Jess & Kim’s Locally DC Sourced, Personalized DIY Wedding at Murray Hill

And we’re back this afternoon with Jess & Kim’s amazing, locally sourced DC area wedding.Their gorgeous, chic barn wedding was one part rustic, one part DIY, and ALL parts personalized, as they depended on a TON of local Washington, DC area vendors to make their wedding day happen. I really loved how they found their vendors mostly through their local U Street Farmers market! The couple explained, “We really love the DC area – having lived here for a combined 12 years – and are committed locavores, so we made a concerted effort to choose local whenever we could. Not only did we get amazing quality for much more affordable prices, but we got to support some of our favorite local businesses.”

Locavores + weddings = my FAVORITE DC wedding features! I know you guys are going to LOVE Jess & Kim’s rustic chic Virginia wedding!

 Jess & Kim’s Locally Sourced, Personalized DIY Wedding at Murray Hill

Vendors

Photographer: Jordan Baker Photography | Venue: Murray Hill | Catering: Hill Country (with Turkey’s provided locally by Harvey’s Butchers) | Cake & Pies: Whisked DC | Flowers: Plantmasters | Wine & Spirits: Union Market’s Cordial | Decorations: DIY | Bouquets & Boutonnieres: DIY | Wedding Coordinator: Nikki Rap

On their overall theme and feel of their wedding:

 The wedding elements were picked based around a rustic chic theme, since we love this style and it alludes to our hometowns (Texas for Jess, and growing up across the street from a horse farm for Kim). A lot of our choices were also based on the season we were married in, so there were a lot of oranges and reds and yellows, and all of our flowers were what was fresh at the time like zinnias, mums, and proteas.

LOVE these hand-written designed wedding invitations!

We tried to make the wedding as personalized as possible. For us, that meant including friends and family whenever we could. Kim’s sister, a graphic designer, made our chalkboard-style invitations, menus, and programs.

We also included the three sets of grandparents who couldn’t join us that day in small ways: the engagement ring was made from an earring Kim’s maternal grandmother brought with her when she fled Saigon after the Vietnam War; the wedding rings were provided by Kim’s paternal grandparents.

Jess also had a number of family pieces for her attire: she wore pearls that belonged to her paternal grandmother, her mother’s veil, and used extra lace from shortening the veil to make a detachable illusion neckline for her dress.

We also picked Murray Hill as a venue for this very reason: it’s an estate right on the banks of the Potomac, so our ceremony had the beautiful changing treeline over the river as a backdrop. The barn also really sold us on the venue: a converted llama stable with wonderful high rafters and old chandeliers that we used for our reception.

Click inside for SO MUCH MORE of this awesome, locally sourced Washington, DC area wedding at Murray Hill in Leesburg!

We used Jess’s paternal grandparents’ tea set for the Vietnamese tea ceremony we incorporated into the wedding. We also had one of Kim’s best friends perform the ceremony, and both our day-of coordinator and DJ were friends from Kim’s college days at GW. Our ceremony combined traditional elements – like our vows – with elements of a Vietnamese marriage: the groomsmen carried gifts to the bride’s family down the aisle; Kim’s mother placed earrings on Jess as a sign of welcoming her into the family; and we had a Vietnamese tea ceremony during the service where Jess’s grandparents and all of our parents gave us advice for a successful marriage.

Jess also wore cowboy boots under her dress (with blue socks for her something blue).

And now, brace yourselves Romancers – the inside of this barn venue is SERIOUSLY GORGEOUS:

On their DIY aspects of the wedding:

We’re very DIY people, so we decided to do much of the decor ourselves. For months before the wedding, we collected clear glass jars and bottles, which we used for centerpieces; we had our wedding party help put together all of the flowers, including the boutonnieres and bouquets, which we placed in these containers atop burlap runners on our long tables. We also put together our own favors – coffee beans individually bagged, stamped, and tied up – and painted our own wood peg cake toppers. Kim also designed some of the chalkboard-themed signs for the wedding, including our drink list and our taxi number handout – which featured personal favorite Mandy Patinkin.

We made sure that we included some fun bits for guests: we used photos of us with our guests for their place cards and we set up cornhole, bocce, and giant Jenga for them during the cocktail hour.

On locally sourcing their wedding vendors:

Our cake and pies were baked by Whisked DC and our flowers came from Plantmasters, both vendors at our neighborhood’s 14th and U Street Farmers Market. We purchased our wine and spirits from Union Market’s Cordial, and Huong Binh and Hill Country provided the appetizers and reception meal respectively – the food was especially important for us, since we’re huge foodies, and since it helped us celebrate Kim’s Vietnamese heritage and Jess’s Texas roots. We’re especially grateful that Hill Country allowed us to provide our own turkeys – sourced locally through Harvey’s Butchers in Union Market.

But the most offbeat thing we did was the mother-son dance: Kim’s mom really loved Michelle Obama’s History of Mom Dancing on Jimmy Fallon, so the two of them recreated that for their dance.

^Perfection. Please someone tell me this was captured on video! :)

Congratulations Jess & Kim! Thank you so much for sharing your awesome, locally sourced chic rustic barn wedding at Murray Hill with us! A special thanks again to Jordan Baker Photography for sharing the images for today’s real Virginia wedding feature.

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