson, and he saw me. My first thoughts were “OO he’s cute.”

Naturally after having spent most of the service checking him out, my good friend Melissa, to whom I owe much of this meeting, insisted I go talk to him. Best decision I ever made. After some small talk, I used an all too cheesy line which I will not be sharing publicly, and gave him my number. That night we started talking, and one thing led to another. We dated all through my last 3 years of college, even though we went to seperate universities, 2 hours apart.

love all the lace happening here & the “i do” on the bottom of Rachael’s shoe!!

A bit about Rachael:

As for me  there’s really not much to say, I’m not one to toot my own horn if you catch my drift. So I’ll give you the briefest of overviews…

I was not born into a military family, and therefore much of this is new to me. My dad is in international marketing and my mom’s a teacher. I was born the first (and smartest :) just kidding) of 3. I graduated from Radford University in Radford, VA in the winter of 2010 and came back to Washington, D.C to complete my internship.

I am the blue jeans and t-shirt type of girl. I like the outdoors to a point, but you wont catch me on any survivalist shows anytime soon. I love good food, good people, great conversation, and good company. I was raised by opinionated people so naturally I have none of my own (NOT).

I love the jeans & T-shirt kinds of girls. I am exactly the same way Rachael :)

A bit about Grayson [from Rachael … if you couldn’t tell …]:

Grayson is the oldest of four children. Born into a multi-generational military family, he soon found his own niche. After graduating from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. Grayson commissioned into the United States Army and began Infantry school (IBOLC). After completing IBOLC Gray became an official Infantry Officer, and started Ranger School.

Grayson is smart, funny, loyal, talented, kind, and many other things that I won’t embarrass him by going on about. He loves good food, good people, and great company (so do I), so naturally he fits right in with my family! You’re likely to find Grayson out on a survivalist show with Bear Grills one of these days, he loves that kind of thing. Grayson has a comedic side as well, he’s an all around good guy, and I am lucky enough to love him.

Grayson lookin’ like a STUD with his groomsmen

in love with Rachael’s stunning purple gemstone necklace. the color, the shape, everything about it.

The simple white palette for the boutonniere and bouquets was made by  by Royal Floral Designs

Rachael tells us why they chose the Fort Meyer location for their wedding festivities:

The location was suggested originally by my mother in law, who had attended several ceremonies and services at Fort Myer. The old post chapel is just a really beautiful little church not known to many, and my husband really fell in love with it. Also Fort Myer or Joint base Myer-Henderson Hall as its now known, is a really beautiful and historic post.

oh my, i LOVE this shot of the chapel that Evelyn Alas Photography got. those chandeliers! what a seriously gorgeous place to get married!!

Click inside to see the rest of this beautiful, traditional military wedding at the Fort Meyer base in Arlington, VA!

The colors were chosen for a few reasons. I chose the green from a ribbon that i had kept on all of my backpacks from the time I was in 10th grade to my senior year of college, I always loved the color and really wanted to incorporate it into the wedding.

The dark blue was chosen because it went well with the green without being overbearing and drowning it out. Also the Koran ballroom was a gold and dark blue mix, so I figured that by having it as part of our color palette we could make everything flow more seamlessly.

One of the benefits of being on Fort Myer, is the outstanding view of the capital city from the lawn in front of the generals quarters. The Dempseys ( then the Chief of Staff of the United States Army) are long time friends of Grayson’s parents, and family, and helped get us permission to use the flagstaff lawn for our photos. Some of our best photos took place on the lawn, and at the Dempsey’s home on Fort Myer. My favorite photos are the relaxed casual ones at Martin and Deani Dempsey’s home.

How cute are their custom cake toppers? Handmade & painted!!

Another unique piece that I loved in our wedding was the cake toppers we used, they were handmade by an artist and the uniform is a pretty close copy of Grayson’s military uniform. By doing this I was able to incorporate his status as an officer without making him wear his uniform.

The reception was also held at Fort Myer, at the Officers club, in the Koran ball room, and the cocktail hour was in the Old Guard room. One of the reason we chose the club was the great services, options we got with Five Star catering. I loved the fact that our guests could walk across the short distance from the church to the club, an dsee the really beautiful old architecture, or walk through Arlington cemetery if they wanted (in the time between the ceremony and cocktail hour)

Congratulations Rachael & Grayson and thank you for sharing your beautiful military wedding with us on Capitol Romance! A special thanks to Evelyn Alas Photography for sharing her images.

Vendors:

Photographer: Evelyn Alas Photography

Venue: Fort Meyer Officer’s Club

Caterer:  Five Star Catering

Event Designer:  SNI Events

Floral Designer:  Royal Floral Designs

Cake Designer:  Patisserie Lille