Vicki at My Simple Details, Tracy at Timmester Photography and Holly at Holly Heider Chapple Flowers have shared today’s first beautiful wedding with us! Karli and Richard were married at the Whitehall Manor in Northern Virginia in September. Their wedding colors ~ ablaze with deep reds and burgandy combined with brilliant oranges ~ will blow you away!
Don’t you want to just reach out and touch this bouquet? The textures and colors jump off the page!
Holly used deep red baccara roses, black magic roses, deep red dahlias, and deep red mini callas, with red coxcomb for extra interest and texture. The bridesmaids carried clusters of orange roses, coxcomb, spray roses and orchids.
Table numbers were dates that were significant to the couple (read their story below).
Fall wedding colors to perfection!
images courtesy of Timmester Photography.
Karli and Richard
Richard and I met and fell in love when we were sophomores in college. After graduating in 2005 we both moved to different cities, myself to Boston and Rich to Virginia Beach. We continued on a long distance relationship for 2 years until finally in 2007 we knew we had to make a move. We decided to relocate to the Washington DC area, not far from where Rich had grown up. I made the very difficult decision to leave all of my friends behind and move down to DC for the man I loved, knowing that one day we would be getting married!
After another year I started to “presume” that Rich would be proposing. For every birthday, holiday and night away I would start to think (without letting him know what I was thinking of course) that “maybe today is the day!”. After another year and a half, I convinced myself that it wasn’t happening anytime soon so I finally just stopped thinking about it. Then, on the morning of June 14, 2010 Rich woke up early claiming he couldn’t sleep. I slept for another hour and then woke up to breakfast being made and fresh flowers on the table. I sat down at the table, not really thinking much of it. Rich began telling me that he loved me very much and I could sense the nervousness in his words. He then got up and cleared the dishes and asked me if I was “ready for dessert?” Being that it was 9 am, I was slightly confused and turned around to ask him if he was crazy, and instead found him down on one knee where he then asked me to be his wife! I of course said yes!
We were looking for a venue in which we could hold both the ceremony and reception at the same location. We were really set on an outdoor ceremony from the beginning so that was the main driver. Many places that we visited that had nice outdoor ceremony locations did not come with equally impressive reception locations. Until of course, we found Whitehall. The moment we stepped on to the Whitehall Manor property, we knew this was where we wanted to be married. The front yard has gorgeous, large overgrown trees with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background which of course makes for an amazing ceremony setting. Inside, they have a very nicely updated reception area which was very easy to work with and did not require a lot of extra décor. You also have the view of the mountains from almost any part of the room. We could not have been happier with our venue location.
Our “first look” was one of our best memories of the day. We had not considered it from the beginning, but we had been told by our photographer that for those couples that do see each other beforehand, there is an overwhelming sense of calmness amongst the couple during the ceremony. I knew that I would be a wreck if I didn’t see him before so I started to work on convincing my “ultra-traditional” groom that we needed to see each other beforehand. He finally gave in, and I think he was even happier to see me during our first look than I was. Up until we saw each other for the first time the nerves and butterflies had built up so much that we almost could not take it any longer. It was such a relief to see one another. The second we saw each other all the nerves just melted away and it felt like it was just the two of us there. The feeling continued throughout the wedding ceremony. Seeing Rich smiling at the end of the aisle just made me smile even more and I kept that smile on my face the entire day.
Richard’s mother passed away in 2005. We knew we wanted to include her in the ceremony in some way, without saddening the overall mood of the ceremony. We decided to place a bouquet of flowers on the chair that she would have been sitting in, in the front row. For those of us that could see that one chair, it was a nice reminder of her and I know it meant the world to Richard and his family.
One of the most touching parts of the day was while we were still at the hotel finishing up our hair and make-up. A friend of mine delivered a gift from Rich. Along with a sweet note was a Chinese patterned box and I knew exactly what it was as soon as I saw it and I started to cry. It was his Mother’s pearl necklace. It had been given to him after his Mom passed away. While he did not insist that I wear the necklace on our wedding day, he wanted to be sure that he gave it to me as a gift on the day that I became his wife. I knew I wanted to have it included in the wedding so I chose to wrap it around my wrist and wear it as a bracelet. It was the perfect accessory for a perfect day.
During the reception, instead of a traditional guest book we used a Fuji Instamax camera and asked guests to take a picture of themselves and then place it in our guest book along with a note. The camera was a HUGE hit! Even though it was a joke throughout the wedding that it was the “Zach Morris camera”, it made for some amazing memories for us. The guest book was one of the first things we looked through the day after the wedding and it was absolutely priceless. I highly recommend the instant photo guest book!
We are both pretty simple and traditional. We didn’t want anything to be too over the top…so we chose to keep everything pretty traditional, clean and classic with a twist of romance. With it being Labor Day weekend I wanted to go with a fall color palette. Red is my favorite color so we knew that it needed to be used in some way. I think the girls dresses were the perfect fall red and the orange flowers against their dresses really popped. For our tables we wanted the room to feel calm and romantic. We stuck with natural colors and used a lot of candlelight. I loved how everything came together!
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SMP thanks Vicki at My Simple Details, Timmester Photography and Holly Heider Chapple Flowers for sharing this beautiful day!
Brides Dress: Legends by Romona Keveza / Brides Shoes: J. Crew / Bridesmaid dresses: Aria Dress / Reception Hairpiece: Fine and Fluerie (Etsy) / Grooms Suit: Calvin Klein – Mens Wearhouse / Photographer: Timmester Photography / Event Design & Planning: My Simple Details / Flowers: Holly Heider Chapple Flowers / Entertainment: Kirkabee Deejays / Venue: Whitehall Manor / Cake: A Piece of Cake
A few more floral color combinations we are loving right now on Holly’s blog:
Burgandy and Purple
deep burgundy wine-toned reds,
grapevine wreaths
with fall leaves and eucalyptus,
purple carnations, black baccara roses
and brown hypericum berry
Brilliant Oranges
calla lilies, roses, dahlias and gorgeous green garlands
Copper and gold-toned flowers
with a subtle mix of green and blue
Sunny Yellows
with beautiful Navy decor