Dan & Eric’s intimate DC War Memorial wedding was held on a rainy day in April. Despite this, the couple didn’t let the weather get the best of their joyous occasion! Given the smaller nature of the wedding, they ensured that every last detail of their day was customized to include their friends and family. From having their children assist them in getting ready to their momentous yet intimate ceremony site, and private reception at Capitale DC, this wedding was designed with beautiful detail and love. We love the flashes of gold in their art deco wedding invitations and the towering teal deco inspired wedding cake by Dog Tag Bakery! A big thank you to Andrea Rodway Photography for sharing their wedding with us via Matchology! Stay tuned this week for more DC wedding inspiration to come!

Tell us more about your wedding: “At the time of our wedding we had all ready been together for 8 years and we decided that our primary focus was creating a fun filled celebratory experience for our friends and family. Since we met in DC and have been here for over 15 years it just made sense to have our wedding here. We created a Facebook Event entitled “My Big Fat DC Wedding Scavenger Hunt” with a list of some of our favorite experiences in DC and asked our guests to accomplish different tasks and post photos to the event page so that we could create a photo album of our friends and family running around the city and having fun. We included the scavenger hunt list in the invitations. The night of our rehearsal we hosted a 5K run that took the participants past all of the monuments on The National Mall followed by Happy Hour at Penn Quarter Sports Tavern.

We decided to have our ceremony at The DC War Memorial which is somewhat off the beaten path and often forgotten by tourists. Its a quiet, tucked away monument that’s an area that’s surrounded by beautiful scenery. We hired a wonderful violinist that played fun and upbeat music as guests arrived. After the ceremony we held a Happy Hour style reception at Capitale. We bussed all of our guests there while in true DC fashion we took a Pedi-Cab through the city. “

Tell us about traditions or mementos in your wedding: “As part of the ceremony we found an adaptation of a Yoruba tradition where the couple each consumes 4 different flavor foods. Each represents a different period in a couples relationship. Rather than just us tasting each food we placed a box on each chair so that our guests could also participate in the experience. The first flavor was something sour (Sour Gummi’s) which describes times when things are less than perfect and a couple might experience life’s disappointments. Then we moved to something bitter (Dark Chocolate) which represents moments of rejection or denial. The third flavor was something hot (Tabasco flavored Chocolates) which represented spice and passion. The last flavor was something sweet (Rice Krispy Treats) which represented the abundance of life, love and enjoyment that we hope to celebrate as a married couple. We also included a bottle of Voss water with custom labels containing our engagement photos, names, and the wedding date.”

Tell us about your cake: “In sticking with a DC theme wedding we chose Dog Tag Bakery. Not only is Dog Tag one of our favorite places in Georgetown but they have a very special mission. Dog Tag Inc. provides a “trans-formative opportunity for veterans with disabilities by offering an education at Georgetown University and real life work experience. Giving back is very important to us both so when Dog Tag agreed to create our wedding cake it was a no-brainer.

As we explored different ideas, the cakes that continued to catch our eye were done in an art deco style. In the end we decided on a layered cake with alternating Red Velvet and Hummingbird, a southern style spice cake with cream cheese frosting. In the end Dog Tag did an amazing job and created something that was above and beyond what we could have imagined not to mention super delicious.”

The following DC wedding profesionals contributed to this DC War Memorial Wedding:

Photography: Andrea Rodway Photography | Ceremony Venue: D.C. War Memorial | Reception Venue: Capitale DC | Jewelry: Na Hoku | Wedding Cake: Dog Tag Bakery | Stationery: Invitations by Dawn | Transportation: Nonpartisan Pedicab | Fashion: Ted Baker | Shoes: Magnanni | Catering: Q Caterers | Violinist: Jenviolin | Submitted via: Matchology

For more wedding vendors, please visit our Washington DC area wedding vendor guide. For even more amazing local ideas, check out our wedding inspiration galleries and other Washington DC area real weddings.