Events | Wish Upon a Wedding
Tuesday November 23rd, 2010
Last Wednesday we had the chance to spend the evening celebrating and supporting the remarkable nonprofit organization Wish Upon a Wedding with their DC chapter (which also supports Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia) at the gorgeous Tremont Hotel in Balitmore, Maryland. Wish Upon a Wedding is the first nonprofit organization to grant wedding wishes by providing weddings and vow renewals to couples, regardless of sexual orientation, who are facing terminal illness or life-altering circumstances. Wish Upon a Wedding officially launched in January 2010 and has continued to grow and grant wishes. Our Los Angeles-based photographer, Sara Wolfram Allen of Onelove Photography captured their launch party back in April.
Left: Amy VanMeter of Amy VanMeter Events and Heather
Wish Upon a Wedding has been hosting a number of fundraising galas across the United States to raise money for wedding wishes. Upon arriving, we met fellow wedding industry professionals such as Amy Vanmeter, the exquisite planner behind Amy VanMeter Events. Amy serves as marketing chair for Wish Upon a Wedding’s DC chapter.
The silent auction was a lot of fun and it was great seeing all of the individuals who donated to the cause. Items up for bid included full service bridal planning, a boudoir photography session, and signed sports paraphernalia. Individuals strolled the parlor making donations towards the silent auction, sampled wine and cheese, and mingled. Kim was even getting in on the action—bidding on a cruise that our photographer Mary Kate McKenna ended up winning. Have fun on your trip Mary Kate! Heather was the highest bidder on one auction item and will be enjoying a night at the lakeside Sheraton in Columbia, Maryland soon!
Left: Heather with Mark Kingsdorf of The Queen of Hearts Wedding Consultants; Right: Heather & Kim with photographer Mary Kate McKenna
We lucked out and got to spend dinner chatting it up with Mark Kingsdorf of The Queen of Hearts Wedding Consultants, who happens to be one of the most charismatic people we’ve had a chance to get to know so far—which says a lot when you’re talking about the wedding industry! Mark has had the chance to work with a handful of Cake & Pictures photographers including Cliff Mautner and Susan Stripling. He is President of the Wish Upon a Wedding Philadelphia chapter due to launch in 2011. We also got a chance to meet up with our Washington, DC-based photographer Mary Kate McKenna, who was nominated for a Shining Star Award. We were eyeing each other up from across the room trying to match website thumbnails to the actual person. When you work with hundreds of photographers via the internet, it’s really a wonderful experience to get to shake their hand and have a conversation sans computer screen. Not only was Mary Kate nominated for an award for the evening, she shot Ed & Erwin’s engagement shoot, the DC chapters first couple.
Mary Kate McKenna / Washington DC
Sitting at our table was the lovely Janice Carnevale of Bellweather Events, who planned Ed & Erwin’s wedding. Such a small, giving world! To learn more about Ed & Erwin’s story, check out the video below. To see more of Mary Kate’s wonderful engagement session with the duo, check out her blog.
Erwin and Ed Wedding Film from humanstory on Vimeo.
Top Right: Art Sherrod Jr; Bottom: Shutter Booth
For such a heartwarming and serious organization—these people do know how to entertain! After dinner guests boogied the night away to jazz saxophonist Art Sherrod Jr and partied in the photo booth provided by Shutter Booth.
It was a fabulous evening spent with new friends supporting a wonderful organization. Wish Upon a Wedding is very easy to support. Visit their website to see how you can help be a part of granting once in a lifetime weddings to inspirational couples nationwide. If you aren’t able to attend a silent auction gala but want to participate, take a look at all of the wonderful items being auctioned on their website.
– Kim & Heather
