THE WEEKEND AFFAIR
YES, IT IS POSSIBLE TO HOST AN INTIMATE MULTIDAY CELEBRATION FOR ALMOST 250 PEOPLE. HERE’S HOW.
Yes, it is possible to host an intimate multiday celebration for almost 250 people. Here’s how.
After a five-star engagement at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, Angie Hegazi and Brian Kearney knew they needed a wedding venue that reflected that same sophisticated feeling, but with enough space to host 245 friends and family. The Mandarin Oriental DC was the perfect fit: It exuded refined style, with an expansive garden lawn for the ceremony and a ballroom for the reception.
“We wanted our guests to have several options to mingle,” says Hegazi, “so we created separate seating areas throughout the ballroom. There were also sofas placed next to the dance floor, [so that] anyone who might be too shy to dance could still feel like they were part of the fun. We didn’t want anyone to have to wait to get a drink, so additional bars were added.” The bars were especially well-stocked: The couple offered a wine that Kearney had blended at their winery, Addax, in Napa Valley, for the wedding.
The Grand Ballroom accommodates 500 guests, so the trick was adjusting the scale. “To give such a large room a more intimate feel, white pipe-and-drape [sets were] used to fill in any gaps, and additional sitting areas surrounded the custom bar,” says the hotel’s director of catering, Marie Steffany.
The newlyweds wrapped up the weekend with a next-day brunch in the light-filled gallery, complete with floor-to-ceiling windows and an outdoor terrace.