We’re moving from Jeanne and Sean’s traditional church ceremony to a glamorous reception at the George Peabody Library to finish out their Baltimore wedding day from The Happy Couple Wedding Photography. Jeanne and Sean played up the literary theme with book inspired drinks and a mad lib guest book, then they swathed the room in vibrant, dramatic purple. Everything was customized to perfectly reflect the newlyweds, from the cultural influenced menu to the sparkler holders. It’s hard to pick a favorite detail from this fete!

From Jeanne: The first thing we did was pick a location. Although I grew up on a tropical island, I didn’t want a beach wedding. I knew I wanted something more formal and I knew I wanted something at night. The Peabody Library was the first venue we looked at and we knew immediately that was it. We even went to look at other venues just to be sure, but we already had our hearts set on the Peabody. We basically built our wedding around the venue and picked a date in the winter since the Peabody offers a discount for winter months.

From there, I knew I wanted black and ivory as our main colors to complement the floors of the atrium in the Library so we picked black linens because I felt they made the space warmer and more intimate. Since we were getting married in the winter, we wanted the feeling of a magical winter wedding (think aurora borealis) and went with bright purples (purple also happened to be my mother in law’s favorite color) and to complement our black and ivory (with the uplighting, menu cards, escort cards, napkins, flowers, etc.). Also being that it was in a library, we had fun with a light literary theme. Our save the dates were bookmarks, our invitations were made to look like the first page of a storybook and the response cards were made to look like borrowing cards in the back of library books. At the wedding, we even suggested literary-themed drinks such as, Tequila Mockingbird and Camus-Kazie. We also had mad libs for guests to fill out as our wishes/guest book.

We incorporated a lot of our culture into our food choices. We had a lot of fun selecting our menu and coming up with dishes that had Korean and Italian aspects and our caterer was very willing to work with suggestions and came up with some amazing fusion dishes. We also knew we wanted a dessert that was s’mores-inspired and our caterer came up with a great way to present that to our guests.

Dancing with my dad to “Unforgettable” by Natalie and Nat King Cole is my favorite memory. My father passed away unexpectedly a little over a month after my wedding so our dance is a memory I will cherish forever. I still remember how surprised I was by his smooth dance moves.

Etsy was an amazing resource for me because it allowed me to personalize a lot of the details and find some good deals. We were able to save some money by using templates we found online and adapting them in Photoshop this is how we made sparkler sleeves, programs, menus, escort cards, signs for the wedding, etc. My favorite detail from wedding day was probably the ribbon for our wedding cake. My mom and I found this amazing black lace at Joann’s Fabric a few days before the wedding. The nice lady at the register at Joann’s Fabric even gave me a coupon as a wedding gift, which saved me $30!! I also really loved our cake topper.

Jeanne’s advice to other DC-area couples:

We were very fortunate to be able to plan the wedding our way from picking the date, to deciding on a venue to even place (since my family is on Guam it would probably have made sense logistically to get married in Hawaii or California somewhere in between DC and Guam). My advice to other couples on choosing a wedding venue and vendors is to make this as much about you two as possible. I know it’s hard balancing family obligations and incorporating traditions, but this is a celebration of your love and union and is the first party you throw as a married couple. Try not to overwhelm yourselves with too many options. We weren’t shy to ask questions of a vendor and were very honest about what we expected and what our budgetary constraints were. Vendors that we worked with were amazing and willing to offer cheaper substitutes or work with us.

The following Washington, DC area wedding vendors contributed to Jeanne and Sean’s wedding:

Ceremony Venue: Corpus Christi Church
Reception Venue: George Peabody Library
Caterer: Chef’s Expressions
Photographer: The Happy Couple Wedding Photography
Floral Designer: Amaryllis
Hair: Denise Sharpe Hair
Makeup: Susan Lim
Lighting: Event Dynamics
Photobooth: Annapolis Photobooth
DJ: DJ 9-Volt of The Remixologists
Transportation for Bridal Party: Lasting Impressions
Transportation for Guests: Dillon’s Bus Service

Don’t forget to visit our vendor guide for more fabulous Washington, DC area wedding professionals or our real wedding gallery for more beautiful Washington, DC area weddings!

Photo Credits: The Happy Couple Wedding Photography

*The Happy Couple Wedding Photography is one of our fabulous sponsors, but did not pay for this post. We feature local talent because we love it! For information on our editorial policies, please click here.

Submitted via Two Bright Lights