Tag: Wedding

The Bride, the Groom and the Maid of Honor sat down tonight (and besides celebrating the Maid of Honor’s new job!) we ran through the ENTIRE wedding day schedule, mapping out what happens when. Unfortunately, the very first thing we noticed was that we are going to have to push the ceremony up to 10:30 am to fit all the partying in.

We’ll post more info about the schedule a little later, but in a desperate, pandering attempt to win your affection: (a) we are going to try and do the bulk of the pictures before the ceremony (yay!) and (b) while we are going to do a receiving line leaving the church, if you sneak out the back door and run over to the reception, the food and libations will be flowing long before we show up.

Mazletov!

“It was an emotional wedding. The mother of the bride cried. Even the cake was in tiers.”

HAAAA! I kill me. No, seriously folks … thank YOU. I’m here all week. Try the pork loin.

The only thing we have been enjoying nearly as much as finding a rehearsal dinner venue (which we are still using as an excuse for eating out MONTHS after we have actually found the place we are going to use) is cake tastings.

I feel like we have done 237, but it may only actually be 236. However, we finally appear to have settled on our champion this afternoon.

We went out to Lille in Herndon, Virginia, and had an appointment the owner (Moustafa?). A one-on-one sitdown with an actual craftsman was a welcome respite to the god-awful “open houses” we have frequented with 50 people packed into a small room in an industrial park on the outskirts of town.

He walked us through some options, and gave us a sampling board of cakes, frostings, fillings, etc. We have gone through this whole process under the assumption that we would end up with a chocolate cake, just based on personal preference. Lille, however, had this great white cake, with white chocolate mousse and a raspberry jam filling. I have never had cake so good.

AND, on top of it all, he suggested a cake design with cala lilies (which just happen to be the leading contender for the flowers in The Lady Sparkler’s bouquet).

We still have one last place to look at, but we took down Lille’s information, and will likely call back in a week to reserve the cake. We’d order it now, but there is this one place near Topeka that we haven’t tried yet …

Something to add to the 1001 reasons I love my bride to be: she can negotiate anything out of anyone, and this time she has out done herself.

The Lady Sparkler has negotiated quite a deal with the hotel (Doubletree) that houses the restaurant (15 RIA) that is hosting our reception.

With only a little arm twisting, the Doubletree agreed to give us as many rooms as we need for just $129 a night. It’s hard to find a hotel in Washington, DC for under $200, so this is a pretty spectacular feat. And remember, the hotel is just two blocks from the church.

Couple of things to know: (1) our wedding is apparently on Columbus Day weekend and they expect the hotel to fill-up, so you may want to book early; (2) there is no deposit required and you can cancel up to 24 hours before the event, so there is no reason not to book early even if you aren’t sure you can make it yet.

(Notice a book early theme? They say you have to repeat a message three times in order for it to stick with even the most sophisticated consumer.)

If you would like to make a reservation, just call 1-866-984-6835 and ask for the Spindler – Parker Wedding Block. We have already reserved rooms for the bridal party (let us know if you have questions).

Two more quick notes: (1) the $129 is only for Friday, Saturday and / or Sunday nights; it’s more a little more on Thursday — $159; (2) they have a conference in the hotel starting on Monday so, if you are turning this into a longer vacation, just make sure that you book early. (That’s the last one, I promise.)

Finally, while this is the only hotel where we have arranged a discount, there are other hotels nearby so feel free to check them out if you have points you are trying to use. Be warned: nobody else we talked to was willing to give us a rate anywhere near as good.

That’s it! If you have any questions about any of this, please post us a comment or email us at . More details coming. Promise.

One of the things we are most proud about in our wedding is how close everything is to each other. The church is two blocks away from the reception, which is on the first floor of the hotel, which is across the circle from the rehearsal dinner, which is three blocks away from the metro … etc.

Click around our google map of the wedding weekend event locations and you will see what I mean. Hopefully, once you get here, you’ll be able to park the car (or taxi, or airplane, or train) and walk to just about everything.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

We have good news if you are one of the poor saps who has to sit through the rehearsal on the night before the wedding … if you make it through, you will eat well afterwards.

Beacon Bar & Grill, Washington, DC Photo © Esther Dyson (via Flickr™)

My parents came in town last weekend for my birthday and — as a happy side effect — we met with the people from Beacon Bar and Grill to talk about the rehearsal dinner.

We showed up for our scheduled appointment on Saturday, but it turns out that the person we were talking too was in the hospital the day before with second degree burns on her foot. (‘Twas a kitchen accident with boiling water … youch!)

With no one to entertain us, a very nice, and equally nervous, front of house manager showed us the private rooms — forgot to bring the camera, sorry — but we had to come back the following day to talk actually turkey. (ha … a pun! i kill me!)

When we came back on Sunday, the lady — Linda Davis — was very intelligent, gracious and “with-it” … and turned out she wasn’t even faking the injury (she had bandaged feet stuffed inside her as-comfy-as-i-can-be-right-now slippers). We loved her, loved the space, and even loved the menu possibilities.

Right now we are looking at four menu items: Seared Rockfish with lentil salad, Oven Roasted Chicken with grilled vegetables, Cajun Penne Pasta with chicken and sausage, and finally a Grilled New York Strip steak. Molton Chocolate Cake or Yankee Apple Crisp for desert.

Now, as someone who was a vegetarian for neigh-on eight years, I am a little nervous about doing a dinner without a veggie option. While the wedding reception will be veggie friendly, I can’t come up with a single person coming to the rehearsal (family and bridal party) who has even mildly vegetarian tendencies. That being said, the said the could handle dietary restrictions so long as they had advanced notice.

ps. Anybody know Esther Dyson? I had already scammed one of her pics from flickr before I realized she was famous. All that techie genius, and she still takes good pictures of our rehearsal dinner locale.

Boy, was I silly … and thankfully I have bridesmaids to straighten me out when I get off track.

Instead of trying to match the blog’s look and feel to the save-the-date stuff, I should have been trying to make the blog work with to the bridesmaids dresses — which are a glorious color of Peacock. Rule number one of marriage: the world revolves around women’s clothing.

With this lesson in mind, I have come up with a special, limited-edition “Peacock” design for our marital blog. All you need to do to experience this beauty is to click on this special peacock link and viola! Peacocks galore … (you might have to click the link twice)

If for some reason you would prefer to *not* match with our bridesmaid dresses — you renegage — click here be awash in flowers once again.