ideas for a very easy (low stress) wedding (DC venue?)
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Anonymous
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My SO and I are debating (1) a small family only wedding early this summer (would be a destination like wedding for almost all guests) (2) a DC party where we invite plenty of family and friends but either do a family only ceremony the night before or do a very quick ceremony in the event space (without any walking down the aisle, wedding party, etc.) to kick off a night of drinks, food (nothing sit down but more than light passed aps), and dancing or (3) eloping.
In my ideal world, we'd go for #3. But it will involve some potentially upset family members and I know my SO would actually like something more official. Two initially seemed like the next most simple until we started to talk details. In short, I've always used "I don't want to be worrying about flowers" as a shorthand for explaining that I don't want to spend months planning the details of an event (and walking down an aisle in a poofy dress is my worst nightmare). So we settled on trying to find a gallery like space to use for what would be just a glorified party. But then last night I found myself saying "of course we'll need to figure out things like getting tables delivered and flowers!" Argh!! I know the alternative it to go with a place (like a hotel) where we just choose vendors, but that doesn't quite go with the mellow non-traditional wedding atmosphere we'd like. SO ... any ideas on a venue that might be able to handle most of the details but won't be stuffy or too traditional wedding like? If not, ideas for a simple, fun, but not eloborate way for us to pull this off? (A side note is that unless we do the family only #1 we'd like to do this in early to mid April as we are currently trying to get pregnant and that is the number one priority) |
Anonymous
| How about a hotel with character, like the Tabbard Inn or Morrison-Clarke? |
Anonymous
| Get married at a court house and take everyone out afterwards for a nice dinner. Problem solved. |
Anonymous
| Its the party that gets fancy and expensive. So the cheapest way to keep it small. You could have a lunch party, and that would be one of the lower-cost and lower-fuss ways to do it. I know the Caucus Room has some back rooms that are good for small events such as yours. I'm sure other restaurants do as well. Maybe you could do something at the Old Ebbit Grill - the building has a nice interior courtyard. I think a restaurant is going to charge you a fair amount for use of a room for the ceremony though, and a hotel wouldn't be cheap either. |
Anonymous
| I agree that a hotel is the way to go to have the least stress as you have the location and the caterer all done in one swoop. And, usually they can give you a list of preferred/recommended vendors for things like flowers and the cake. To top it off, all of your guess can stay there and you don't have to worry about arranging transportation to and from anywhere. If your budget is on the high side and you want very nontraditional, check out the Mansion on O Street. |
Anonymous
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An easy way to deal with the food/tables/flowers issue to to have the party at a restaurant you really like. If you like the decor of the place, you don't have to worry about dressing it up with flowers and they already have all the tables etc you need. Look into places that have large private rooms (Sequoia in G-town, the new Hamilton downtown, Charlie Palmer Steak) and see what they can do for you.
One pet peeve: if you're having an evening party, don't just serve hors d'oeurves. Feed people dinner--it doesn't have to be a formal sit-down this. Or start the party at 9:00 and serve drinks and dessert--people will know to eat dinner before. |
Anonymous
| One of the most fun weddings I've been to was at a restaurant that the bride loved. The bride walked in with her father, but we were all just standing around the couple in a circle while they said their vows. It felt really intimate. After the vows, it was just a big party. We ate fancy friend chicken and other southern food and danced the night away. |
Anonymous
| I got married at Glen Echo - it was fabulous. We used a great caterer who brought in tables, chairs, a bar and delicious food. It was a lowkey wedding though and a lot of fun. Let me know if you want a caterer rec |
Anonymous
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I second the recommendation of a lunch party. I got married at a DC restaurant -- we had the ceremony on the patio around 11:30 and then everyone sat down for lunch. We had 200 people and it was a (relative) bargain because it was during the day.
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Anonymous
OP here. I really really wanted to do a restaurant. My SO has a strong dislike for the idea. (It seems odd to me but he's listening to my weird requests - e.g. NO presents - so I'm trying not to push the issue. I do understand his concern about no dancing at a restaurant but don't understand the concern about getting married at a place we might have dinner on a random weeknight. Anyway ...) The family only courthouse wedding with nice dinner out after is on the table for sure. But if we are in DC my SO feels it would be odd for friends to hear we are getting married and not be invited (I'm thinking they'll be a-okay with one less wedding but who knows.) Our thought on food was certainly beyond raw veggies and cheese trays. We recently went to a wedding where there was so much food at cocktail hour (carving stations, raw bar, pastas, all sorts of veggies and dips, sweets etc.) that I was entirely too full to contemplate the 4 course dinner we had to sit through after. So we were thinking of something like that to follow cocktail only time. But maybe I'm just getting to the point of planning 3/4 a wedding and it will end up no less a PITA than a full wedding.
Yes, PLEASE! Is Glen Echo a venue in addition to an area of town? (Another challenge is that we moved from NYC not all that long ago. So I'm behind the 8ball when it comes to knowing my DC options.
This is exactly what we want but somehow in a non-restaurant venue so there can be dancing and my SO doesn't have to feel that he got married in a restaurant 
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Anonymous
My husband and I got married at the court house and had the dinner party at the Morrison Clark atrium. Its a beautiful venue. |
Anonymous
| I also got married at Glen Echo and it was a LOT of fun. |
Anonymous
| Who says you can't dance at a restaurant? I'm the PP who got married at a restaurant and had a lunch reception, and even though it was daytime we had a DJ and dancing. I think any place with a big private room would be fine with music and dancing. |
Anonymous
| I had a small 50 person wedding at Morrison House in Old Town and it was absolutely fabulous - very classy. And I planned the whole thing in 2 months. They made it very easy, and you can rent their bar for drinks and dancing. They can do a cocktail and hors d'ovres hour followed by dinner followed by drinks/dancing, and it's perfect for weddings with under 75 ppl. The guests loved being in old Town too |
Anonymous
OP, my DH were recently married and looked at the Morrison House. We loved it but ultimately it was a tad too small for what we needed. We ended up going with another Kimpton hotel in Old Town, Hotel Monaco. I was the same as you -- wanted to elope -- but I am so so glad I didn't. It was way more special and fun than I ever imagined it would be. We ended up renting chairs and some dishes, but you can use what is provided by the hotel if you don't want to deal with that. If you want to post an email address, I would be happy to email you a list of all the vendors we used. They all did a phenomenal job -- flowers, cake, music, party rentals, photographer. Congrats! |