Tory & Isaac’s Classic Washington, DC Wedding at the Arts Club of Washington

Images: Kir Tuben Photography

We’ve got Tory & Isaac back on the blog today, with their beautifully classic DC wedding at the Arts Club of Washington. The colors and florals are so super spring and I love the elegant, but simple details of the day – perfectly executed by our rockstar, Kara :) Take it away Tory & Isaac!

When Tory and Isaac got engaged just before Christmas, they decided they did not want a long engagement—they were ready to be married! They settled on a date in late July, giving them just seven months to plan their wedding. Those months were intense, but it made planning simpler as there was no time to deliberate or second-guess decisions. Tory, a Protocol Officer at the State Department, used her event planning experience to keep their wedding on track. They also had the invaluable assistance of their wedding coordinator, Kara Britanik of Capitol Romance.

Tory and Isaac first met five years earlier serving as maid of honor and best man for the wedding of their longtime friends Jenny and Eric. This time the roles were reversed, with their friends standing by their side as matron of honor and best man. Jenny, who does freelance design work, created beautiful custom floral stationery for the wedding. Tory and Isaac asked Wisteria Florals to design arrangements that complemented the stationery.

For their venue, Tory and Isaac selected The Arts Club of Washington, a beautiful historic building located in downtown Washington, DC. The Arts Club serves as an art gallery space for its members, with new paintings on display each month. During their venue walkthrough, Tory and Isaac were surprised to see full-length male and female nudes featured in the main gallery where the ceremony was to take place. Tory, fearful the paintings would offend some guests, requested they be removed. To her dismay, on their wedding day the nudes remained on the walls! Thankfully, their guests appreciated the art and they were the focus of many guest photos.

With a July wedding date, Tory and Isaac expected a hot and humid wedding day. They ordered paper fans as favors and planned to serve iced tea and lemonade during an outdoor ceremony. However, as they got closer to the wedding, the forecast called for torrential rains. A couple days before the wedding, Tory walked by a street performer singing “It’s like RA-INN on your wedding day…” and took it as a bad omen. On the morning of their wedding, it was chilly and the skies were gray. However, the bad weather held off long enough for them to go down to the Lincoln Memorial with photographer Kir Tuben to take some amazing couples portraits and wedding party photos.

Tory and Isaac exchanged gifts before their ceremony. Tory made Isaac a photo book telling the story of their relationship. Isaac’s favorite page was a photo collage of all the elaborate birthday cakes they had baked for each other. Isaac gave Tory a membership to the National Zoo, the place where they had their first date and later, where they got engaged. The gift included a stuffed orangutan in tribute to baby Redd, Tory’s favorite Zoo animal.

Due to the threat of rain, the wedding ceremony was moved inside to the main art gallery. Tory was walked down the aisle by her mother, and the wedding included a remembrance of Tory’s father and Isaac’s grandfather. Rev. Joan Nelson helped Tory and Isaac create a very personal and emotional wedding ceremony and vows. As they walked back down the aisle, a string trio played Frank Sinatra’s “Love and Marriage.”

Guests enjoyed cocktail hour upstairs as the ceremony space was flipped into the reception space. At the reception, guests feasted on crab cakes in homage to Tory and Isaac’s home in Maryland. Their cake from Buttercream Bakeshop was served with Graeter’s ice cream, a favorite from Isaac’s hometown of Cincinnati. After dinner, the Bachelor Boys Band played all of Toryand Isaac’s favorite nineties music and they had a blast dancing the night away with their family and friends.