Debbie & Dan’s Classic DC Whittemore House Wedding

I don’t know about you, but I’m running on caffeine over here. Baby boy’s sleep has been a mess since the holidays, and its starting to catch up to me. But I’m so excited to share today’s wedding with you! I had the pleasure of working with Debbie & Dan to bring their wedding day to life. They (and their families) are the sweetest, and reminiscing about their wedding is helping me get through the day. You can also check out their engagement session on the blog.

When we decided on Washington, DC as the location for our wedding, we knew that we wanted a wedding that showcased our home to our friends and family (Dan is from New York and Debbie is from Boston originally). The second we stepped into The Whittemore House, a historic mansion that is also home to the Woman’s National Democratic Club, we knew right then and there that this was the perfect place for our ceremony and reception. From the brick outside, to the gorgeous white columns inside, along with the portraits and antiques showcasing famous democratic women in politics, we could not imagine a better place for our wedding. We loved that the separate rooms in the house also gave our guests the option to explore.

Since we were lucky with an absolutely gorgeous fall day, many guests took advantage of the garden courtyard and the second floor balcony for pictures. An added bonus: their wine options were all from vineyards owned and/or operated by women. We loved that!

Even though we wanted a very “DC” wedding, we did not hesitate making our wedding details and decor match our personal styles. Debbie’s favorite color is purple, so the florals centered around purple with rich fall colors to match our October wedding. Since both Debbie and Dan love the art deco style of the 1920s, we also had gold elements in our decor, from the picture frames, to the card box, to the backdrop of our photo booth. We ended up spending very little for our photo frames and welcome sign as Debbie scoured yard sales and painted everything gold herself. Our wedding sign lettering was a great find from Etsy! Although our beloved tuxedo cat could not be physically present at the wedding, we found ways to make sure that he was there in spirit – our signature drink was named the “Winston” (pun intended)!

Since our favorite thing to do in D.C. is go to live concerts, we absolutely had to have live music at our wedding. We hit the jackpot when we found Erika & Curtis for our ceremony and cocktail hour music, and 10 Spot for our reception. Both groups are incredibly talented and were an absolute pleasure to work with. Erika & Curtis played the most beautiful renditions of some of our favorite songs on the violin and guitar. I still get chills thinking of, “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” as I walked down the aisle. 10 Spot killed it with the reception music! The dance floor was literally never empty the whole night, and we loved how they combined both classics and top 40 songs so that everyone could enjoy. At one point, our guests formed a conga line throughout the house, which was super fun! Over a year after our wedding, we still get compliments about the music and what a wonderful party we threw.