navy blue wedding

Rebecca and Mike // Union Station, Washington DC Wedding // DC Wedding Coordinator

Photo by Charlie Archambault This wedding - my first for 2016 - was so much fun, and was the perfect match for me. It's a great example of how weddings don't have to be all one thing or the other - super offbeat or super traditional. We're all complex people and it makes sense that our weddings are, too. From a distance, this looked like a fairly traditional Jewish wedding. Lots of guests (260), large beautiful venue (Union Station is so lovely), and many of the wonderful Jewish traditions. Look closer, however, and you'd see that they had no announcement, no cake cutting, no first dance or parents dances. Most importantly, Rebecca proposed to Mike. Which I straight-up LOVE. Here's how their engagement happened, in her own words:

We had just bought a house and knew we would get married but I am a planner and Mike is not.  I had decided it was time to get engaged if we were going to get married and that we should get married in January 2016! I started asking Mike to marry me everyday.  His typical response was "Not quiiiiiite yet".  Then, we agreed that when I had asked him 100 times, he would have to say yes.  I started asking multiple times a day and then he got smart and made a one time a day rule :) By the 100th time, he was in! Neither of us believe in a traditional "surprise" engagement (which is generally not a surprise!) or the man having to ask the woman.  These decisions are made as a couple and we wanted to throw (somewhat sexist!) tradition out the window.  I also did not want an engagement ring so we surprised both our parents with the news and started planning.  The only problem was when no one actually believed we were engaged since there was no engagement ring and no engagement story!

We NEED more of this you guys. It was such an honor to work with a couple like this and support them and their families. I swear it makes my heart grow and my bolsters my feminist spirit. It's so ridiculous that our society doesn't "believe" people are engaged because they don't have a "story" or a ring (ummm... that story above is an EXCELLENT story). So please let's all continue to break traditions we don't care about and embrace the ones we do.

Now that I got that out of the way, let's move on to the beautiful photos of this lovely day. They took some portraits at Hotel Monaco before heading over to Union Station for some more. After the photos and Ketubah signing, they had a beautiful ceremony - Rebecca's father, a rabbi, officiated! Petal's Edge did such a great job with their romantic chuppah, and I especially loved the modern arrangements for the centerpieces. Design Cuisine along with Kosher Kitchen killed it with their food and service. As you'll see, Onyx kept them dancing all night long - and Charles Archambault captured it all in these fantastic photos. Enjoy! And congrats again to my most bad-ass of couples, Rebecca and Mike!

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Photo by Charlie Archambault

Rebecca and Mike's Vendors:

Coordinator: Katie, The Plannery

Venue: Union Station

Caterer: Kosher Kitchen and Design Cuisine

Photographer: Charlie Archambault

Band: Onyx

Florist: Petal's Edge