Jenny & Richard’s DC Themed, Inclusive, Feminist Wedding at Josephine Butler Parks Center

Images: Shawnee Custalow

Romancers. It’s been a week. My inbox has been totally neglected, I can barely remember what exercise is, and I’m not even close to getting my blogs together this week. PHEW. Just a few more days until the weekend … and then vacation. I CAN DO THIS (right? RIGHT!?). We didn’t have much of a break all weekend, and now I am certainly paying for it, plus the day-job is still in overdrive, so I am finding most days I am barely getting by. It won’t last forever. Anyway, we have an insanely awesome DC wedding on the blog today – a bride in the leather jacket, our fav DC wedding venue, a rockin’ set of DC wedding vendors, DC wedding details … AND SO MUCH MORE. Check out this super rad #CapRoWedding on the blog today!

We wanted to incorporate many of the things that are most important to us into our wedding. We specifically picked vendors that reflected these shared values, such as inclusivity, feminism, and a focus on community.

Josephine Butler Parks Center was the first venue we visited, and we immediately knew we had to get married there. We love that they are run by a nonprofit (Washington Parks & People) and that the money we spent would go back into the community. It was also super important to Jenny for the two strongest women in her life, her mom and grandmother, to walk her down the aisle.

Many of our wedding details were DC-themed. Each table at dinner was named after a different neighborhood or place in DC that was important to us, and Richard created “fun facts” to go along with each one. We spent a day running around DC with our officiant/best friend, Mary-Kathryn, taking photos at each place. We also created a map of DC to use as a seating chart, which we made sure was as geographically accurate as possible!

Our families helped us a ton with the decor and wedding preparations. Jenny’s sister lives in Honduras and came home a week early to hand-write all of the signs and details for the wedding, which turned out even more incredibly than they had ever imagined. Richard’s mom helped embroider the “No Ugly Crying” handkerchiefs, which were also gifts for wedding party and family members. She also made the flower girl dress for their niece, Emma. Their friend (and officiant’s sister), Candice, traveled all the way from Illinois (!) to do their amazing flowers, greenery, centerpieces, and other decor. And Jenny’s second maid of honor, Megan, helped design and print their programs. This list doesn’t even begin to cover all the moral support our families and friends provided the week leading up to the wedding.

We had pie from Dangerously Delicious Pies for dessert because we’re both not huge fans of cake. Jenny’s grandmother also made her famous pumpkin pie, which was a big hit for the dessert table. We rounded out the dessert spread with some apple cider donuts from District Doughnut because who doesn’t love apple cider donuts?