Amanda and Shawn's Wedding on Sunday, March 30th
Amanda and I go way back, our families have been close friends ever since I can remember. Amanda's mom used to watch my sister and I when we came home from school so I saw Amanda and her sister Julie almost every day as a kid. Then came the teenage years, high school, college and early adulthood traveling at warp speed until blam-o, the business line rings and its Amanda on the other line telling me she is engaged. Time stopped for a second there. When we met up the day before the wedding it was the first time I could remember seeing her since we were kids but we're both pretty much the same.
Lots of history in the making surrounded Amanda and Shawn's wedding weekend it seemed, the Gaylord National Resort where the wedding celebration took place opened its doors to guests for the first time in the new and exciting DC area development of National Harbor on the Maryland side of the Potomac river. So it would follow that A & S's wedding would be the very first wedding hosted at the Gaylord National.
The Gaylord reminded Sam and I of a Vegas-style resort with a pinch of Disneyland. It has top notch, theme inspired restaurants, bars and shops built village style around a fountain where guests can enjoy a Bellagio like water show every few hours. The massive glass atrium encompassing the hotel makes you feel like you are walking around outside while indoors. Amanda works as the executive events manager at the Gaylord and worked long hours all week long just to prepare for the opening. Despite her role as a professional planner, the feel of her and Shawn's wedding was relaxed and laid back amidst the fanfare.
Amanda and Shawn have a great dynamic together, a great sense of humor and style that we really appreciate. Tunes by Michael Buble and swingin' rock re-makes by Paul Anka set the tone for a Sunday brunch reception. Amanda's background in theatre and set design came in handy for creating a lighting wonderland with cherry blossom projections in the ballroom. The tulips delicately cased in glass made me think of fairy tales. The cult film,"The Princess Bride" kept coming to mind... it may have even woven its way into their wedding ceremony if you were listening carefully.
In addition to decorating with cherry blossoms, the local bloom drawing thousands of visitors daily to DC this time of year, Amanda's unusual anemone bouquet was the perfect perky compliment to her red Converse. Check out this swatch to see how it all comes together:
Amanda and Shawn let us take portraits of them all over the hotel. Amanda even used her star-power to have the water show turned on for some photos, making it the first time the show was successfully manually overridden, woo hoo! We even managed a few pics of Amanda in her office, name tag and all.
A & S, we are so happy to have celebrated your wedding with you and your families, you made us feel like honored guests. It was a crazy day indeed but you guys did great and we hope these photos help bring it all back. I hadn't realized how much I have missed the Grandel clan so let's make sure that there isn't such a time warp between now and the next time we meet, OK? In the mean time, don't forget that you must tweasure your wove...
Here's a slideshow with our favs from the day and if you would like to be notified when all the photos are available for viewing, click here. See if you can't remember the original slideshow tune, its a trip!
posted by Mel @ 5:23 PM
1 Comments:
There's nothing like remembering converse and Paul Anka cover albums in coordination with your sister's wedding! As always, the pictures were like a revisiting of the entire day and turned out so well! You and Sam are AWESOME! We'll meet in PG in the next few months. Haha!
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