Angela & Joshua

On May 4th we had the privilege of being a part of Angela and Joshua's special day! Their reception took place in Baker Hall at Norfolk Botanical Gardens, and they couldn't have chosen a more beautiful evening! The rain started minutes after our grand send off which was done with ribbon wands made by our bride. Take a look at some of the fun details of this wedding, courtesy of our fabulous DIY bride Angela and Katy Blevins Photography! From all of us at As You Wish, Happy Planning!

Ombre Your Wedding!

Ombre has become increasingly popular in the fashion and styling industries, but what is it exactly? According to WiseGeek, "In fashion, the term ombre refers to the graduation of color in a garment. The term usually refers to a garment that is monochromatic but has a graduated variation in the saturation of the color. For example, a green ombre dress may be very pale green at the hem. The fabric becomes deeper in color as it reaches from the bottom hem to the shoulder straps at the top of the dress, where the color might be a very deep forest green." The same concept can be applied to hair coloring where the color transitions from dark to light with no harsh transition line. Here are some examples:

When it comes to your wedding there are numerous ways to add color variation and personal touches! Your decor, cake, flowers, and attire are the key elements just waiting to be ombred! Let's start with personal attire. From your nails and jewelry to your dresses, there are plenty of ways to ombre! Think of your bridesmaid dresses as a color palette instead of something that needs to be traditionally identical. If your color palette consists of several complimenting colors, or numerous shades of one color, pass your palette along to your maids and let them chose their color and style of dress! Think of it as a very mild form of color blocking (which we have been seeing a lot of lately with more bold, vibrant colors i.e. Vogue)

You could even ombre your gown, as Gwen Stefani did with hers!

Now think about all of the other elements of your day that welcome your personal touches in terms of color and personal preference. Your seating chart

Your cake

Your flowers

Imagine your reception table linens being carefully selected to create an ombre look sweeping over your room, so that as your guests enter the room they are surrounded by tables in one color, and as they continue to walk the tables change in color as well. Like this, but on a MUCH grander scale:

Ombre isn't for everyone, but if it strikes your fancy have fun with it! Happy Planning from all of us at As You Wish

Kelly & Bobby

Kelly and Bobby had a beautiful September wedding in Virginia Beach, and we were so excited to be a part of it! Their ceremony took place at Saint Gregory the Great Catholic Church, and their reception was hosted by the Princess Anne Country Club in Virginia Beach.

Kelly looked stunning in her dress

And the bridal party didn't look too shabby either

The flowers were a mixture of peach and cream, and beautifully arranged by Daevid's

We loved the beautiful details of this day!

Thank you to Dana Duncan Photography for providing us with such beautiful images!

Kelly and Bobby, thank you for allowing us to be a part of your wedding day, and best of wishes from all of us at As You Wish!

Brooke & Travis

We are so excited to be working with this couple, and we wanted to share their engagement story with you!

HER words:

I awoke to a screaming alarm at 5:00 am one glorious Friday morning (of course it did not seem so glorious at the time). Dazed and confused as to how I could have made such a horrid alarm mistake I looked up to see Travis directing me to the night stand where a card sat. I opened the card to find a Monkey laughing at me saying "Do you know what today is? Me neither!" Luckily Travis had gone on to write that he knew exactly what the day had in store and to begin it all....a scavenger hunt! I know what you're all thinking...how could she not know at this point, right? The answer to that is, I have been siked out many a time which led to me to think this early morning scavenger hunt would be nothing more than a sunrise fun time. I slugged out of bed, put on clothes and away we went. Many a minute later we arrived at the bridge leading to Roosevelt Island in the Potomac. With not a soul around, we made our way to the middle of the bridge where Travis yammered on about meaningless jibber jab and continued to ask me the time (apparently the sun was rising at 5:37 that day). As time neared his jibber jab changed to the most amazingly sweet words at which point I realized "Oh lordy this is it...or if this is not it and he gives me a high five after all this I'm going to be verrrrry not happy." Travis pulled away from the banister and announced "So without further ado...will you do me the honor of being my wife?" Later I was told that I said yes...grabbed the ring...and exclaimed a happy "Hootie Hoo!" IT WAS PERFECT!

HIS words:

The night before the engagement morning I tried every excuse to get Brooke to head to bed early as I knew we were getting up at 5:00am. You look tired, don't you want to catch up on your sleep, need some you time? Nothing worked so of course I didn't get to reset the 4 alarms until 12:30am. 1:05am rolls around and Brooke heads to the restroom. I have no idea why, but instead of going back to sleep Brooke decided to, for the 3rd time, make sure her alarm was set. "Why did I set my alarm for 5:00am instead of 7:30? Oh, your fingers must of hit the wrong buttons. Good thing you caught that.". After that exchange I was forced to wait up until around 2:15 when Brooke was fast asleep again. I went and got changed for the morning, put the card with the scavenger hunt instructions on her night stand and prepared myself for a short nap. BAM the alarms go off. I calmly hop out of bed and put my shoes on. Brooke, who is completely caught off guard and weary eyed, looks at me and asks why 4 alarms are sounding. I told her to look on her night stand while I go wash my face. I come back in and she is slightly confused as to why she is reading a riddle inside a monkey card but slowly she begins to follow the instructions. As we make our way through Arlington and towards DC, Brooke still has yet to fully comprehend the riddle. We make our way to one of our favorite places to city hike, Roosevelt Island to find a serene and fog covered Potomoc. Stopping on the bridge that leads to the Island I begin small talk while occasionaly asking for the time (goal is 5:37). Finally the 6 turned to 7 and the sun peaked over the trees. A few words to get her attention followed by the most amazing, perfectly executed backwards lunge in the history of all calisthenics, she said, "I do".

Special thanks to Ashley Van Tromp for the photos!


We love this couple, and can't wait for the wedding day! ❤ the As You Wish team

Cecilia & Brian

Cecilia and Brian were such a fun couple to work with as we were planning their October 8th wedding! Cecilia was a very detail oriented bride that carefully thought through each detail of the day, while Brian was very concerned with the liveliness of the reception. In short, they were a perfect match, and the As You Wish team was thrilled to be a part of their wedding day!

They had a traditional Filipino wedding ceremony at Holy Angels Catholic Church complete with 12 primary sponsors, 4 secondary sponsors, and a bridal party of 15 which included 5 adorable youngsters.

The couple chose vibrant variations of green, orange, and purple to encompass their wedding day. Floral design was done by Daevid's who used elegant cone shaped glass pew markers to line the ceremony aisle with green Fuji mums and spicy orange roses. The bride carried a nosegay style bouquet of green Fuji mums, vendella roses, spicy orange lilies and roses, and purple stock with delicate touches of green hypericum berries. Her maids carried a similar bouquet with the addition of green hydrangea.

Moments before she walked down the aisle the bride was surprised to see her uncle, (who is a priest in the Philippines) had flown in to preform the ceremony. This was such a touching moment to be a part of!!

The groom custom designed their programs

Their reception took place at the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel, and was accented with gorgeous uplighting courtesy of Blue Steel Pro Lighting which included a gobo design in the likeness of the groom's custom stationary pieces

including the seating chart

They chose a cupcake display in place of traditional tiered wedding cake, with a Patti Cakes cake topper that proudly displayed the groom's favorite past time. At the end of the evening the cupcakes were placed into to go containers for the guests to take home with them. Another thoughtful touch courtesy of our bride Cecilia!

We have seen quite a few variations of the traditional bouquet and garter removal and toss, but this poor groom definitely took home the prize! He needed a little help getting to the bride, but once he did he managed to do just fine!

Guests were also treated to The Traveling Photo Booth

And a delicious french fry and sweet potato fry bar!

Cecilia and Brian were such a fun couple to work with, and we were honored to be a part of their special day!

Special thanks to Rebecca Keeling Studios for capturing and sharing these memories, especially this little gem

Cecilia and Brian, we wish you the best! xoxo ❤ As You Wish