Winter Storm Jonas couldn’t stop this glam Harry Potter wedding

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 | Photography by Jon Fleming Photography
Winter Storm Jonas wedding as seen on @offbeatbride
Photos by Jon Fleming Photography

The Offbeat Bride: Gretchen, Community Manager

Her offbeat partner: Sean, Project Manager

Date and location of wedding: George Washington Masonic Memorial, Alexandria VA — January 23, 2016

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

I was going for an Old Hollywood vibe for the wedding. I wanted gold and glitter and glitz everywhere, with some subtle Harry Potter touches to reflect my lifelong love affair with The Boy Who Lived. Of course, an additional element was added into the mix when Winter Storm Jonas decided to crash the wedding. #Snowzilla!

Winter Storm Jonas wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter Storm Jonas wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter Storm Jonas wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Tell us about the ceremony:

My uncle is an Episcopalian bishop, and his son (my cousin), is also a reverend, and both of them were able to fly in to officiate my wedding. My parents' faith is very important to them, so we had a traditional Episcopalian ceremony with a few personal touches added to make it even more meaningful for my fiance and myself. In addition to the liturgical vows, we exchanged personally written vows (Sean's were amazing — I was a sobbing mess!), and I replaced one of the biblical readings with a literary excerpt (from Corelli's Mandolin).

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

I hired my friend Chad's string quartet, Triforce Quartet, for the ceremony music, and while 3/4 of the members were unable to get to my wedding due to the blizzard, Chad walked two miles in the snow (literally!) to get there and performed some of my favorite pieces of video game music for our processional. The groomsmen walked in to “Dearly Beloved” from Kingdom Hearts, my bridesmaids walked in to “Melodies of Life” from Final Fantasy IX, and I walked down the aisle to “Aerith's Theme” from Final Fantasy VII.

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Our ceremony backdrop was made up of nearly 1,000 white and gold paper cranes that my sister, bridesmaid Holly, and I hand-folded and strung. We had our ceremony in the theatre of the George Washington Masonic Memorial, which has a wonderful, grand ambiance with colored ceiling lights, gorgeous marble columns, and red velvet seating, so not a whole lot of additional decor seemed necessary.

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Tell us about your reception:

My coordinator, Caitlin McIntire, made every element of my Old Hollywood theme come to life, from getting our DIYed gold wine bottle centerpieces on the tables, filling said bottles with flowers we ordered ourselves from a floral wholesaler, placing the chalkboard signs I'd made, setting up our dessert table and popcorn bar, and so much more.

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

I labeled the tables after some of my favorite classic Hollywood movies, like Singin' in the Rain and Some Like It Hot. Our favors were Ferrero Rocher chocolates to which I hot-glued paper wings so as to turn them into golden snitches from Harry Potter, and our awesome wedding cake had a snitch on the bottom tier as well as a “Mischief Managed” cake topper I got off of Etsy.

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

I made cake stands out of thrifted plates and glasses for the dessert bar, I made chalkboard signs out of old picture frames, and I hand-made our card box out of all seven Harry Potter books by carving out the middle of the books and turning it into a “hidden safe” book stack. Our guest book was a piece of red silk to honor my half-Chinese heritage.

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

One of my favorite moments of the reception was right after my sister finished her wonderful and moving Matron of Honor speech: my not-quite-three year old niece and flower girl, Mia, ran up to her mom, grabbed the mic, and said, “Love you, Pookie!” (her pet name for me).

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

What was your most important lesson learned?

If you'd asked me a week beforehand, I would have said that my biggest challenge was probably trying to commit to the seating chart or something. But that was before Winter Storm Jonas blew in and changed my whole perspective. Getting hit with multiple feet of snow on your wedding day really forces a gal to adapt, y'know?

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

When we realized how bad the storm was shaping up to be, we made a quick decision to move our getting ready location from my parents' home in Falls Church, VA, to the Hilton Old Town Alexandria, a hotel located just half a mile from our venue. So we spent a large part of Thursday night calling to book rooms for my family members, the bridal party, and more. The blizzard also meant almost half of our guest list was unfortunately unable to actually make it to the wedding, but it never felt like anything was lacking in the slightest. I have some seriously amazing family and friends — people who rebooked cancelled flights many times over, came in early, and had to stay late in order to attend our wedding — and the night was full of love, light, and life!

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

Winter storm Harry Potter wedding as seen on @offbeatbride

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Comments on Winter Storm Jonas couldn’t stop this glam Harry Potter wedding

  1. I’ve been to the Masonic Memorial many times to visit. It is a wonderful location. Too bad the weather was icky to enjoy the view from the tower (if they would let you up even if the weather was not bad. I know it is part of the tour). Your mother in law is a cutie and has a great smile!

    • I SO wish we’d been able to go up to the top, but the staff showed pics the next day of the five foot snow drifts that accumulated up there so I doubt we would have even been able to push past the door! Hahaha. And thank you, if you’re talking about the foxy Chinese lady in the red dress, that’s actually my mom! Sean and I are both half-Asian. 🙂

  2. This all looks amazing! Love those glitzy gold dresses on all the ladies! I also looove your big ol’ smile. You look so happy. <3

  3. So beautiful. Congrats! We had a Harry Potter wedding and I soooo eyed that beautiful cake topper but thought about it too late to order.

    I’m so glad the storm didn’t kill your buzz. My friend got married during hurricane Sandy and she had a wonderful day with just 13 guests who made it!

    But all that said, your wedding was gorgeous and the thing that absolutely gave me chills was your music choices. Ahhhh. So delicate and romantic and nerdy at the same time!

    A million congrats.

  4. I think I’m the most impressed with the fact that this wedding was posted only 5 days after the wedding date! Your photographer must be on top of their shiz!

    But seriously, this is a beautiful wedding, and I’m glad the blizzard didn’t interfere. 🙂

    • …we do love a good timely “current event” wedding sometimes, y’know? 😛

  5. GORGEOUS! That dress is everything. Looks like you two had a blast, despite the weather! I’m a VA native, but live outside of Philly. We got hit hard, too. That blizzard was out of this world.

    I had to catch my breath at the grilled cheese/tomato soup appetizers. BRUHHH. Might have to borrow that idea.

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