Hello! My name is Giulia and I own an event planning company based in Washington, DC. I co-founded G&N Events with my mom shortly after I graduated from business school. We have together (and separately) planned a number of corporate events and weddings, but unsurprisingly, my own wedding was our favorite event to plan.
My husband and I got married in September 2019 at Riverside on the Potomac, in Leesburg, Virginia, perfectly ticking the box of an outdoor theme and feel. Our wedding was fully planned by G&N Events with the exception of month-of and day-of coordination, which was done by All In Events (because I know, more than anyone, how important it is to have support leading up to the big day!).
As an event planner, I obviously spend most of my time planning events and weddings for other people, but rarely (if ever!) get to plan events for myself. While I coordinate and organize events regularly, planning my own wedding was a completely different ballgame. I had to learn how to navigate the emotions and logistics of being both the planner and the client on the same wedding.
The best part of planning a wedding is seeing all the ideas come together to create the perfect vision of the day, but that creates the challenge of ensuring all the details are cohesive. With our organization and planning experience, all the puzzle pieces slowly fell into place.
While planning our wedding, my husband and I decided we wanted to incorporate both traditional and personal elements into our ceremony and reception. My family is Greek, so we wanted to honor some Greek wedding traditions, while still filling the day with our own personal touches and keeping the theme and ambiance consistent throughout. In addition, we knew we wanted a DJ who would play some of our favorite songs, but we also wanted to have some more traditional Greek music and dancing. Lastly, we knew that somehow, we wanted to tie everything together with an outdoorsy-theme and a color palette of navy, white, and greenery.
We ended up working with both a DJ and a traditional Greek band so that we could have the best of both worlds with regards to music and dancing. Our DJ, Capital Deejays, coordinated and switched on and off with the Greek band, which gave our wedding the perfect blend of music and cultures.
With the help of our caterer, Main Event Caterers, and our florist, Ginger & Blooms, we got the rustic and natural theme we were looking for with white florals and navy drinking glasses strewn throughout Riverside’s legendary barn, creating a seamless theme.
Our day was perfect and magical in every single way. It was made even more special by the fact that I was not only thrilled as a client that our big day was everything we had envisioned, but I was also happy as a planner, knowing from experience how much all of our hard work paid off.
