Meet Brian (left), a Communications Manager with American Gaming Association and crew rower, and Will (right), a National Sales Manager with Visit Charlotte and country-western dancer, a sweet pairing made in a very modern way: match.com. And a dashing pair at that, wouldn’t you say?
For as different as they may seem, these two gentlemen are both enamored with movies, television and theatre. Appropriately, their first few dates held some entertaining material!
While on their first date, the waiter flirted with Brian and Will joked that he would beat up the waiter.
Their second date was “something out of a sit-com.” The movie-going experience is a big deal to Will (getting there early, buying soda, popcorn and candy, watching the previews and, of course, the movie itself.) After finally getting settled in their seats with all of their goodies, Brian dropped the soda all over the theatre floor. Then, as Will tried to let an usher know about the mess, he ended up spilling the popcorn.
Over the years, they’ve traveled to New York for Broadway shows and watched oodles of television side-by-side! They have been together for roughly three and a half years and were married this March in Washington, D.C.
Naturally, B + W wanted their wedding to reflect their personal tastes. They chose their colors first — gray, orange and purple — and were otherwise interested in mid-century modern decor.
Finding the right invitations proved a bit problematic at first:
“We really struggled to find an invitation style we liked until we discovered [The] Green Kangaroo. SO many of the invitations we found were very ‘girly’ with lace, flowers and frills, and as two men, we were looking for some more masculine and reflective our taste. We fell in love with the Boxy theme that TGK had, but we wanted a square invitation, and the staff at TGK made that happen. They were incredibly easy to work with and we totally loved the collaboration and that they allowed us to use our colors to really make the invitations and stationery our own.”
They selected the Design-Your-Own Square Clutch and chose the Boxy theme for the design… with eye-popping results! But the invitation was merely one of many unique facets of B + W’s wedding.
Everyone gathered at Hotel Palomar for the ceremony and festivities. During the ceremony, performed by Reverend Julie Price of Creative Ceremony, a couple of Will’s friends from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington (of which Will is a member) sang a cappella songs.
After the ceremony and jovial cocktail hour, guests were seated at tables bedecked with TGK stationery and flower arrangements crafted by their friend Jocko Fajardo.
The table cards were named after some of their favorite TV shows: Modern Family, The Muppet Show, Wonder Woman, Project Runway, Arrested Development, Battlestar Galactica, The Vampire Diaries, LOST, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They ordered a couple of extra blank table cards to showcase quotes from the respective shows.
Since the couple is also very serious about quality food, the menu for their reception was to-die-for: upscale southern cuisine. I literally drooled as I laid out their menu, so the items on it must be shared.
First Course:
- Duck Confit with Mascarpone Grits and Apples
Entree Options:
- Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin topped with a Fried Oyster, Broccolini and Anson Mills Grits
- Striped Sea Bass with Toasted Almond Wild Rice Pilaf and Dijon Butter
- Pan Seared Chicken with Whipped Sweet Potatoes, Collard Greens and Tasso Gravy
- Southern Style Vegetarian Gumbo with Rice
Wedding Cake:
- Chocolate Cake with Marshmallow and Salted Caramel
- Vanilla Cake with Peach Caramel Bavarian Cream and Peach Jam
After everyone enjoyed their scrumptious meals and the “best ladies” gave heart-warming speeches, it was time to hit the dance floor! They kicked off the boogieing with some two-stepping and line dancing, since that happens to be Will’s specialty. A satisfying mix of old and new tunes followed, to ensure that everybody got their chance to dance. (And they’re fairly sure everyone did!)
B + W were impressed and delighted at how smoothly everything went and how well all of their guests got along. They agree that all of their planning and preparation truly paid off.
When asked to recount their favorite memories from the joyous day, their responses were so lovely that I just couldn’t stand to paraphrase!
Will: [It's] a tie between [1] standing up in front of our friends and family staring into the beautiful eyes of the man I was about to marry and [2] taking our first dance together on an empty dance floor, singing to him that I was so glad to be there.
Brian: When we are announced as married and everyone cheered. I realized that it was real, and I was legally married to the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It was truly a joyful and beautiful moment.
All photographs courtesy of Laura Scheidt at Exclamation Imagery.
If you’d like us to feature your unique event, please email us at uniquelyyou@tgkdesigns.com.
