Planes, Trains, and Running Shoes

You can read about our ceremony and see some pictures here!

So, there we were, officially married, and the first thing I said was, "It stopped raining!" It looked like it would start up again, but I was so happy that it wasn't raining!

We went back into the church for a few formal photos. I really  didn't want to do any of these, but at the insistence of just about everyone, we did, and once again, thanks to our amazing photographer, we were finished with church photos in ten minutes.

We rented and Old Town Trolley to transport our bridal party, which ended up being the greatest idea ever. I was adamant that I didn't want a limo, and I wasn't too keen on the idea of a party bus either. When I stumbled on the trolleys on a DC wedding blog, I called them right away.

Our photographer snapped this on the trolley and posted Instagram! The sign was a DIY I made for our ring bearer.

As we were making our way into DC for pictures, the sun started coming out. I couldn't believe it. It was downpouring when I left for the church! So, we abandoned our rain plans and made for the
Mall.

Our first stop was the Capitol.

We took pictures with the bridal party there, plus some sibling shots, and of course some shots of just the two of us. I don't have any of these yet, but someone snapped this one while we were taking pictures.

Me, my husband (!), my dad, brother and sisters

After about 45 minutes of pictures, we headed over to the World War II Memorial for some pictures of just the two of us. The WWII is my favorite memorial/monument in DC, and is also where we got engaged! I didn't think we'd actually have time to take pictures there, but I was so happy that we did!

From there, it was a short walk across the street to the Washington Monument where we had way too much fun enjoying the first moments of our married life. Our photographers were incredible and we had so much fun with them. The bridal party was off riding around the Mall on the trolley, and we got time to just be alone together and take it all in, advice I had been given by a lot of people.

Another IG Shot from our photographer. We loved him too.

Once we finished our pictures, it was time to head to the cocktail hour and reception. The major plus side of having a 2:00 wedding (which I had originally thought was to o early), was that we didn't have to do a first look, would have plenty of time for pictures between the ceremony and reception, and we could go to our cocktail hour! And since most of our guests had never been to DC, they took the gap to sight see!

We had our reception at Old Ebbitt Grill. We got there around 5:15, which gave me time to bustle my dress and take a walk around our reception venue while all of our guests were still waiting outside.

Then, we headed up to the rooftop for our cocktail hour. Old Ebbitt's roof top overlooks The White House and the Washington Monument. It's one of the best views in DC and is incredible. I knew that 99% of our guests would be traveling (some from as far away as Guam and Hawaii!) so I wanted there to be a view, so that everyone could at least see some of DC! I loved walking through the cocktail hour and hearing everyone say, "Is that the White House?!" and jumping in to say, "Yup!"

Bottom Right is The Pilot and me with my mama (our dresses kind of matched, which I loved)

I'm so so glad that we were able to go to our cocktail hour. We were able to walk around and talk to every single one of our guests! I didn't want to do a receiving line or any other kind of rushed meet and greet, and this was perfect! I felt like our cocktail hour went on for ages! It was awesome! I couldn't believe we had time to taste all of the food and talk to all of our guests!

Just before 6:30, everyone started making their way downstairs. I snuck back to the oyster bar and ate 15 (!) oysters before the bridal party headed downstairs together for the reception.