Bryan and I have been married for one month!! So I wanted to do a blog post to talk about our wedding because the day was absolutely perfect and I really wanted to share with you everyone that helped make that happen.

First things first, a huge shout out to my mom who helped me plan the whole thing in 7 months without any stress. And let me just say, planning a wedding in that amount of time was not hard at all, and we couldn't have done it without the help of these wonderful people/places.

WHITEHALL ESTATE

Whitehall Estate in Bluemont, VA was our venue, and it was PERFECT! It's a large colonial white manor surrounded by the rolling hills of Virginia. We worked with Douglas, the director, and he made the planning process extremely easy and fun. I wanted to get married outside under the trees, with the reception indoors and Whitehall DELIVERED. Unlike most venues, Whitehall waits until the final hour before the ceremony starts to determine if it needs to be moved indoors if the weather looks bad. Most of the other venues I checked said you had to tell them 24 hours ahead of time, which I did not like. We got married at 5:30 pm, the weather was about 73 degrees (literally perfect) and the sun started setting behind us as we said our vows. GLORIOUS!

Whitehall Estate also has their own catering company, Celebrations Catering. This made the planning process extremely easy because they take care of everything. The food (which was delicious), the tables, chairs (for both the ceremony and reception), plates, cups, silverware, waiters, bartenders, etc. I mean they take care of EVERYTHING and they are very efficient and good at what they do. THANK YOU WHITEHALL!!!

PETALS AND HEDGES

All of my flowers were done by Petals and Hedges located in Leesburg, VA. I couldn't have been happier with how they came out. Morgan Walker, the owner and lead floral designer, knew exactly what I wanted and created bouquets that blew my mind. I mean look at my bridal bouquet, it was STUNNING! Those dahlias! Morgan also created the amazing arbor garland that hung above us as we got married, the flower arrangements on the tables in the reception hall, cake table and name card stand. Thank you Morgan!!!

OUR AMAZING PARENTS

Bryan and I both have the greatest parents imaginable. They helped so much during the planning process and we couldn't be more thankful. LOVE YOU GUYS!

MY WEDDING DRESS!

I found this beauty when I was in Florida for a little weekend getaway with my mom. We were with one of her best friends, Maggie, and they were both super pumped to find a bridal shop in the area so they could watch me try on some dresses. My mom found this store called Angelus Bridal in Pompano Beach, FL. We walked in not knowing what to expect, and it was the most fun dress trying on experience I had out of all of the places we went to. We worked with Rhonda and she was incredible. That woman put me into about 20 dresses in 25 mins, no messing around. When I put this dress on it fit perfectly, it was long enough (I'm 5'11 and it was long enough with 3 inch wedges) and it wasn't your typical strapless white wedding dress, which I loved. I wanted a low back, a train and some pretty lace detail, check check and check. It was elegant, sleek and perfect! I can't wait to put it on again on our 1 year anniversary :)

MY BRIDESMAIDS

When I first started planning my wedding I knew I wanted my girls in long champagne colored dresses. I looked everywhere and everything was around $300 for very boring, long, neutral colored dresses. That wasn't going to work. Then one of my mom's friends mentioned Rent the Runway. I checked out their bridesmaids section and found tons of long champagne and gold colored dresses. I saw this one by Badgley Mischka and knew it would be perfect! My girls only had to spend $100 ($75 if it's your first time) for a long designer gown, and they send you a second size for free! I even took a few girls into the Georgetown store to try the dresses on beforehand. Both the girls and I were so happy with how they turned out. The dresses looked like melted gold, and it was so awesome!

Morgan (my younger sister and Maid of Honor) made us all tank tops to wear while we were getting ready, they were so cute! I also gave the girls long gold bar necklaces that I found on Etsy, small gold rings, mini champagne bottles, American flag flasks and these awesome gold foil temporary tattoos from Daydream Prints that say TEAM BRIDE, mine said BRIDE, of course. :)

BRYAN AND HIS GROOMSMEN

Bryan bought a dark navy Hugo Boss suit for himself and wanted to find something a little more reasonably priced for his groomsmen to buy. Bryan and his two best men, Jon and Jordan, found these dark navy suits (jacket, pants) from H&M that matched perfectly for under $120. Not too bad! Bryan gave them all skinny black silk ties, gold tie clips, pocket squares, American Flag flasks, personalized Zippos, a 5-hour energy and boutonnieres by Petals and Hedges to complete the look. They looked super sharp!

R.I.P. LOVE BALLOONS

I ordered these balloons literally 2 days before the wedding using Amazon Prime because I figured we could use them in a creative way somehow. Anna Grace (our photographer) was so excited when she saw them and said we had to do a group shot with them. I had a few of my girls blow them up right before we needed them for pictures. Maybe 3 minutes into taking the group pictures my brother lost grip of the "E" and it popped. HAH! Luckily we got some shots in before it happened. So during the reception the fireplace was decorated with the letters "LOV". It was hilarious. Love you Ben, you big goof.

BRYAN AND I DIY-ED!

I was a graphic design major so I designed our entire invitation suite, as well as the programs, menus, and little signs all over the reception area. Bryan was the greastest man ever and helped build our name card stand and created all of the small signs with gold stickers. I loved working together on everything, made the day that more special seeing everything come together that we had made!

MY BAKERS!

A HUGE thanks to my cousin Meggie Kampa and new sister Becca Woodward! These two wonderful ladies are incredible bakers and each made me two wedding cakes. I did not want the traditional three tiered wedding cake, so I asked if they would each make us one! Meggie made us the best carrot cake I have ever had, as well as this insanely good chocolate cake. Becca made Bryan's dream come true with a two tiered funfetti cake and a crazy good red velvet cake. All were made from scratch and SO GOOD. My dad also made his famous dark chocolate cherry cookies for people to enough throughout the evening. "HELL YEAH" cake topper by Better Off Wed.

ASHLEY REALLY WANTED THAT BOUQUET

Call to all the single ladies, it's bouquet toss time. I get ready to throw the flowers, but don't look up to see how low the ceiling is, and my bouquet slams directly into it, falling less than two feet behind me. My good friend Ashley Iaconetti (you might know her from The Bachelor and Bachelor in Paradise) literally slid across the dance floor in her floor-length gown on her knees to grab that bouquet. And she got it! Funniest shit I've ever seen. No one else even had a chance!

SPECIAL THANKS!

We hired an incredible 8 piece band from Charlottesville, VA called Ignition. Oh my god they were so good. People were on the dance floor the entire night dancing away!

We also hired a photobooth called Vivid Vignette. It was perfect. The photos printed out super fast, in either color or black and white, props were included and the booth was 6x6 feet so lots of people could take pictures at once. So much fun!!

The entire day could not have gone more perfectly. Everything was in its place, and everything happened the way it was supposed to. The drinks were awesome, the music was exciting, and the pictures turned out great. None of that would have mattered, though, without the greatest guests ever gathered under one roof for a wedding. My ENTIRE awesome extended family was there, which creates a level of fun that you can't find anywhere else. We had friends there that we made in every part of our lives, from preschool, elementary school, to high school, college and law school. Our parents brought their friends that had watched us grow up, and we all got drunk together. It was perfect.

Again, huge thanks to all the vendors, our parents, our wedding party and especially Anna Grace Photography for capturing our day perfectly!!! Check out her post of our day HERE!

OUR WEDDING!