I’ve so been looking forward to shooting at the beautiful Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA and I was lucky enough to be photographing an absolutely amazing couple there!  Meredith & Denis were married in the most fabulous woodsy, foresty gazebo and their incredible good taste and interesting personalities were evident in all the details.

Denis is French and lives in Versailles.  Meredith, who speaks very little French, just moved there, only a week after the wedding.  I loved this little task board of “don’t forget.”  Even better was that every task was written in a different color and a different font.  Hey, there’s no reason for to-do lists not to be beautiful!

There were so many touching little details in this wedding that I must explain.  Below is a small collection of important things.  Meredith & Denis dated (very) long distance for much of their relationship and they kept all of the love letters they wrote back and forth.  Denis brought a great bottle of wine from France, and they each wrote one more letter to each other, which they sealed shut with wax.  During their ceremony, it was explained that on their first anniversary, Denis & Meredith would open the letters they each wrote on this important day, while drinking this bottle of wine.  I love it!!

On our way for their first look at Meadowlark, I couldn’t help but grab this shot of the sun streaming into the atrium, all ready for the reception.  So gorgeous!

Meredith’s flowers were just perfect – they might be my favorite wedding flowers to date!  Kudos to Karin’s Florist for doing such a fantastic job!

The ceremony was totally idyllic.  Seeing the photos again, I almost don’t remember how hot it was  I really loved how all the guests could just gather round, both inside and outside the gazebo.  Everyone could stand where they liked and I think it’s really wonderful that all of the people who are special to Meredith & Denis are in the background of their ceremony shots, rather than being separated from them.

LOVE the birdcage veil!

The reception details were so vintage, unique and botanical.  The name tags were luggage tags and the tables were named after cities worldwide.  Instead of table names though, they had postcards of old photos of each city – so charming

Loved the burlap table runners and the centerpieces were all completely different and yet worked so wel together.

The next couple photos require a bit of explanation.  It is apparently a French custom to stand on chairs and twirl your napkins when the bride & groom are introduced.  They weren’t sure the chairs were sturdy enough for that, but the napkin twirling did not disappoint!

The photo booth that Meredith put together turned out perfectly – so much fun!  In fact, my facebook page is now a shot of me holding a mustache in Meredith & Denis’ photo booth – couldn’t help but have a little fun with it.

Music from Potomac Jazz Project was fantastic!