Weddings

This Couple Turned Their Wedding Cocktail Hour Into a Dance Party

The newlyweds and their guests got the party started while the ceremony space was transformed for the reception.

Photographs by Joshua Dwain

Tanisha, an anesthesiologist from DC, and Jahad, a commercial underwriter from New Jersey, went on their first official date to a Ravens football game. After 14 years of an on-and-off long-distance relationship while she pursued her residency, fellowship, and career, Jahad proposed back where it all started in Baltimore with a question: “Are you ready to do this?”

They planned their October 26, 2019 wedding in seven months. Black-acrylic invitations in a black-and-rose-gold velvet cover set the tone for other details: the black wedding cake, table linens, and escort cards, plus a request for all-black black-tie attire for their 200 guests. During the nuptials, the couple honored those “that came before them,” including Tanisha’s mother, with a memorial reading and singing of the Lord’s Prayer by Rayshun LaMarr (via Lucy Black Entertainment). A former competitor on The Voice, LaMarr also performed at the dance-party cocktail hour while the venue was reconfigured from ceremony to reception. There, DJ Max Powers kept everyone on the dance floor, and his-and-hers bars from Social Supply kept drinks (including mocktails) flowing. See the details of their big day, which was featured in a special Weddings section of Washingtonian’s January 2021 issue, below.

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The Details

Planning and Design: Howerton & Wooten Events | Planning & Design: Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center | Florist: Nature of Design | Invitations: LePenn Designs | Cake: Couture Cakes by Sabrina | Hairstylist: Van Rhodes | Makeup Artist: GlamQui | Bride’s Attire: Demetrios | Decor: Select Event Group; Nüage Designs; Fabrication Events | Lighting: Frost DC | Ice Sculpture: Ice Lab | Dance Floor: The Light Source Company

Amy Moeller
Fashion & Weddings Editor

Amy leads Washingtonian Weddings and writes Style Setters for Washingtonian. Prior to joining Washingtonian in March 2016, she was the editor of Capitol File magazine in DC and before that, editor of What’s Up? Weddings in Annapolis.