Kiely is a St. Mary's basketball alum like me, which was a great way to start off our relationship as bride and coordinator. We only missed each other playing on the same team by a year or two. That was not the only place in this event that worlds collided for me. In attendance of this wedding were multiple people that I knew from my "other life" as a school counselor. I had 2 already graduated kids from my caseload there, 1 kid who was starting at my school that year and another counselor from the county who was actually my intern a few years before when he was getting his masters degree in counseling. So I had so many contact points in this wedding of why it made it very fun to work!
Kiely was probably the nicest bride I have ever worked with (and I have pretty much only had completely amazing brides that I am so so lucky to be able to work with) at the end of the wedding she hung out for a minute and just talked about how she already wanted to write me a great review and that she thought I did a great job and my husband who came at the end to just help pack some stuff up but he said he didn't think he had ever seen a bride just like spend some time at the end of the wedding talking to us like that. Kiely seriously is just a kindhearted and selfless soul...who also wrote me the nicest review in the world and made me want to cry!
Dan and Kiely got married at Jefferson United Church of Christ in Frederick, MD and then partied at Stone Manor, also in Frederick, MD.
They had an event filled with friends, family and fun! It was one of my biggest weddings yet at around 200 guests and I loved every minute of it! You could really tell how much energy Dan and Kiely put into their relationships and the relaxed and fun nature that they have. They were super chill throughout this entire process and my assistant and I had a great time getting to know Kiely's awesome vendors and working her event.
Kiely also had a lot of awesome little details that I loved throughout her wedding. She had a memory table with pictures from her grandparents weddings and parents weddings etc. which is a tradition I am starting to see a lot more of and I am definitely here for. She also had a family heirloom cake topper that even though she went with cupcakes rather than the traditional wedding cake we still incorporated into her dessert table. It was a very tasteful way to honor their families, past and traditions while still doing their own thing!
Stone has so many beautiful spots for photos I was very anxious to get the pictures from this wedding! I knew they would all turn out really great. Just from seeing some things the photographer showed on her camera raw I was very excited (especially the picture of the flower girl full tilt sprinting down the aisle) Here are some of my favorites from their gallery.
Awesome Vendor Team!
Coordinating - me! DMV Weddings and Events
Venue - Stone Manor
Photography - Photos by Sarah Beth
DJ - Shews-ical Entertainment
Catering - Carriage House Inn
Florist - Blossom and Basket
Cupcakes - Farmers Daughter Bakery
Hair and Make up - Glam Bridal Beauty
Transportation - On the Town Limo
Some nuts and bolts introspection stuff -
I learned a lot running this wedding, which is good to remind ourselves that even when we get really good at something there is still room to learn and grow. Not having done an event that large I was not mentally prepared for some of what that entailed. Putting together and alphabetizing 200 escort cards took way longer than what I allotted in my timeline and with 200 people in attendance there were over 20 tables with the beautiful floating candle centerpieces (which i absolutely love...but twice as many tables means twice as many vases to fill up) so that took a bit longer than I had planned as well. With all of this I was able to pivot the plan and get everything completed and looking beautiful for when the party really started and guests had to see the space. I say all of this to remind myself and others in this industry that having a team is just so important. If I hadn't had my assistant there with me at this wedding it would not have been as smooth as it ended up being. Also being flexible and calm is the only way to get through these unplanned things that pop up and if you keep your head calm it'll all turn out just fine!