If there’s anything that’ll get you up and groovin’ this Monday morning, it’s a lovefest from the lens of Katie Stoops. She’s a true artist in every sense of the word, but when the ahhh-mazing Events In The City, Growing Wild Floral Design and Catering By Windows are involved? Her job of capturing pretty is made that much easier. Go get your burst of color on in the gallery right here.
From Katie Stoops… Jeff and Alex met each other in the lobby of the Kimberly hotel in New York City. Alex had just been hired in the London office of their company and Jeff had been working in the Washington DC office. They both traveled from their respective offices to New York for meetings. Alex stepped out of the elevator after her first day of meetings to go to dinner, and saw a young guy with dark hair sitting in the lobby on his iPhone. They had never met, but she took a chance that this person was her new co-worker that she had heard about, so she introduced herself. From the hotel, they went for a drink with their boss and they both had the same order – a bourbon on the rocks.
Proposal Story from the Groom
We were scheduled to take a Christmas tour of the White House on December 20th, 2011. I thought this would be a great night to ask her. The prior year we went to see the tree together, so it had some special meaning to us. The week before the night I proposed, Alex went to NYC for work and I used the opportunity to visit her parents in Maryland. I met them at their home and we walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner. It was the longest walk EVER, and of course we bumped into some of their friends, which resulted in questions about why I was there without their daughter.
Eventually we ordered a bottle of wine and as we toasted I realized that my hands were shaking so much that I had to immediately set my wine glass down before I could tell them how much I loved their daughter and how I was planning to ask her to marry me. They seemed pretty pleased at the idea, so I had additional confidence going into the day of the White House tour.
She ended up having a really long day at work, and long story short, we missed the tour. Not understanding the purpose of the evening, she told me that she wanted to skip the tree, go somewhere for dinner and then go home. I told her that it was important to me that we see the tree and that I would take her to one of her favorite restaurants afterwards, which was an easy bribe considering I already planned on having her parents and my brother meet us there.
We were walking around the tree and I was trying to figure out the best location to ask my question. I couldn’t focus on anything because I was scanning the area for a spot with some privacy. There were gates set up to keep people off the lawn in front of the White House, so I grabbed her hand and pulled her through the opening in the gate. I was almost running at this point, pulling her along behind me, and then I just stopped in front of the White House. At that point I looked her in the eyes, started telling her how much I love her and got down on one knee to ask her to marry me. We had a great time celebrating with everyone afterwards.
Favorite Wedding Details from the Couple
My parents’ close friend from college acted as the officiant for the ceremony. It was especially meaningful to me because I’ve known him my whole life and he’s always been incredibly supportive of me. His kind words created a personal and intimate ceremony that truly reflected us as individuals, our relationship and what we value in each other.
We also had straw/cocktail escort cards, pie favors that were baked, boxed and labeled with personal stamps by the mother of the bride and her sister (who are both pastry chefs), lounge seating in the garden, dessert buffet, pre-ceremony drinks, wisteria arch over the ceremony site, paper lanterns in the tent, Spanish guitar style music for the ceremony and cocktail hour.
Photography: Katie Stoops Photography | Event Design: Grit & Grace Inc | Styling + Design: Intrigue Design Studio | Floral Design: Growing Wild Floral Co. | Wedding Dress: Judd Waddell | Cake: Fancy Cakes By Leslie | Invitations: Wedding Paper Divas | Ceremony Venue: Textile Museum | Reception Venue: Textile Museum | Catering: Catering By Windows | Makeup: Victoria Stiles | Hair: Victoria Stiles | DJ: DJ D-Mac (djdmac.com) | Ceremony & Cocktail Music: Grabielismo Productions | Day Of Paper: Intrigue Design Studio | Furniture Rentals: AFR Furniture Rental | Groom\'s Attire: Michael Andrews Bespoke