They Said Yes! {Monte + Jack} Day 2

Happy Valentine's Day! Since we are celebrating love it's time for Monte and Jack's Big Wedding Weekend Part Two!  For the second part of the weekend of festivities, Monte's co-star on "Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta" and BFF, Lori Allen, flew in along with her husband, Eddie. Monte and Lori have such similar senses of humor and amazing chemistry that, when they are together, the laughs never stop!

After the Friday courthouse adventures, Saturday evening was the intimate rehearsal dinner at Restaurant Eve then Sunday was another big day. After waking up at The Morrison House, Monte and Jack got ready for the day.

Jack, always the practical one, had a little fun with the price tags on Monte's Prada ensemble.

Dear friends Kim Giammarria of Beauty Mark and Remona Soleimani came to the hotel to do hair and makeup for Lori (and maybe a little touch-up for Monte). Monte provided his own line of hair products to use!

Monte took a quick photo with his dream team of vendors: Remona, Kim, Laura (that's me!) and Sarah from The Morrison House.

After Monte and Lori were dolled up (and Lori was in her Jackie O pillbox hat per Monte's request) and boutonnieres were pinned on by florist, Alison deWit, it was time to head to St. Paul's Church for the blessing of the marriage.

Monte and Jack have attended St. Paul's Episcopal Church for years and years and Monte still serves as head usher on high holy days so the location was very meaningful to them.

The Reverends Oran Warder and Judith Proctor performed the blessing in the church's small chapel.

After the intimate blessing ceremony, Monte and Jack walked around Old Town Alexandria with Maid-of-Honor Lori and Best Man Eddie.

Then it was back to the lovely Morrison House for an intimate luncheon reception with twelve close friends. Monte wanted the reception to be very personal so he used his own silver service and china.

The long table was set with a single white linen cloth from DC Rental and natural flowers and fruit arranged in Monte's grandmother's hobnail vases by Alison deWit of Distinctive Designs.

Each guests' place had a beautifully wrapped favor box and inside was a replica of St. Paul's Episcopal Church!

Monte put the final touches on the table himself.

Monte and Laura pose for a photo before guests arrive.

Georgetown Cupcakes provided the "Lucky Us" cupcakes and Kendall's Cakes baked the classic lemon curd wedding cake covered with fondant horseshoes and topped with a customized horseshoe topper.

Famous Atlanta Constitution cartoonist Mike Lukovitch created a custom cartoon of Monte, Jack, Lori and Eddie (and Monte and Jack's dog Nellie Belle) so we hung it above the wedding cake display. Any resemblance of Lori and Eddie to Bill and Hillary is purely coincidental (and should not be mentioned around Lori)!

 Guests included Monte's longtime friend, Fox 5 News anchor Laura Evans and her husband.

Guests enjoyed a classic luncheon inspired by Jackie Kennedy's White House menus and finished with the delicious wedding cake.

Cheers to Monte and Jack for a wonderful life together! It was an honor to share your special wedding weekend! Thanks to Juan Carlos Briceno for the lovely photos and to the entire team who helped create such an intimate and personal celebration.

xoxo
Laura

Sweetheart Sale at Love Couture!

They Said Yes! {Monte + Jack--Day One}

I've had the honor of knowing Monte and his longtime partner, Jack, for almost my entire career as a wedding planner. We met when we were both working on a wedding in 1997 and then we went on to work on probably a hundred weddings together (me as a planner and him as the hair guru and stylist) over the next decade or so. And boy do we have some stories to tell about those weddings!

I have loved watching Monte's rise to stardom on TLC's "Say Yes To The Dress Atlanta" but to me he will always be the amazing stylist I worked with almost every weekend for at least a dozen years and who saved me from the brink of insanity on a regular basis. What I can tell you about my friend is that he gives the best hugs, has a hilarious potty-mouth and is very sentimental.

So when we started planning his wedding, I wasn't surprised that he wanted to keep the celebration small and that he wanted to incorporate lots of personal touches and meaningful heirlooms. One the day of the civil ceremony in D.C., Monte carried his grandmother's Bible and a rosary from a dear friend's mother.

Because of the government shutdown, we weren't able to schedule a ceremony inside the courthouse so we did the next best thing. We had the ceremony in front of the D.C. courthouse! Rev. Kirsten Westbrook from DC Elopements performed the beautiful ceremony.

After the short and sweet ceremony, it was off to The White House for some photos!

Monte was recognized by lots of tourists and he graciously posed for photos with all of them!

Then we were off to The Hay-Adams Hotel (Monte's favorite DC hotel) for a wedding lunch.

The staff at The Hay-Adams was so gracious and treated the newlyweds to champagne to toast their happiness as well as a delectable meal. The perfect finishing touch was the blueberry cobbler topped with ice cream (Hillary Clinton's favorite dessert and now Monte and Jack's, too)! The talented chef even came out to talk with the happy couple and take photos.

Then it was off for more monument photos with Juan Carlos Briceno!

Talk about a fabulous looking couple!

Thanks to Juan Carlos Briceno from Fotobriceno for the gorgeous photography! More to come on Day Two of the celebration!

Minister: Rev Kirsten Westbrook
Photography: Juan Carlos Briceno,  Fotobriceno
Wedding Luncheon: The Hay-Adams Hotel
Flowers: Alison deWit, Distinctive Floral Designs

Same-Sex Wedding Planning Guides!

Same Love Week rocks on over here at Engaging Affairs. Up today, some great reference guides!

Bernadette Coveney Smith has planned more same-sex weddings than anyone! I was lucky enough to take a seminar from her on how to plan same-sex weddings and she was a fount of wisdom (and an all-around amazing person). So if you're planning a same-sex wedding and it isn't in the budget for you to hire a planner, please pick up one of Bernadette's books. You won't be sorry!

xoxo
Laura