I truly adore a southern-inspired wedding, so Molly and Mike’s Virginia wedding from Sarah Culver had me at hello! With a soft palette of whites, grays and peach tones and the utmost gorgeous of flowers, I just don’t know what to look at first! I love that Molly sourced milk glass and pink depression glass for her tablescape, a perfect idea for their intimate reception of twenty guests. But perhaps my favorite, and the most delicious, detail of all? Their hummingbird wedding cake! Yum. It is a true stunner and almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

From Molly: I specifically did not want to have a theme to our wedding or prominent “wedding colors.” I just wanted to convey a romantic southern vibe contrasted with the sleekness of our venue and our usual modern aesthetic. I was originally thinking of doing an all-white color palette, but one of my bridesmaids suggested adding in some gray and peachy tones to warm it up. That helped guide my decisions about flowers and other aspects of the wedding.

I asked our musicians to play “Love Lifted Me” as a musical interlude during the ceremony. That is a southern gospel song that is a favorite of my grandmother’s. She is a very important person in my life, but was not well enough to come to our wedding. When they played the song, I felt her presence with us. It was very moving.

I bought vintage milk glass vases and pink depression sorbet glasses from Ebay. Our florist used the depression glasses, mixed with her own mercury glass, for the flower arrangements. We bought tons of tall glass vases at Ikea and used plain white pillar candles from there as inexpensive decorations for the ceremony. They were later used at our “after party” on the balcony of our hotel suite.

I couldn’t find a table runner I liked, but I came across a beautiful white blanket at Ikea of all places. I had a seamstress cut it into three strips and surge the edges. We placed them end-to-end on the long dinner table, and they looked like one big runner.

We decided to keep our guest list very small (under 20) so we could afford the quality of experience we wanted both for ourselves and for our guests.

Our wedding cake was a hummingbird cake, which is a traditional southern cake made with pecans, pineapple, and cream cheese icing. I requested our baker to make it specially for us. It was a big hit. I understand that it has become a regular part of her repertoire now!

Molly’s advice for other DC-area couples:

I was under the impression that we would save money by having our wedding at a hotel because we would not need to rent tables, chairs, linens, etc. Not so! Although I loved having our wedding at the Lorien Hotel – their staff was fantastic – we payed for rental chairs and linens, because we did not like the standard options the hotel had to offer. We also had to pay for a microphone/sound package for the ceremony. Those were costs I hadn’t factored into my mental budget when I was choosing a venue.

The following Washington, DC area wedding vendors contributed to Molly and Mike’s wedding:

Venue: The Lorien Hotel
Caterer: Brabo Restaurant
Photographer: Sarah Culver
Floral Designer: Sidra Forman
Officiant: A. C. Warden
Ceremony Music: Alexander Mitchell
Rentals: Party Rental Ltd.
Cake: Sweets by E
Stationery: Paper Source
Hair: Hair by Jewels
Makeup: Ryan Krasney of Blend
Wedding Dress: Ann Taylor
Shoes: Badgley Mischka
Veil: Debby Hoffman Bridal
Reception Headpiece: Preston & Olivia
Alterations: Diana My Tran
Groom’s Attire: J. Crew

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: Sarah Culver

Submitted via Two Bright Lights