Ceremony location and reception : Woodlawn Farm, Ridge, Maryland
Wedding date : August 27, 2016
Photographs by Laura and Napoleon
Q & A by Julia (bride)
Were there any online resources that you found especially helpful? We used WeddingWire.com for everything. We built our wedding website, tracked RSVPs, put together the seating chart for the reception, and kept track of gifts (and send thank you cards) from the bridal shower and wedding. There are some quirky things about it, but overall, it definitely kept us organized! We also really liked using the Smile.Amazon.com registry. Not only is Amazon way easier than some other registries (like BBB) to track gifts and make sure the right people get thanked, Smile sends a (admittedly very small) portion of each purchase to the charity of your choice.
What part of the planning process was most fun for you? Hands down, it would be the menu tasting! Relatedly, we had a very specific cake idea in mind, so to make sure Green Plate Catering knew exactly what we wanted, we adapted a few recipes from local restaurant owner Doron Petersan’s Sticky Fingers’ Sweets cookbook to make our perfect cake, and brought our new recipe (and a sample) to the caterer to re-create it on our big day. Again, not very traditional for the couple to make their own cake, but it was really fun to play that role in tailoring our day for us.
Where did you find inspiration for your wedding? Since we both grew up on the water, and attributed so many happy moments in our relationship to being waterside, we started with finding a wonderful waterfront venue where our family could stay on site with us for the weekend. From there, everything else fell into place.
What was your favorite wedding moment? The first look was more emotional and exciting than we both thought it would be, and having everyone rave about the cake we created was pretty cool.
What was your favorite part of working with us? We are pretty low key, and Laura and Napoleon matched that. They were professional and creative, and most importantly, they were calm and easy to work with. The day flew by, but Laura and Napoleon captured so many special moments! We will be able to relive our wedding day through these pictures.