A fun couple, lots of sparkle, and pups in outfits, too– don’t miss this timeless, elegant, Washington DC Ritz Carlton Georgetown Wedding!
Why Rhinehart Photography?
I (Lisa) book up quickly, and for weddings that I’d love to cover but no longer have the date open on my calendar, I have a solution :). I have a few trusted photographer friends that work under me on the day of to be my eyes and ears, and then I take care of the rest (the editing, album design, emails, wedding day timeline etc). In this case, my associate was Jim– one of my long-time photography friends that I met at a conference over a decade ago. We have shot dozens of weddings together at this point.
Katie smiles, “Lisa and her associates make a great team! We both really loved working with Jim and Alex on our wedding day. As two people who have never had a formal photoshoot, Jim and Alex made our day seamless and easy. They gave great directions and respected all of our wishes!”
Kyle adds, “They made me feel very comfortable and took away the thought process of where to be, they followed Lisa’s timeline and were on top of everything to make the day run smoothly.”
Ritz Carlton Georgetown Wedding Details
What beautiful details! I love how the black table and gold ring box complement the groom’s wedding band so well!
Ritz Carlton Georgetown Ladies Preparations
Katelyn shares, “Kyle and I are animal lovers through and through. A big part of our lives is our dogs. They are truly our babies, and we adore them so much, so we knew that we wanted to incorporate them into our special day. We have the best neighbors. When we go out of town our neighbors fight over who gets to watch them, so it was no surprise that they offered to bring them to the hotel for pictures on our wedding day. And what a blessing that was. I am so glad we have those pictures to look back on and that they were able to be there.”
Ritz Carlton Georgetown Men’s Preparations
Kyle says, “I’m badass and I’m flashy. I don’t like to be boring, and this was a day I wanted to make special. I have a great group of groomsmen/groomswoman so I thought that the personalized axes would be a unique, and badass way to celebrate the day and not one that I had seen done before.”
Vow Composing
Kyle shares, “I wanted to feel the moment when I wrote my vows, so I wrote them that morning (on my phone first then copied them to the book).”
“Sparkly” First look at Ritz Carlton Georgetown
Katelyn smiles, “The first look was perfect. It was so nice to have a moment just the two of us before being with all of our guests. We loved that we matched with my sparkly dress and Kyle’s sparkly tie! That is a good way to describe us…we love to sparkle! And we sparkle even more together!”
She shares, “Kyle and I met working at the front desk together at The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, VA. I would work there on my summer breaks from college to gain experience in the hotel industry, as I was earning my Finance and Hotel Management degree at Virginia Tech. Kyle worked there when he returned home after his time in the Airforce. We became friends quickly, which is no surprise because Kyle’s charisma was and still is undeniable. Kyle would make the shifts go by so fast, making me laugh all the time. We always remained friends throughout the years. Then on my 22nd birthday (I was just about to graduate college) Kyle called me to wish me a Happy Birthday and the rest is history. We talked every day from that point on and started dating shortly after.”
Kyle continues, “The things that I most appreciate about Katie is that she is kind and genuine. On our wedding day, I felt pure happiness and satisfaction. I love having someone to share my life with and share myself with forever. Katie is the love of my life and I wouldn’t want to spend it with anyone else.”
Ritz Carlton Georgetown Wedding Goes to the Dogs 😉
Surprise!! And check out those outfits…
Romantic Ritz Carlton Georgetown Wedding Portraits
Katelyn shares, “It felt like a movie! The views from the balcony overlooking the Georgetown waterfront were just stunning. And then walking downstairs to the lobby with the fireplace and the huge Christmas tree and to top it off it smelled like a campfire. I replay the details over and over and I am so in awe of everything.”
She continues, “I loved that Jim pulled us to go outside when the sun had set to get romantic portraits under the fairy lights. It truly felt magical from start to finish. One of my favorite pictures so far is the one with the full hotel in the background and Kyle was leading me down the stairs. It captured exactly how the day felt.”
Here is that photo:
Pop Fizz Clink
Katelyn smiles, “I love bubbles! Champagne is my go-to drink so we had a lot to go around! My mom and MOH supplied the champagne. We just enjoyed every moment of the day celebrating together.”
Ritz Carlton Georgetown Wedding Ceremony “Dip”
Katie shares, “I was nervous about the dip. We had practiced it before our wedding day but not in my dress. I thought about not doing it at all because I didn’t want to fall in front of everyone, but I saw how excited Kyle was to do it. He is a performer at heart, and I knew I needed to do this for him. Plus, I did trust him not to drop me and if he did then at least we got the picture. Thankfully he did not drop me, and it was one of my favorite moments of the day.”
Ritz Carlton Georgetown Wedding Reception
Katelyn says, “I work in hotels and wanted a really unique location that provided great service. The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown exceeded every expectation that I had. I loved the romantic atmosphere with the exposed bricks and to top it off the Christmas decorations made it feel all the more magical.”
Kyle adds, “I like the convenience of everything being in one place and that it was free-flowing throughout the hotel and easy for our guests to navigate each aspect of the wedding from the ceremony to the cocktail hour to the reception.”
Katelyn continues, “Bryan really helped me bring my vision to life for the reception. Even after planning every detail from the velvet and sparkly linen to the gold accents to the stunning floral and all the candles (especially over the king’s table) even after envisioning every single detail, I knew it would be pretty but seeing it come together, it was the most gorgeous place to be for a wedding reception. I had a moment to go to the reception before any guests came in and take it all in. It was breathtaking.”
Bryan is a dear friend of mine and I must say– wow, wow, wow– you outdid yourself and that is saying something!! Perfect pallette, incredible work!!
Ritz Carlton Georgetown Wedding Traditions
Katelyn smiles, “The traditions were so fun. I just adore my mom so much that I asked her to say the welcome and blessing. My mom is a person who grounds me in general but especially in faith and she gave a beautiful welcome and blessing which definitely had me in tears.”
She adds, “Kyle comes from a long line of veterans and he is also a veteran. We had 5 veterans in the room and 1 active duty officer. I wanted to have a moment of gratitude for the sacrifices our veterans made for us.”
Katelyn shares, “Abby’s speech was so thoughtful. Abby was my roommate in college since we were freshmen dubbing her my ‘forever college roomie.’ At the end of her speech, she passed the torch to Kyle as my ‘forever roomie’. She really put so much thought into her speech and I am so grateful for her along with all of the bridesmaids and bridesmen. Kyle’s dad had a touching speech as well, talking about Kyle being young and wild and welcoming me to the family. My dad spoke about the people that Kyle and I have grown to become and the life we have built together. You could tell how proud our parents were of us.”
Cake Cutting!
Katelyn laughs, “The cake-cutting was fun. Kyle’s favorite part of the planning was the cake tasting so it was really exciting to see the finished product and it turned out even better than expected.”
Celebrating at Ritz Carlton Georgetown
Katelyn says, “We had 70 of our closest family and friends and it was the perfect amount. We loved that we could spend quality time with everyone in the room and get out on the dance floor to top off the night!”
At the End of the Night
Katelyn smiles, “Honestly, the day was pure perfection. The ongoing joke was if there was glitter on the floor everyone knew we had been there. It really was magical.”
She added, “The Rhinehart Photography team was incredible. Jim and Alex captured the moments that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. For that, we cannot be more grateful.”
Vendors:
- Venue: The Ritz-Carlton, Georgetown
- Florist: Toulies en Fleur
- Tablescape: Select Event Group
- DJ: Jamie
- Pianist: Alice
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