A while back I did a post on alternative garden wedding venues in the Washington, DC metro area (here if you want!). I have been anxious, ever since that post, to actually have a real Washington DC wedding to feature from one of those venues.
Enter Chris and Adrienne Scott Photographers (& the fabulous Two Bright Lights).
Lucky for me (and you), I now get to share with you a beautiful, classy wedding at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Northern Virginia.
Amanda & Alonso‘s beautiful garden wedding in Northern Virginia
A bit about Alonso & Amanda, and their wedding:
Alonso and I met working at a Country Club in the catering department. We knew we wanted a classy, detailed event and had lots of ideas from our experience in the hospitality industry. Alonso is a banquet manager and I am a meeting planner.
We wanted a fall wedding at an alternative venue. Being two different religions we didn’t want to get married at a church or synagogue AND since my husband works in a country club, he wanted a different type of venue for his wedding. We chose Meadowlark Botanical Gardens for the beautiful indoor atrium with a creek and trees that light up.
Although the had a fall wedding, Amanda was adamant that they didn’t do the usual fall color scheme. She shares:
We didn’t want to use typical fall colors of red, orange and yellows so we kept rich colors and incorporated teals and purples! We wanted unique, textured arrangements of different types of wild flowers instead of classic arrangements.
Love those purple flowers … and coupled with the bridesmaids in teal green? Beautiful!
The groom reading a note from his bride. *Tear* !
And now it’s time for the First look!!! On top of a bridge … like seriously, this is a romance novel, no?
Click inside to see the rest of the First Look and all of Amanda & Alonso’s details from their beautiful, modern purple & teal wedding!
I’d imagine this beautiful picture is blown up and hanging in Amanda & Alonso’s house somewhere. It’s a beautiful picture and OMG it makes me want Fall so badly!!!
Oh hey there groomsmen!
Natural laughing bridesmaids & bride = best bridal part shots!
Amanda & Alonso had a sand pouring ceremony at their wedding. I love the symbolism behind these. A great alternative to more religious ceremonies or in lieu of the candle lighting that most couples do. My cousin had this at her own wedding, and I loved it, with all the different colored sands being poured together!
Just look how stunning a real wedding at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens can be. Best part, is you don’t need much more than centerpieces to make this place look amazing. All the decor is already provide, via the the location of the gardens!
Not usually a huge flower fan ~ but the “wild” approach that Amanda was talking about really wows me … I love the lush greens with the purple table cloths, then just that hint of teal on the napkins. Love this color combo!
Love the easy, DIY picture frame table numbers & the peacock feathers in those centerpieces? wowzers!
As we are from two totally different cultures (Jewish and Salvadorean), we decided to have a chocolate fountain with cake so that we could try to get our guests up and mingling.
We had a custom cake topper made by mudcards on etsy- Alonso is a HUGE redskins fan so we made the cake topper reflect our personalities. We gave away lottery tickets that said “we hope you are as lucky as we are” as favors.
Can you see the tea light candles around the top of the window?? I love this idea! Amanda said “We placed candles on the window sills and tables to create the illusion of a moonlit garden.” <- uh. gorgeous.
Amanda & Alonso then did a day after session in DC amidst the monuments. Amanda shares:
We decided to do an after-session in DC because we both grew up in the DC area and LOVE the city. The pictures are amazing and a reminder of why we live in this area.
Congratulations Amanda & Alonso! Wish you many more years of love and happiness together. A special thank you again to Chris and Adrienne Scott Photography & Two Bright Lights for making this blog feature possible!
Vendors:
Photographer: Chris and Adrienne Scott Photographers
Caterer: Great Blue Heron
Floral Designer: Growing Wild Floral Co
Reception Venue: Meadowlark Botanical Gardens
Dress Store: I Do I Do Wedding Gowns
Cake Designer: Edibles Incredible Desserts
DJ: Mike Blaufeld
Equipment Rentals: Capital Party Rentals
Makeup Artist: Faces by Liz
4 comments
Love these photos! I’m shooting at Meadowlark for a reception in January and this makes me really excited! And those florals are way gorgeous.
Loving the color palette of this wedding!
I really love that first photo in top, beautiful. Great job, photogs!