Color Inspiration
So many events to go to means a lot of shopping will need to be done for it! Our Style Editor Robin Fisher shows you how to use the hottest colors from New York Fashion Runways with Green Style in her Color Inspiration Article.
See all the wonderful color palettes in the Spring Issue of Eco-Beautiful Weddings Magazine!
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Anniversary Party + The Cotton Bride
On Wednesday we celebrated our Anniversary with Style!
Chris Kole unveiled his new Fireflies Collection from The Cotton Bride at our party! The new collection is amazing and complete with airy designs that truly let a woman be herself on her wedding day! This particular dress is one that really stole the show!
With so many dresses and eco-style, we had a veritable who’s who from Washington, DC & New York! From the folks over at the National Wildlife Federation to the Executives of Chevrolet rolling the new Volt and Cruze over for our guests to ride in - there is simply way too much to talk about! We plan on doing a juicy recap of the event in our Spring Issue of Eco-Beautiful!
A special thanks to Chris Kole and Fikre Ayele of The Cotton Bride. Chris created Katie’s (our Editor-in-Chief) chocolate gown for the evening and she (in her own words) “has never felt more glamorous”!
Our new managing editor Robin Fisher was the glue for the entire fashion show! Working closely with Chris Kole and Fikre Ayele to make sure the models and the dresses shined! Washington, DC has never seen such a beautiful fashion show!
We also want to send out a very special thanks to our friends at Cotton Incorporated (The Fabric of Our Lives®) and Chevrolet for making this event so special. Stay tuned for a special recap from Cotton Incorporated!
Take a look at all of our wonderful sponsors:
(Left to Right, Row by Row: The Fabric of Our Lives, The Cotton Bride, Chevrolet, Honest Tea, Elegance & Simplicity, Inc., Polished Image & Style, Sugarplum Tent Co., Design Cuisine, DC Rental, Kendall’s Cakes, MarcParc Valet, Documentary Associates, a little bit of whimsy photography, Disc Jockeys on Call, Decatur House, Hair by Giselle, Make-up by Jeff Enriquez, Zinnia Films, Polka Dot Bride, Ampa Events, United With Love)
*Photos by a little bit of whimsy photography
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My Anniversary…Remembering The Dominican Republic
Yesterday marked my 2nd Wedding Anniversary and two years since my husband has been in the States! And, as promised - I wanted to share with you photos from our 2 weddings. We had one wedding in the Dominican Republic - which was a ceremony and reception for family only (and just a few very close friends). We had another wedding here in the States as soon as Miguel got here (see yesterday’s post). Here are photos from our Wedding in the Dominican Republic…
I wore my Nicole Miller dress at both weddings and really only wore the blue and white Lacoste shoes at the wedding in the United States. I love those Kate Spade shoes - but they are not very comfortable! Then I have my parasol!
I am not much of a girlie girl…but on this day (like most women), I felt lovely and so happy to be getting ready to marry the love of my life in front of all of his family and my family. That day - was like no other in my mind’s eye. By the way - I got my beautiful gardenia fabric flower from ebay for $3.00 and I wear it all the time!
These are two of my favorite photos from that day. One - I love fresh limeade in the Dominican Republic…and true to form - it was hand-squeezed on our wedding day! Then I adore this photo of Miguel getting ready - just the smile and the tie that he still has!
Flip flops are a big deal in the Dominican Republic - We bought 60 pairs for our guests and all were gone by the end of the ceremony!
My favorite paper lanterns, the limeade station, the 6 page round programs that were in Spanish and English - all items that I brought from the States (minus the limeade itself). The table runner was left over from a wedding that I did in Anguilla and the lemonade jars are at my mother-in-law’s home, my sister-in-law’s and one of Miguel’s Aunt’s apartments! I still have our programs as each one had a different set of paper and ribbon. I reused some of the ribbon for other projects and the paper I just love and cannot part from!
Our amor table along with the plastic (yes - they are plastic - but we still have them and his mother has them) colored plates that I had to have as I wanted multi-colored plates. No - those are not menus - they were trivia questions. Since some people at the wedding had never met me or my family - we had trivia about each other’s family and the guest that had guessed the most amount of trivia correctly - won a prize at the end of the night. I still have all of these cards!
Me with 6 of my 7 flower girls (all are Miguel’s nieces and one is a baby). They carried cute glass lanterns down the aisle that they all got to keep.
(My favorite portrait of me that day)
I loved this reveal time at the nearby country club where we got married at his uncle’s beach home. My maiden name is Van Veen and my married name is Vasquez (Martin is my professional last name from my 1st marriage that I had when I started my business) - hence the V on the parasol! I am really Senora Vasquez! We took these reveal photos prior to the ceremony.
This may seem like a nothing shot here - but I did not really want to see Miguel prior to the ceremony - so in order to keep things “fresh”…his mother handmade my veil and we put it on just before I went down the aisle. My veil is so special to me!
Our ceremony!
I love this photo of us praying…since my brother is a photographer and the best man - he actually took this photo at the altar!
MARRIED!
Love this moment - we were able to get away from everyone while they were changing the ceremony area over to the reception area to steal a dance to Miguel’s favorite song…I can remember him singing it in my ear.
My handsome hubby!
Our fun favors with wrapped local peanut brittle and Dominican coffee!
Love this shot of our decor around the pool next to the house:
Hope you enjoyed this weekend’s anniversary photos of me and my darling husband Miguel! Stay tuned for some fun posts this week!
(Katie Martin)
All photos by Documentary Associates
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Our Wedding Anniversary, Part 1!
Here is part one of my wedding photos - 2 year anniversary and really the 1st time I have blogged about our wedding photos. From the photo above until the end of the day - June 26th, 2008 was one of the happiest days of my life. Not only did we get married that day - but he had just gotten in from the Dominican Republic at 1am that morning for the first time ever to the US! His visa had several problems for several weeks and the immigration process was grueling. Jennifer Domenick, friend and amazing photographer, was there when we got to Hotel Monaco to get ready. ABOVE SHOT: She was taking photos of us kissing and when I popped my head up and realized that she was taking photos of us making out (I will keep those photos private - sorry folks!)
Jennifer really spent some quality time with us as we got ready…we were just so elated to be in each other’s arms - here in the States - we just could not bear being separated prior to the wedding. I was crying and then Jennifer was crying!
Gotta love the Hotel Monaco - perfect dress photos there every time!
I decided to wear all the rings that Miguel has given me that day. Tthe gold band he gave me when he proposed, the Larimar blue ring for my birthday and my engagement ring and wedding band (which holds the diamond from my grandmother’s engagement ring). I was putting on my custom-earrings with peridot and blue topaz in recycled white gold from Dominion Jewelers in VA.
Favorite photo of me that day…I remember thinking how I missed my father that day. My brother walked me down the aisle. (Love the make-up Carola!)
I adore this photo of us right before the ceremony…waiting at the Arts Club of Washington.
The ceremony and portraits:
Our cake (from Cakes by Design)- which I am still obsessed with:
Dancing (notice the Dominican beer “Presidente” in Miguel’s hand):
Then - the fabulous Snapshot Studio - which was so great for all of my friends and family there!!!
Keya (my head designer on staff and best friend) with her son Dwayne! XOXO
Here is Jennifer Domenick with her husband Ethan!
My fab DJ Aaron Couch with his wife Diedge!
Jeannine and Michelle (staff and friends)!
Robin Fisher with her son Kemit (our Style Editor and AMIGA!!! - WEPA!)
Tom Van Veen and Ashlee Wilcox of Documentary Associates (also my brother and sister-in-law/best man and maid of honor!)
I love this photo of my mom’s crew! Top left is Kathy and then my mom…I just love them! Hey Silverliners!
And this photo is priceless. Alison DeWit of Distinctive Floral Designs (left) is my closest friend in the wedding industry. Without Alison - these past few years would not have been the same! Keya is just beaming as she has known me since 2nd grade and knows that Miguel has made me the happiest woman on earth! Love it!
Stay tuned tomorrow for our wedding in the Dominican Republic!
(Katie Martin)
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Engagement and Trash the Dress Photo Shoots
A lot of photographers have asked me how to do an eco-friendly engagement shoot. Since photographers in general ask me questions all the time about going green…I wanted to start off by talking about my engagement photos. The photo above was actually taken the day after my wedding at the resort where my family and friends were staying a couple of extra days. Since my husband is Dominican and we didn’t really have a chance to do an engagement shoot much before the wedding - we decided to do them a few days before and the day after since we were having ceremonies in both the Dominican Republic and the United States. My brother is a photographer and he brought along an assistant to help take photos during the ceremony since he was actually in the wedding.
Eco-friendly engagement shoots are all about the location and the props you use. If you plan on using props - make sure they will be used again somehow. If you plan on doing your engagement shoot in a far off location - see if the three of you can carpool and maybe have lunch or dinner together.
This also goes for the trash the dress photo shoots - which most of the time are not eco-friendly. I even saw one trash the dress photoshoot where the couple actually put the dress in a trash can and set the dress on fire. While visually stimulating - not the most eco of choices. You can have a day after photo shoot where you can wear the dress again - but not actually “trash it”. Some like to jump in pools and wade into the ocean waters….which is fine - if the material is ok in water - which most wedding dresses are not. No - you may not be saving your dress for your daughter…but there are so many places where you can donate or sell your dress. My favorites are Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation and Recycled Bride.
Here is a gallery of the photos we took a few days before the wedding in the Dominican Republic. We wanted to take everyone on a tour of the colonial zone and decided to combine that time with taking engagement shots.
Since Santo Domingo is one of the oldest ports in the western hemisphere - the colonial zone was the perfect place to go on a tour - we started with the Casa de los Reales and Miguel knew everything about its history - while I translated.
Then we strolled across the “calle de las damas” to Diego Columbus’s home.
Tom took some great shots outside the mansion as well.
Yes - you want your photographer to be creative - no problem…but as you can see you can combine two missions in one while having lasting memories and creating some at the same time. We had one couple that decided to do some outreach work in the city and had their photographer come along with them.
Let me know how you are getting creative with your engagement shoots and “trash the dress” shoots while staying green at the same time! Stay tuned - I might actually post my wedding photos from each wedding!
p.s. - You can see more of my brother’s work with his wife Ashlee by checking out Documentary Associates or clicking on any of the photos above.
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