Images: Maggie Winters for Pop Wed Co.
Guys. This DC wedding is so freakin’ rad it’s making my face hurt from smiling so hard at all the pictures. Not only did this rad wedding come from my favs, Pop Wed Co, but it took place on Pi Day … AND at a pizza place! But not just any pizza place, one of my favorites in DC – &Pizza! The pictures are so fun of course, but I love all the details from Michael & Katie too. Sharing why they wanted a small wedding and the reasoning why they chose Pi Day for their wedding date! Check it out :)
We wanted to get married, but I knew that I didn’t want a formal wedding. I was having trouble with the idea of a wedding, and we tossed around different ideas. I saw an article about Popwed.co and I knew that’s what I wanted to have- a quick, low key, small, laid-back wedding. We had also recently moved to the DC area together, and getting married in DC seemed like a way to mark our time here.
Maggie did a great job in putting together most of the fun details. She was also excited about us getting married on Pi Day. We had no particular ties to any specific date or time, but knew we wanted to get married within the year, and hopefully during pleasant weather.
As a math teacher, I knew that the upcoming Pi Day (March 14) was going to be the most epic Pi Day of the century- 3-14-15, and I lightly suggested that we get married then. Michael thought it sounded fun (and I bounced the idea off a few math teacher friends to see if I was being too nerdy- they assured me I was not!). Once we had the date nailed down, Maggie suggested the venue. We thought it was perfect- we love pizza, and we love the idea of &pizza (that I can get something with unique vegetarian ingredients and Michael can get pizza covered with pepperoni and sausage).
We originally invited just our parents and siblings (and their husbands/wives/kids), but we had close friends who really wanted to attend. So we gave up on limiting the number of guests, and told friends they were welcome to come if they wanted, but not to expect a traditional reception (we held a larger reception for all family and friends in Ohio a few weeks later). A couple weeks before the wedding, we had a few other friends call us and say that they were coming. As more and more friends decided to come, we felt so very loved! It was really fun to be surrounded by our close friends and family- about 20 people total- who traveled all the way from Ohio.
Click inside for the rest of Katie & Michael’s super rad Washington DC wedding on Pi Day!
Our grandparents couldn’t travel to be with us, but my grandmother gave me a special gift to wear. I was looking for something borrowed and something old, and I asked my grandma if I could borrow a piece of jewelry. She had a sapphire bracelet that matched my engagement ring, and she gave it to me as a gift. It felt very special to be wearing a piece of her jewelry, even though she wasn’t there in person.
We also loved how our friends and family showed up in silly math-themed shirts and temporary tattoos. My sister made t-shirts for herself, her daughter (“cutie pi”), my brother (cherry “pi”), and my mom.
Probably the most offbeat/nontraditional aspect was the venue- I don’t know many people who get married in a pizza joint, while the pizza place is still going about its business serving customers!
My engagement ring was a sapphire- we had talked a bit about rings before, and I didn’t want a diamond engagement ring. A sapphire seemed perfect- we could get the stone from a conflict-free provider, and it’s Michael’s birthstone. (My birthstone is a diamond, and there are diamonds on my wedding band- so together, I’m wearing both of our birthstones.) I wore a short dress from a boutique in Georgetown. I realized I wanted something short and easy to move in, something that felt like “me” and what I would wear regularly. I tried on every white dress in every store in Georgetown until I decided on this one. One of my close friends sewed a handkerchief for me to carry in case of tears. I also stopped by Trader Joe’s that morning to get a bouquet of flowers, and one of my friends put it together into a bouquet for me in my kitchen while I did my makeup!
