Afternoon at the Athenaeum

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to collaborate on a photo shoot with the ever-fabulous Kate Headley and a few of my other favorite DC-area wedding professionals — and since it offered me a chance to wear my wedding dress again (yay!), I convinced my husband to come along and get all dressed up for an afternoon at the Athenaeum in Old Town, Alexandria.

The style inspiration for the photo shoot was rustic elegance, with a color palette of soft peaches and creams, browns, and classic black and white. My contribution (aside from being in the photos) was the stationery — I designed these square escort cards, which we hung from natural jute twine along a brick archway in the back garden patio of the venue:

Just for fun, I created this “Mr & Mrs” bunting — which you can download and use yourself (for personal use only, please) right here. We hung the bunting from a small tree, but you could string up over the guestbook table or on the path to your reception location:

I also created these dinner menus, which Kelly from Design Cuisine and Maria from Ritzy Bee Events wrapped in a white cloth napkin along with a simple flower and more jute twine for each table place setting:

In keeping with our rustic elegance theme for this shoot, my amazing stylist Abbey from Parlour Salon created a beautiful hairstyle with two braids leading back to a messy bun with a cute little button dahlia tucked in:

I was so happy to finally have the chance to work with Holly Chapple! I had desperately wanted to work with Holly for my wedding last year, but sadly she was already booked on my date. For this shoot, Holly created some truly beautiful floral arrangements, from boutonnieres to centerpieces and lush bouquets: