Bright and Summery Poppy Wedding Ideas

If your Washington DC area wedding color palette needs a punch of red, then poppies may be the answer! Today, JEM Events and Hannah Colclazier Photography are sharing a simple and modern wedding inspiration that celebrates the bright summer season and incorporates this classic, tissue-like flower. The bright pops of color certainly add a fun and festive look for your big day! Aside from my new love of poppies, my sweet tooth is aching for the shortcake bar” yummy! Here’s what Jessica, owner of of JEM Events, had to say about this styled shoot¦

From Jessica: We hoped to show couples that you can create a beautiful, simple look while using local farmer’s market flowers and simple details. We decided to be a bit playful and make the centerpiece interactive for our guests by featuring refreshing grapefruit sangria. Not only is it a beautiful pop of color sitting up on that cake pedestal, it’s delicious, too!

Our lovely bride was styled in two dresses from Fabulous Frocks, a bridal consignment boutique in Alexandria, Virginia. Our first look has her in a simple ivory lace fit and flare, which we finished off with a delicate heart shaped locket as her only piece of jewelry, creating a timeless, classic look.

My favorite part of the shoot is the Shortcake Bar, where we featured not only traditional strawberry shortcake, but we also cooked up some delicious fresh peaches. A big buttery biscuit topped with a heaping helping of whipped cream and some juicy, seasonal fruit is just the perfect way to celebrate summer. We set the shortcake bar up on a red sideboard, which really made the red ranunculus in milk vases pop.

We also featured our take on the traditional Southern hummingbird cake. We could barely wait for the shoot to wrap up so we could sneak a bite! The sweet pineapple in the filling paired perfectly with the yellow cake, and of course we didn’t forget the generous dollop of whipped cream on top!

The paper goods by Ribbons & Bluebirds feature the simplicity of chalk lettering and modern calligraphy, with a surprise of vibrant floral poppies. The hand-painted Welcome sign amongst buckets of flowers sets the tone for a chic but comfortable feel, and the invitation suite features embossed white lettering on black stock set off by a luscious poppy envelope liner.

We went a different direction with our second dress, an empire-waisted dress from J. Crew, that we styled with a beaded leather belt from Anthropologie and kept her hair simple in a loose side swept braid.