Meridian House Wedding :: Brigid + Andy’s Elegant Washington, DC Wedding

Brigid and Andy’s wedding was a beautiful and elegant affair. The historic Meridian House was the perfect backdrop for  long tables, graceful place settings and gorgeous flowers. This one was a real stunner!

~~~

Venue :: Meridian House
Coordinator :: Terri Eaves, Bash DC
Flowers and Event Styling :: Shawn Cosette of Beehive Events
Dress :: J. Mendel from The Bridal Salon at Saks Jandel
Cake :: Fluffy Thoughts
Catering :: Well Dunn Catering
String Quartet :: Cherry Blossom String Quartet
Band :: 10 Spot via Sam Hill Entertainment
Makeup :: Kim Reyes
Hair Stylist :: Madeline Wade
Transportation :: Chariots for Hire

~~~

From Brigid:

Since I am from California and Andy is from New Jersey, we thought it best to get married in “neutral” territory.  We ultimately chose Washington, D.C., since we had both spent a summer there during law school, started jobs there after graduation, and had even gotten engaged there.

After beginning our search for the perfect wedding venue, we realized that we were both gravitating toward historic mansions.  (We are both huge history buffs.)  Nevertheless, our search immediately came to an end the moment we discovered Meridian House.   Built in the Beaux Arts style and designed by John Russell Pope, Meridian House is an architectural jewel tucked away on a quiet street in D.C.’s  Adams Morgan neighborhood.  Meridian House boasts an exquisite garden and linden grove making it an ideal location for an outdoor, spring wedding.

Unfortunately, the garden wedding we had envisioned was not to be.  However, even though an overcast sky forced our wedding indoors, Andy and I both agree that this turn of events was ultimately for the best.  We decided to hold our ceremony in the loggia, a small, but beautiful room that lent our wedding a wonderfully intimate feel.

Besides the weather—which, as mentioned above, ended up being a blessing in disguise—the wedding was almost exactly as we had pictured it and mostly because we were able to work with so many wonderful vendors.  Our wedding colors were green, blue, blush, and slate.  I also told our florist and event stylist, Shawn Cossette, that I envisioned contrasting the stateliness of the house with rustic and unfussy flower arrangements and furniture.  Without a doubt, Shawn far exceeded my expectations.

Of course, it was also important that we add a number of personal touches to our wedding.  Perhaps most significantly, my childhood priest, who I have known since I was two-months-old, flew from Los Angeles to D.C. to officiate the wedding. Andy and I also came up with the idea of dedicating surprise readings to each other during the ceremony—each of which would be introduced and delivered by our respective mothers.  (Andy’s mother read a passage from Charles Dickens’Our Mutual Friend, while my mother read an excerpt from a letter written by Abigail Adams to John Adams.)  In addition, since Andy and I are both enormous Beatles fans, we had the string quartet play a number of instrumental versions of our favorite Beatles songs before and during the ceremony.  We also chose to emphasize our mutual love of D.C. by using the names of D.C. neighborhoods in place of table numbers.

In the end, Andy and I could not have asked for a more wonderful wedding.  We got to get married in a spectacular venue surrounded by all of the people we love most.  We can honestly say that we would not have changed a thing.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *