Colleen Costello & Jaryd Bern Wedding

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(Hannah Colclazier) - Colleen Costello and Jaryd Bern during their wedding reception at Woodlawn Farm in Ridge, Md., on September 24, 2011.

Wedding date: Sept. 24.

Location: Woodlawn Farm, Ridge, Md.

Guests: 60.

How they met: In November 2007, Costello was browsing at Kramerbooks when she ran into a law school pal who invited her to join him in the cafe while he waited for a friend. When Bern arrived, he and Costello discovered they both loved jazz and made plans to meet up with friends a few days later at HR57. After the show, Bern impressed Costello by offering to go out of his way to walk her home on a frigid evening. A week later they had their first official date at Paper Moon.

The proposal: On Valentine’s Day 2010, when the region was still buried under several feet of Snowmageddon, Bern persuaded Costello to go outside and make snow animals. While Costello was working on her creation, Bern asked her to come look at his snow bear, whose arms were cupping a red Ring Pop. When she turned to Bern, he was down on one knee with a real engagement ring.

The wedding: Costello’s favorite jazz vocalist, Felicia Carter, performed at the wedding, along with her quintet. Party favors were caramel-nut and hazelnut coffee beans, a blend the couple calls “Bernello.” Eager to spend more time with friends and family, the couple invited guests to attend a post-reception bonfire.

The honeymoon: They spent a week horseback riding on the beach and hiking in Monterey, Calif. In August, they plan to go hang-gliding and visit a jazz festival during two weeks in Switzerland. 

OnLove: Susan Kozel weds Jason Wynnycky

(John Shinkle) - Susan Kozel and Jason Wynnycky posing during Hurricane Irene before their wedding reception in Arlington, VA on August 27, 2011.

Wedding date: Aug. 27

Location: Top of the Town, Arlington

Guests: 75

How they met: Kozel and Wynnycky met in 2007 at a social in their Arlington apartment building, where they lived just a few doors apart on the same floor. They were getting to know one another when Wynnycky was deployed for a year-long tour in Afghanistan. They began to date when he returned in late 2008.

The proposal: On Feb. 2, Kozel and Wynnycky were watching TV in her apartment when he announced he had some good news: He really wanted to marry her. Wynnycky chose Groundhog Day to propose because he said he loves the Bill Murray movie of the same name, and because he wanted to marry her over and over again.

The wedding: The day’s biggest challenge was uninvited guest Tropical Storm Irene, which led to last-minute cancellations by more than 30 guests. During the ceremony, the priest had trouble talking; it turned out he was allergic to the lilies Kozel was carrying. Still, the show went on, and Kozel danced the tango with her dad, something she’d wanted to do ever since they first practiced it in their kitchen when she was a child. 

Regardless of the time of year, many individuals choose to get stylish mandaps for their wedding ceremonies to make their day even more special. Ordering a mandap is a quite straight forward process, however the most important detail is the colour scheme of the mandap compared to the colour scheme of the brides wedding dress and entourage.

On Love: ‘I fell in love with her talking to her over the phone’

Natalee Howell did not want to meet David Snider.

For two weeks they chatted by phone, calling during work and school, talking at night until one or the other nodded off to sleep.

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Howell hoped it would continue like that. She had signed up for the dating site Interracial Dating Central after reading an article about it in September 2009. Though she was new to online dating and had never been in an interracial relationship, she was flattered by the attention from guys who wanted to get to know her.
The night Snider first contacted Howell, she was engaged in two or three instant message conversations with other men. After glimpsing a tiny profile picture of her, Snider decided that Howell “looked like all I could ever ask for in a woman” and began asking questions that would elicit more than a one- or two-word answer.
“Tell me who you are,” he wrote to her. “What do you think about?”
Before long, she stopped chatting with other men and focused on Snider. Eventually, he persuaded her to call him. The two discovered that they’d both moved to the District from other countries at age 5 — Howell came from Jamaica; Snider was born in England. Both had daughters from previous relationships who were named after flowers. Howell’s daughter, Jazmyne, was 14; Snider’s girl, Violet, was 4.
The conversations grew longer and more intimate by the day. Snider, a video producer, pulled out every story he could remember to prompt Howell’s gushing laughter. “He was stimulating my brain. I thought he was so sweet, caring,” she says. “And he was honest, like saying, ‘I’m looking for someone.’ He wasn’t playing any games.’ ”
“I fell in love with her talking to her over the phone,” he says. But when Snider pushed for a date, Howell balked. She was wary of the dangers of online dating and, more than that, she worried it would ruin everything. “Because when you meet someone, then you see little flaws,” says Howell, who served in the Air Force and is studying computer science at the University of the District of Columbia.
When Snider half-jokingly suggested that stand across the street and wave at each other, she agreed to a meeting. Nervous about what her Petworth neighbors would think about her going out with a white man, she asked Snider to pick her up around the corner from her building. At his apartment in Alexandria, she was so anxious she couldn’t eat. But when he kissed her, it became clear that the chemistry they felt over the phone translated in person.
“I went from being shy to being scared to being comfortable and at ease,” says Howell, now 34. “In my mind, I already felt like I loved him.”
They began seeing each other regularly. She was captivated by his wit and transparency; he adored her dynamic self-possession and generosity with others. When Howell expressed concern about their racial difference to her family members, they told her not to worry. Neighbors in her apartment building were soon teasing her about the time she tried to hide Snider from them.
Snider, now 40, almost immediately felt he had found the woman he’d been looking for. “The wheels fell off when I met Natalee. It was all-consuming,” he says. “I had a feeling that my desire for her and my involvement with her could not be challenged. I couldn’t be dragged away.”
So he was devastated when she called things off the following spring. Howell found out that Snider had shared private information about Howell’s personal life with his daughter’s mother, whom he considers a close friend. Howell felt it was a breach of trust and told him they needed time apart. But after three weeks, Howell’s mother found out about the separation, told her daughter it was “so stupid” and picked up the phone to call Snider.
After talking to him, she persuaded Howell to do the same, and the two quickly reconciled.
“Real compatibility is an invisible puzzle,” Snider says. “But that means we can have difference and conflicts, and maybe even an argument or debate, and be like, ‘Okay, so I still love you. Because I’m obsessed with you, and I can’t imagine my life without you.’ ”
In July 2010, they looked at rings. After he picked up the chosen one from the jeweler, Snider asked Jazmyne to hold the video recorder while he proposed to her mom.
On Sept. 9, the two married at the Ritz-Carlton in Georgetown. Throughout the ceremony, Jazmyne kept her hands on Violet’s shoulders, like a protective older sister.
“Peace is the result of love,” said the couple’s officiant, Colman McCarthy (a former Washington Post columnist). “And if love were easy, we’d always be good at it.”

Five Wedding Planning Tips for a Meaningful and Loving Celebration!

Are you interested in a meaningful wedding celebration? You have been to beautiful weddings, expensive celebrations and wild wedding receptions. But, what makes a wedding memorable; the perfect wedding planning checklist, unique wedding invitations, an outrageous theme wedding?
FAMILY INVOLVEMENT
If you and your beloved have family members who are ecstatic about your engagement and insistent on being involved in the wedding planning process, then you should allow them to. This is the perfect opportunity to be very communicative and hand out very specific tasks, such as locating sites to purchase wedding invitations, help set up a personal wedding website as well as general help with wedding ideas. Involving your loved ones in this way will set a loving tone.
MEETING EVERYONE'S NEEDS
Think through who is on your guest list and make thoughtful preparations for them. If you have elderly people attending your wedding, then make sure you have comfortable seating, shade if they will be outdoors and hydration if it is warm. A great tip, found on many wedding websites, is that if you have children attending, you will want to prepare for them as well. Some wedding venues will help with a low table, crayons, snacks and cups with lids to help make the little ones at home. Your guests are sure to feel cared for.
A MEANINGFUL WEDDING SERVICE
One of the greatest wedding tips you will receive is that you must picture yourself walking through your wedding day. Think through your service and decide on the mood you want to create. For example, consider filling the church with hundreds of white candles and twinkly lights to set a mood of romance. If you desire a memorable service, then you may want to write your own vows, exchange heirloom rings and have someone you love sing a beautiful ballad as you light your unity candle.
A LOVING RECEPTION
During the busyness of wedding planning, you don't want to lose sight of all those you love and those who have contributed to your life. You may want to prepare a slide show of all the family and friends along the way who have helped make the two of you, who you are. Dedicate the show to your loved ones and show it at the reception. It is sure to bring tears of joy to all.
DELICIOUS AND SIMPLE
As you use your wedding planning tools to create a reception menu, remember to keep it simple. Choose heavy appetizers, fresh seasonal salads and great breads, paired with the perfect wines. A rich wedding cake and thoughtful wedding favors with a personal message from the two of you will top off a loving wedding celebration everyone will remember!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6558047

On Love: Anne Burnley weds Chris Robinson

Anne Burnley & Chris Robinson

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(Roman Grinev) - Anne Burnley and Chris Robinson at their wedding reception at the Hotel Monaco in Alexandria, Va., on August 6, 2011.

Anne Burnley, 27, works for a political fundraising firm. Chris Robinson, also 27 , works for IBM. They live in Alexandria.

Wedding date: Aug. 6.

Location: Hotel Monaco, Alexandria.

Guests: 130.

How they met: Burnley and Robinson met in 2000 during their sophomore year at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria and quickly became close friends. Although they admitted romantic feelings for each other after graduating, college on different coasts discouraged them from dating. But in August 2005, while both were on break, they joined friends at a bar and danced together all night. “The stars fell into place,” Burnley says. After they went back to their respective schools, they spoke every day.

The proposal: They returned home from a party on New Year’s Eve and, over a toast, Burnley said 2011 was their year to get married, something they had been discussing. Robinson admitted that he already had the ring; Burnley confessed she had searched for it, to no avail. So Robinson pulled it from a hidden box, got down on one knee and proposed. They didn’t make it official until the next day, when Robinson called Burnley’s father to get his permission.

The wedding: Instead of a maid of honor, Burnley had a brother of honor. The flowers were white hydrangeas, set against Burnley’s favorite colors of hot pink (for the bridesmaids) and navy blue (for the groomsmen). Bartenders served drinks in plastic cups that said “Meet the Robinsons” and sported a silhouette of a basset hound, a nod to their beloved dog. They chose “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green for their first dance.

The honeymoon: They went to Ogunquit, Maine, where they walked a scenic cliff path, visited lighthouses and ate their fill of seafood at Barnacle Billy’s lobster pound.

On Love: ‘Love cannot be stopped — not even by Irene’

Lyndsey Thornett was aggravated when she got word that the condominium she was renting was being put up for sale. She’d only been back in the area for a year and was just beginning to feel at home in Arlington.
So, in July 2009, the Potomac native, who spent eight years in Texas for college and business school, started searching for a new spot. Though her parents didn’t love the idea of her living in the District, she settled on a place at 18th and S streets.

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The night she moved in, Thornett invited a friend to come by for a drink. As she bounded out the door to wait, she spotted a casually dressed man watering flowers on the property.
Edward Zielinski explained that he was president of the condo board and welcomed Thornett to the building. After trading numbers in case Thornett had problems with her unit, she invited him to sit down for a beer.
“Hey, this gorgeous girl moved into the building,” Zielinski, now 30, later told his roommate. But he didn’t know if she was single. Fearing he’d create an awkward situation, he decided not to use her number for anything other than official condo business.
But Sasha Rosen, the friend who was with Thornett that night, was sure the attraction was mutual.
“He seemed like a really nice, super-cute guy. And Lyndsey was excited but didn’t really know what to expect,” Rosen says. “We’re both pretty skeptical of really nice, super-cute guys.”
Thornett’s interest grew through chats with Zielinski, who told her he was a finance professional at Fannie Mae and one of five siblings from Oregon. He’d also started a walking tour company, DCByFoot.com, with one of his brothers.
But even after months, neither was sure where the other stood. Once Zielinski asked whether he could check out her apartment, and, he recalls, “You could feel the tension of ‘Is he gonna make a move?’ But I failed to make a move.”
In late October, Thornett, now 29, was watching a football game at Buffalo Billiards when she got a text from Zielinski asking whether she wanted to join to his birthday celebration around the corner at James Hoban’s, an Irish bar. She did, and as they stood by the jukebox, Zielinski told Thornett he thought she was pretty.
A week later, they went out again with a group of friends and eventually found themselves alone. At another jukebox, this time at Darlington House, he kissed her.
Before their first official date, at Hook in Georgetown the following weekend, they met up at a U2 concert they’d both planned to attend. That night, the two posed for a picture that Thornett developed and gave to her mother, who knew about her daughter’s crush on Zielinski.
The two began spending evenings together and exploring the city on weekends. “From the moment I met him, it was so comfortable,” Thornett says. “And it reminded me of being in college. Just being able to go upstairs at night. It was just really fun.”
Within weeks, he was invited to her parents’ home in Potomac. He saw the picture of him and Thornett at the concert displayed among family photos on the mantle. Her mother was embarrassed, “but I liked that,” Zielinski recalls. “It was cool that she had our picture up.”
Though Thornett often told Rosen the relationship “seemed too good to be true,” she let down her guard quickly. “I was so happy,” she says. “It was just finally easy, and I always was kind of hoping that I would find something that would just feel right and be easy.”
And it was apparent that Zielinski felt the same. “I just knew that he adored Lyndsey,” says Rosen. “Every other word out of his mouth was, ‘Isn’t Lyndsey so beautiful?’ ”
By the time they went to Jamaica together the following March, he was sure he wanted to marry her. “Everything felt different,” he says. “I was completely excited. Where I would do anything to spend time with her, to make her happy, to have fun with her.”
In October 2010, he took her back to Hook. And later, on a bench by the Georgetown waterfront, Zielinski got down on one knee and asked Thornett to be his wife.
The two planned an Aug. 27 wedding at Meridian House, where cocktail hour would be held among the property’s linden trees. But plans changed when an earthquake struck four days before the event, causing slight damage to the building. And weather reports indicated Hurricane Irene was barreling toward the region. As they worried about their 145 guests’ travel plans, their wedding planner, Jamie Sears, prayed the electricity would stay on at least long enough to get through dinner. But it stayed on all night. And every vendor and all but a small handful of guests made it to the wedding.
As blowing branches scratched against the stained-glass windows of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on Connecticut Avenue NW during their ceremony, Pastor Jan P. Lookingbill addressed the couple. “Earthquake, wind and rain cannot stop love,” he said. “Love cannot be stopped — not even by Irene.”
Resource: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/weddings/on-love-love-cannot-be-stopped--not-even-by-irene/2011/08/29/gIQALci6wJ_story.html

On Love: Lindsey Mehan weds Matthew Graham

vinay singh wedding design

George Burke - Lindsey Mehan and Matthew Graham after their wedding ceremony at the Thomas Birkby House in Leesburg, Va., on July 9, 2011.

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Location: Thomas Birkby House, Leesburg

Guests: 130

How they met: In mid-June 2007, Mehan landed an internship with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; Graham was working for Connolly, who was the board’s chair. On Mehan’s last day, Graham asked her to meet him for a drink at Coastal Flats. They continued on to dinner at Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande Cafe and talked into the wee hours in the restaurant parking lot, discovering a shared passion for history.

The proposal: In December, Graham re-created their first date, taking Mehan to the same bar and restaurant. When they got home, Mehan commented that the date was just like their first. Yes, he replied as he pulled out a ring, except he hadn’t asked her to marry him that night.

The wedding: Connolly, who was there when they met, officiated at the ceremony. The couple’s first dance was to Jason Mraz’s “Lucky,” which Mehan chose because the lyrics — “lucky I’m in love with my best friend” — fit their relationship. With their wedding so close to July 4, they decided to have apple pie instead of a traditional cake, and when they left the reception, guests brandished sparklers.

read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/on-love-lindsey-mehan-weds-matthew-graham/2011/08/02/gIQAvy1SBJ_story.html