How to Honor Those Dearly Departed At Your Wedding

Sadly, weddings are often a reminder of those who are not able to attend. As wedding planners, we are often asked about ideas - how can we honor our loved ones? Whether it be a parent, grandparent, or other close family member who has passed, there are many f thoughtful ways to honor ones you’re thinking of and missing on your wedding day.

Save a Seat for Your Loved One

Photo by Photo Lady Love

We’ve had many couples choose to reserve a seat for their loved one, even though they’re not there in person. Some choose to put candles on the chair, signs recognizing who is missing, or as in the wedding above - a flower.

Include Loved Ones In Your Ceremony

Photo by Jessica Latos Photography

The most comment way we’ve had folks include those who have passed is to include them in their ceremony. Often the officiant mentions them and may ask for a moment of silence. Other times their names are included in the ceremony program. But my favorite way was in the wedding above, in which the bride and the groom held a private memorial honoring departed family members prior to the ceremony. With their closest loved ones present, they carefully placed marked roses within their gorgeous DIY chuppah.

Honor Them Through your Taste Buds

Photo by Shandi Wallace

We’ve seen many couples make thoughtful cuisine choices as a nod to their loved ones. My favorite was the above wedding that featured a Polish cookie table in honor of her Grandmother.

Carry Them With You

Photo by Photo Lady Love

Many brides opt to include small charms or photos within their bouquets as a way to carry their dearly departed with them, and keep them close always. I adore this option - it’s such a meaningful and beautiful way to help folks feel less alone and feel as though their family is with them - always.

Let Photos Do the talking

Photo by Jessica Crews

The most common way is to include photographs of those who have passed as a way to remember and honor them. Lots of folks choose to use wedding photos as a way to honor love through the ages!

Wedding travel inspiration! How to incorporate travel or locations into your wedding day

We previously posted about how to incorporate an extra dose of your love of music into your big day. But what if your and your partners passion is travel? Or what if you really want to share your hometowns with your guests, or get them excited about the location of your wedding? Today we’re talking about how to incorporate a love of travel, or a love of a particular place, into your big day. See below for more inspo!

Serve regional specialties to your guests!

Want to share part of your hometown or a particular place with your guests? Serve them some of that regions special food or treats! We’ve had lots of weddings that included Ohio buckeyes, and also had someone serve “Reception Sticks” - treats from Missouri that were originally created for a wedding!

Photo by Love Life Images

Photo by Amanda Gilley

Put your wedding on the map

There are lots of fun map options when it comes to weddings, and we’ve seen a lot - our favorites are using a map for your guest seating chart, or having guests sign a globe for your guest book!

Photo by Chris Zarconi

Photo by Reinhart Photography

Travel Related Centerpieces

One of my favorite clients drew inspiration from their own travels to all the national parks for their own wedding. They decided to name each table after a national park, and even had the florist create different arrangements to represent each park! Another couple named each table after a metro stop in the area - and had their menus designed as a metro map as well! So creative…

Photo by Chris Zarconi

Wave your flag!

We’ve seen lots of couples incorporate a place’s flag into their wedding in one way or another. Signing a flag or art of a flag is a great idea for your guest book:

Photo by Mathy Shoots People

Make Travel Functional at your Wedding

We’ve had several couples add a little travel-related touch to very functional items: including cocktail napkins, and boxes for programs!

Photo by Rhinehart Photography

Photo by George Street Photo

Get Political on your wedding day!

Happy Election Day! I hope you all head out and vote today!

Since DC is such a political town, we’ve seen our fair share of subtle and not-so-subtle nods to politics in the weddings we’ve helped plan and coordinate. So today, in honor of Election Day, we thought we’d round up some of our favorites! Enjoy! and happy voting!!

Wedding Buttons as Favors

We’ve had multiple couples create small favors for their guests in the form of pseudo political buttons!

Photo by Bee Two Sweet Photography

Embrace Your Political Differences

My very favorite guest books were from a couple who came from opposite sides of the aisle. They had Reagan and Obama posters as their guest books and I loved that they didn’t shy away from talking about their differences!

Photo by Sarah Gormley Photography

Stand up for what you believe in

Many of our couples use their wedding as a way to share their political beliefs. From rainbow pins instead of boutonnieres, to protest signs, to statements on their ceremony programs regarding marriage equality - your wedding day can be a time to stand up for what you believe in and share it with friends and family.

Photo by Justin McCallum Photography

Photo by Ayesha Ahmad Photography

Embrace DC!

Yup, you’re getting married in DC - might as well embrace it! Take photos in front of the Capital or other important, political landmarks and make your mark!

Photo by Love Life Images

Photo by Love Life Images

Photo by Michael O’Snyder

Why we love Fall Weddings

Ok, ok - so pretty much everyone loves Fall weddings. But just in case you needed to know why you should have one - we’ve done a little round up of some of our favorites over the years, and why Fall really is one of the most popular seasons to get married:

The Wedding Colors

Fall gives you a great opportunity to embrace some richer, deeper colors, as well as have a little more fun with your wedding colors. Some of our favorites are below - but I especially adored the couple that chose to use a bold, deep orange for their bridesmaids dresses! So stunning!

Photo by Modern Frames Photography

Photo by Casey Crowe Taylor

The Fall Foliage is a perfect backdrop

Pictures are worth a hundred words here, so I’ll let some photos do the talking - but when nature gives you color, you use it and love it!

Photo by DeNueva Photography

Photo by Shandi Wallace

Photo by Casey Crowe Taylor

Photo by Shandi Wallace

Fall weather is cooler

We here in the DMV know how stinking hot it can be in the summer - and if you’re hoping for an outdoor wedding, well, both you and your guests will appreciate the cooler weather that Fall can bring!

Photo by Charles Archambault

Photo by Modern Frames Photography

Our favorite cake toppers

Overwhelmed with cake topper ideas? No clue why you need one in the first place? Want some cake topper inspiration? Here ya go!! Some of our all time favorite cake toppers over the years. Enjoy! (now I want cake)

A Musical Wedding

Photo by DuHon Photography

We think of music at weddings in the usual ways - ceremony music, having an awesome band for your dance party, what your first dance song will be, etc. But if you’re a couple that really loves music, what are some other ways to incorporate that passion for music into your wedding day?

We’ve had some really creative couples come up with other options - so check them out below and let us know what you think!

A Musical Guestbook

We’ve had two separate couples use records as their guest books! It’s a unique way to share your love of music (or even particular songs and artists), while collecting the names of your guests

Photo by Chris Ferenzi

Photo by Jess Latos Photography

A Nod to your Favorite Concert

Alicia and Matt, one of our awesome, past couples, used concert wrist bands at their wedding!! Such a fun way to keep track of your guests if the venue requires it, while adding a little nod to your concert-going

Photo by The Oberports

Get creative at cocktail hour

We’ve had many clients get a bit more creative at cocktail hour as way to honor either their wedding’s location, their heritage, or other musical aspects. One of our favorite DC weddings had a DC-based funk band meet their guests at the church! Another couple wanted to honor their Irish heritage and had a fiddle and pipe player for their cocktail hour, which even led to some Irish dancing! Whatever direction you go, think outside the musical box for cocktails. It’s a great, more casual time to have a little fun and be more non traditional

Photo by Mathy Shoots People

Photo by DeNueva Photo

Music as Decor

Mariah and Rob used records as decor! They hung records from the ceiling to create a super fun look, all while tipping their hat to their love of music

Photo by Stephen Gosling

Musical Invitations

Angelina and Ron had some of the best wedding invitations I’d seen - they used Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix stamps on their wedding invites!

Photo by Olivia Jacob Photography

Musical Theatre Nerds, Unite!

And I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t mention several of our couples who gave a little shout-out to the musical, Hamilton! One bride wore an A. Ham (if you know, you know) hat when they were announced into the reception. And my other favorite did a spin on the Hamilton Playbill for their ceremony program! Such creative, fun ideas:

Photo by DuHon Photography

Photo by Ayesha Ahmad Photography

Ode to The Carnegie Institution of Science

We were pretty devastated to learn that the Carnegie Insitution of Science, one of our favorite wedding venues, was closing. It was such a beautiful space that offered unique space, very DC-esque architecture, and so many photo opps. So we thought we’d look back at some of our favorite Carnegie weddings as a bit of an adieu!

We had a Beyonce performer, a surprise visit from Storm Troopers, and a Halloween inspired wedding here (with pumpkins in the fireplace). The front stairs gave us so many beautiful photo ops, and the inside stairs brought us many a stunning entrance (including one mishap where a bride got her veil stuck on the bannister!). We had many awesome dance parties with glow sticks and props galore. Candle lit dinners in the ballroom, cocktails on the front stairs, and so many awesome wedding crews hanging in the gorgeous library.

So here’s to many fond memories of this lovely space with our awesome clients:

Afternoon tea in the time of COVID

Home celebrations are obviously having a moment ever since COVID reared its head. A couple years ago we started the tradition of taking my Mother-in-law out to afternoon tea with her granddaughters for her birthday. This year, we obviously couldn’t do it - so we decided to give it a try at home.

It being COVID, and me being a homeschooling stay at home mom, I tried to make things as easy as possible. So we reached out to Treats by Gale - and thank goodness we did. She was the perfect choice - she catered the tea party, complete with two types of teas, desserts, cakes, scones (and clotted cream and jam, obviously), as well as delicious tea sandwiches. I was so impressed with the food, the tea (it came as a concentrate so it was SUPER easy and fast to make! and tasted wonderful), and how easy it all was - from ordering to her delivering it right to our door the morning of the party.

As for the set-up, the girls wanted to use the real tea set their aunt had given them, so we started with that. I then found this tea set and loved the bright colors and the fact that it was fairly cheap so we could use it for future tea with the girls and not worry about it if one of them breaks something! We used an old table cloth, some existing plates, ordered some napkins to compliment the girls tea set, and we were pretty good to go. I even managed to get roses delivered with my grocery delivery (!) so I was able to get some flowers on the table :)

My daughter hand-made the place cards and we added some PB&J to the menu for the girls, and plated all the food from Treats by Gale ourselves.

My Mother in Law loved it and raved over the food and tea - “5 stars!” - so I’d highly recommend Gale for anyone looking to do a bridal shower, baby shower, or - like we did - just any old party! I’ll also mention Treats by Gale is a black, woman-owned business which is always a bonus cause I want to support local, BIPOC small businesses as much as possible!

International Transgender Day of Visibility

Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility!

We at The Plannery recognize, celebrate and honor ALL love. We want more stories of trans love, marriage, partnerships to be shown in the wedding industry & media (and everywhere). Doing our very small part by sharing this past wedding between Jenevieve and Janine we were SO honored to be a part of. Their love story is beautiful and I highly recommend you check it out here.

Why Spring Weddings are the Best

Yes, things are still crazy in the land of weddings due to COVID. But to celebrate the official first day of Spring tomorrow (I love all the crocuses popping up, and the buds on the trees getting ready to flower!), I’ve been thinking about spring weddings. Traditionally the busiest “wedding season” months in the DMV area are May, June, September and October (I blame the humidity). But increasingly, I’ve been seeing more April weddings in this area and I love it.

In the DC area, spring really does come early (or on time, depending on where you’re originally from). While there’s always the risk of April showers bringing May flowers, there’s also the chance that you’re going to get a really beautiful day, as well as more availability for that much-in-demand venue, lower pricing, and - let’s face it - cherry blossoms.

So I thought we would do a round-up of some of our favorite springtime weddings in the area to inspire you to think Spring!

(psst: be sure to click on the photos if you want to see more of these weddings, featured below!).

Outdoor Weddings are Cooler… literally

Photo by Lady Love

Lots of folks want outdoor weddings - but in the DC area that can be quite difficult if you don’t like the heat. And sweat. And thunderstorms. April can sometimes be a good option because you’re more likely to get cooler weather so that outdoor wedding is more do-able.

Beautiful Spring Photo Opps

Photo by Shandi Wallace

Spring is all about flowers. April brings with it stunning flowering trees in the DMV area and they make for a wonderful background to your wedding photos. What better way to bring color and beauty to your wedding than to embrace what nature gives you?!

Embrace those April Showers

Photographer Mantas Kubilinskas

Ok, so no one really wants rain on their wedding day. But spring showers can actually create some beautiful photo moments! Also, embracing the rain (and all of those fun inconveniences life may throw at you) is a wonderful way to start a marriage :)

Joy for the new Season

Photo by Olivia Jacob

Much as I mentioned in my post about winter weddings (and folks wanting a reason to gather and celebrate during those cold months), I love the idea of combining a celebration of a couple with a celebration of a new season. Spring is such a hopeful moment, filled with possibility and growth - all of which create a wonderful time of year to start a new relationship and forge a new path.

Flowers and Color

Photo by Darling Photographers

You know I couldn’t end without mentioning the decor options that come with spring! Whether with a more modern touch (like Kara and Mike’s wedding pictured above), or a full-on cherry blossom extravaganza, spring provides so many colorful options for wedding decor. It’s truly an inspirational season!