Ryder & Allison’s Modern, Industrial DC Wedding at Longview Gallery

Images:Robin Shotola Photography

I‘ve been finding it harder and harder to blog thanks to our President & Gov’t being dead set on taking away our rights & access to affordable healthcare. I’m finding it hard to find motivation to do normal things, when things outside of my control just feel so horrible and I just want to DO something. I donate, I go to protests when I can, and I tweet (Lord, do I tweet) … but it doesn’t feel like enough and I want to do SO much more to stop the awfulness.

But I know there is only so much I can do, and I also realize that it’s important to step away from Twitter & the news, and re-focus on my life, my family, & the amazing opportunities I have to meet such amazing people through this blog/company. Allison & Ryder are two of these people, that I feel fortunate to have gotten to meet and spend one of the biggest days of their lives with. I loved their enthusiasm for each other, for their morals, and for including traditions in their wedding that meant something to them. I also love how they changed the traditions that did not work for them (my favorite: both of them stomping on a glass at the end of the ceremony, not just Ryder).

I know that while running a wedding & lifestyle blog might not be saving the world, it might bring some happiness & reminders of love to peoples’ lives – and right now, we could all certainly use a lot more of both of those things.

What will you remember most about your wedding day?:

Ryder — The feeling of walking from the hotel where I got ready to the venue — feeling a) I’m so ready for this, and b) all the anticipation of what’s about to come, both the actual wedding and for the rest of my life.

Allison — Being under the chuppah during the ceremony literally surrounded by family and friends (since our ceremony was in the round), holding Ryder’s hand and feeling a phenomenal amount of love and joy.

Both — Hearing the vows the other person had written and realizing that, despite not sharing anything about them with each other in advance, that they we had written practically identical vows.

Most enjoyable thing about planning your wedding: Planning and personalizing the ceremony, including the Ketubah signing before the actual ceremony, and working with our fantastic rabbi. Being the beneficiaries of all the advice and wisdom of friends who got married before us.

We both stepped on glasses at the end of our Jewish ceremony, which capped off a very personalized, egalitarian ceremony that we spent a lot of time working on. This moment captures the end of the such a meaningful part of the wedding.

Most stressful thing about planning your wedding: Making sure all the little details were covered — making sure everyone who needed information had it, that the people in our wedding knew their parts and felt comfortable, that any DIY projects were finished on time, etc.

Focus on what’s important to you and hire vendors you like and trust. We knew we wanted our ceremony to be modern, personal, and very social justice-oriented, so we spent a lot of time working on that. We spent less time worrying about other pieces, in part because we hired professionals that we trusted to listen to what we want and take it from there. We also hired people that we liked and wanted to spend time with, since they were going to be with us during one of the most important days of our lives.

On the day of, take a moment to dance with your new spouse, toast with your friends, and hug your family. No one notices the small things that might not go exactly as you anticipated — so you should ignore them too. Enjoy the moment as much as you can.