Nara & Louis

We’re thrilled to invite you to celebrate our marriage with us at City-State Brewing, D.C.’s newest microbrewery. (They only just opened back in June!) We love the open, airy, creative space, and we think you’ll enjoy it, too! Our reception will have an open bar that grants access to everything City-State currently has on tap — at the time of writing, that’s no fewer than 10 different beers in a variety of styles, from pale ales to pilsners and wheat beers to kolsch. Not a beer drinker? No worries! We’re bringing in bottles of our favorite rosé that City-State staff are happy to pour for our guests. Iced tea and other alcohol-free options will also be available.

City-State Brewing does not have an onsite kitchen, so we’re bringing in a food truck for dinner. We’re so excited about our menu that it’s incredibly difficult not to tell you who our caterer is, but we want to keep it a surprise. The best part is that our caterer is so flexible that they can take into account any and all dietary restrictions as long as we let them know in advance. Your R.S.V.P. form includes space to list you or your +1’s dietary restrictions, so make liberal use of this!

In addition to dinner and drinks, our venue has just enough space for a small dance floor, so put your dancing shoes on! Not a huge fan of shaking your hips? Worry not, we’ll have alternative entertainment (also a surprise). Another important note: we will not be doing speeches, so please do not write one.

While the venue is kid-friendly, we have opted to restrict our reception to fully-vaccinated guests only in order to ensure the safety of our older relatives and vulnerable friends. We recognize that could present a challenge for those of you with children below age 12. If you need help arranging childcare, let us know and we will be happy to assist.

City-State Brewing features one exterior wall composed almost entirely of garage doors that we’ll be keeping raised up for the duration of our event in order to maximize air circulation in the space. We’ve reserved the entire venue for our private party, so no one will be there aside from our guests and the brewery’s fully-vaccinated staff. There will be a small bottle of hand sanitizer at every table that you are encouraged to make use of. We will not require anyone to wear a mask, but you are welcome to do so if that would make you feel more comfortable attending. We will also have a few KF94 masks available just in case anyone at any time decides they’d prefer to mask up.

While we ourselves look forward to hugging all of our attendees (or however you’d prefer to greet us), we ask that you please respect your fellow guests and their comfort zones. In particular, we’re discouraging shaking hands when meeting someone new — not everyone is okay with touching strangers these days, and that’s fine. Don’t take it personally.

Since many of you are coming from out of town, we have arranged two hotel blocks. You are also free to find your own lodging, but we encourage you to consider these vetted, cost-effective options:

Book Marriott

The Courtyard by Marriott Washington DC / US Capitol is the best option for those who value proximity to the venue. It is one of the closest major chain hotels to the venue; technically, it is walkable, although it is not a particularly pleasant walk, so you may want to ride the metro one stop or Lyft/Uber the short distance. The hotel is located right next to the NoMa / Gallaudet U metro stop, on the Red Line. We have negotiated a rate of $119/night plus taxes for our room block. Parking is $44/night. Rooms are single king or double queen. You must book using our link by August 16, 2021 to take advantage of our discounted rate.

When we surveyed some of our guests, almost everyone cited proximity to the venue as their top priority, so we think the Marriott will be a great option for the majority of you. However, we have arranged one other room block at a different hotel just in case.

Our alternative hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn Washington DC / Georgetown Area, is much further from the venue — in fact, it is located one block from where we live! We can’t promise that you’ll see more of us, but we wanted to provide an option for those who would prefer a location in a more established neighborhood closer to the major tourist hotspots. It is located near 4 metro lines (Blue/Orange/Silver and Red), making it a great base for sightseeing. We have negotiated a pre-tax rate of $159/night for single king or double queen rooms. Parking is $50/night. You must book using our link by August 25, 2021 to take advantage of our discounted rate.

Book Hilton

The map below will hopefully help you figure out which hotel is best-suited to your needs. You can also open this map in your browser here. The venue is represented by a heart with a dark-pink background. The hotels have a bed icon with a black background.

Not everyone realizes that the greater D.C. area actually has three airports — the Baltimore airport is accessible via public transit as well. None of them are clearly better or worse options than any of the others, so we have attempted to outline the pros and cons of each below.

Again, none of these are objectively terrible options and at the end of the day it makes sense to go with whatever airline and airport combination gets you a direct flight for the least amount of money. That said, it is crucial to factor in how you plan to get from the airport to your hotel and back, since the steep Lyft costs for IAD and especially BWI can cut into the money you saved on the flight; often, DCA still ends up being cheapest overall.

If you’re traveling in by train, you’ll want to take Amtrak in to Union Station. If you’re coming from the New York City area, this is a great option because there is a train roughly every hour, and as long as you book 1-2 months in advance, tickets cost as little as $54 each way. If you come by train, you’ll definitely want to stay at the Marriott, as it’ll be a 15-minute walk, 3-minute one-stop ride on the metro, or 5-minute Lyft ride to your hotel.

We don’t recommend long-distance buses, but they’re an option if you’re booking late and missed out on the saver fare Amtrak tickets. MegaBus stops at Union Station, so you’ll also want to stay at the Marriott. If we’re forced to take the bus, however, we prefer Vamoose Bus, which picks up and drops off in Arlington. If you go with this option, it’s more convenient to stay at the Hilton.

Getting around the city is very easy; it’s nicely walkable, and while it often seems like Washingtonians' favorite pastime is complaining about the metro, it’s really not that bad. You can view a map of the metro system here (printable PDF here). Another useful resource are the DC Circulator buses, which connect the major tourist hotspots; you can find these maps here (printable PDF here). Those are separate from the regular WMATA public buses, whose routes are optimized for commuters; line-by-line maps are available here (printable PDF here). Masks are required while riding all forms of D.C. public transit.

All D.C. transit methods use one unified payment system: a reloadable physical card called the SmarTrip card. You can buy a SmarTrip card at any metro station. You can also pay for the bus with cash as long as you have exact change. Metrorail fare varies based on the distance traveled and costs between $2.25–6 during peak hours (weekdays from opening to 9:30 am and 3–7 pm) and $2–3.85 during off-peak hours. Metrobus costs a flat rate of $2 regardless of the distance traveled. Circulator rides cost $1.

Although it is often maligned as a failure, the city has one other public transit option: the DC Streetcar, which travels from the rear of Union Station down the H Street Corridor and back. (See the Things To Do section on why you may want to go to the H Street Corridor.) The streetcar is currently free to ride. You can see a live tracker of its simple route map here.

Lyft and Uber are very popular in the city, especially late at night because the metro stops running quite early (currently midnight). Most Lyft rides within the city cost under $10 per ride, making it a convenient and economical way to get around, especially if you’re traveling with others. Masks are required while riding Lyft or Uber. Please remember to tip your driver generously!

D.C. is a relatively bike-friendly city, and Capital Bikeshare is one of the city’s most beloved institutions, popular with both commuters and tourists alike. It’s $2 for a 30-minute ride, $8 for a day pass, or $17 for a 3-day pass. You can buy a pass at any kiosk attached to a bikeshare docking station (mapped here), but it’s even easier to pay using their mobile app, or using the integration built into the Lyft app.

Uber has partnered with Lime and JUMP, which offer e-scooter and e-bike rentals, respectively, and which have the benefit of not requiring a docking station; you grab the bike or scooter nearest you, unlock it using the Uber app, and then leave it parked on any sidewalk whenever you’re done. E-scooters are all the rage in D.C.; in addition to Lime, we also have Bird, Lyft Scooters, Razor, Skip, and Spin. Prices vary by provider and type of vehicle, but generally speaking it costs $1 to unlock an electric scooter or bike and 24–39 cents per minute to use them. Note that you should ride your e-scooter in bike lanes or on the street; it is illegal to ride on the sidewalk in downtown D.C.

D.C. has the type of climate that features every season, and often an extreme version of each: cold winters with the occasional snowstorm, a mild spring with typical April showers, hot and humid summers, and mild autumns with abundant fall foliage. On the whole, it is relatively sunny (if not always warm); it is rare for it to be completely overcast all day long. Rain can be torrential or just a light sprinkle, so it’s always a good idea to carry an umbrella everywhere you go.

While astronomically it should be considered autumn, September in D.C. will still feel like summer, with warm and humid temperatures throughout the month. The big unknown is just how warm: it could range anywhere from a very pleasant mid 70s to the low 90s, with the humidity and heat index adding another 5–10 degrees Fahrenheit to the perceived temperature. Splitting the difference, it’s probably best to prepare for temperatures in the mid 80s, and it’s never a bad idea to wear thin layers so you can take things off or put things on depending on what the weather calls for. You definitely won’t need a parka, but you may want to bring a waterproof windbreaker or light rain jacket in case we lose the meteorological lottery. If you plan to do a lot of walking (which would not be unusual in this pedestrian-friendly city), we recommend waterproofing your shoes just in case.

It’ll still be a little early for fall foliage in the area, but if you’re driving in from out of town or rent a car for the weekend, you could consider heading toward Shenandoah or West Virginia, where you may start to see the first signs of the leaves turning. More than likely it will still be mostly green, however.

D.C. is a vibrant city with tons and tons of things to do, so for those of you coming from out of town, we hope you’ll take advantage of our reception being on a Sunday evening and plan to make a long weekend of it. Whether you’re a foodie, museum enthusiast, nature lover, live music fan, shutterbug, traveling solo or with kids, D.C. has something for everyone, and we’re convinced you’ll love the city just as much as we do.

If it’s your first time in D.C., you’ll probably want to spend some time visiting the monuments and memorials by the National Mall. Our favorite walking route there is a loop around the Tidal Basin. We usually take the metro to the Smithsonian stop (Blue/Orange/Silver) and walk towards the Washington Monument, then head south on 15th St NW. From there, we loop around the basin, starting with the Jefferson Memorial, to the F.D.R. Memorial, and then on to the M.L.K. Memorial. After that, you can either finish the loop and head back towards the Washington Monument / Smithsonian stop; this ~2.5 mile walk will likely take you at least an hour at a leisurely pace. Or, if you’ve still got energy / are feeling adventurous, you can instead head northwest from the M.L.K. Memorial toward the Korean War Memorial, then on to Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Constitution Gardens, WWII Memorial, and back to the Washington Monument from there. This ~4.5 mile walk will likely take you 3–4 hours at a leisurely pace, though you can speed it up (and save some energy) by renting an e-scooter to take you part of the way.

There is arguably no better city for museum lovers than D.C., since all of the renowned Smithsonian museums (plus the National Zoo) are free to the public. It is worth noting, however, that the Big Three (Air & Space, Natural History, and American History) can be extremely crowded on the weekends, so if you dislike crowds as much as we do, it’s not a bad idea to check out some of the lesser-known locations instead. Arguably our favorite is the National Portrait Gallery, and we’ve also enjoyed some of the special exhibitions at the Renwick Gallery and the Postal Museum. Note that if you want to visit the African American Museum, timed entry passes are required. These passes are released throughout each day, beginning at 8am, for time slots 30 days out, and are so popular that they get booked up almost immediately, so set a calendar reminder for yourself if you want to try to snag one of these. Also note that if you want to see the Discovery space shuttle, you’ll need to go to the Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center, not the museum located downtown. Udvar-Hazy is really far outside the city and a pain to get to, so this is not recommended unless you’re traveling light and flying out of Dulles, in which case you can make a stop on your way to or from the airport.

D.C. also has several great museums that are not part of the Smithsonian. The downside is that most of these are not free to the public, but the upside is that they are forced to hold themselves to a very high standard in order to compete with the Smithsonians, and visitors clearly benefit from excellently curated exhibitions. Highlights include the Phillips Collection, the National Building Museum, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Sadly, the National Museum of Women in the Arts is closed for renovations for the next two years.

If you’ve been to D.C. before and have already visited the major tourist hot spots, we encourage you to visit some of D.C.’s more off-the-beaten-path attractions. If you’re staying at the Marriott, you should definitely take advantage of your proximity to the National Arboretum with its National Capitol Columns (an excellent sight for shutterbugs) and the National Bonsai Museum, and if the weather is especially nice, travel even further east to Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens with its beautiful lotus and lily flowers. If you’re staying at the Hilton, you’re within walking distance of several hidden gems in the Dupont Circle area, including the Mansion on O Street, Dupont Underground, and the Barbie Pond on Avenue Q. Elsewhere in the city, highlights include the Congressional Cemetery, which offers free walking tours, and the Library of Congress.

There are also plenty of half-day or full-day trips to take outside of the city. Our favorite place to take visiting relatives is Mount Vernon, George Washington’s historic home, which is well-preserved, offers an excellent guided tour included in the admission price, and sits on a beautiful landscape. (Don’t miss our favorite spot, G. Dubs' distillery, located just down the street from the estate — an excellent tour of this building is also included in your admission.) The nice thing about Mount Vernon is that it is accessible via public transportation, or you can take a ~$25 Lyft ride from the city or a tourist boat cruise from The Wharf. For a full-day trip, we like Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s estate) and Colonial Williamsburg, both of which are about a 3-hour drive each way. There’s no (reliable) public transportation to either location, so you’ll need to rent a car; the best place to do so is at one of the many car rental counters at Reagan National Airport (which you can get to by metro, and then you don’t have to deal with driving in the city). If you’re interested in exploring in the other direction, the National Aquarium is our favorite attraction in the Baltimore area, and you can get there via public transportation; from Union Station, take the MARC Penn Line to Penn Station or the MARC Camden Line to its terminus. (You can technically take Amtrak as well, but it’s 3–4 times as expensive as MARC, so we wouldn’t recommend it.)

For nightlife, our favorite area to hang out is the H Street Corridor, although it’s far enough away from where we live that we don’t make it over there as often as we like. (Those of you staying at the Marriott should definitely take advantage of your proximity, however.) In recent years, when we do make it out, we’re usually found in the U Street Corridor or the nearby Shaw, since we most often went out in conjunction with a show at the 9:30 Club. While we love our proximity to Georgetown, its bar scene leaves a lot to be desired (but there’s actually a historical reason for that!), and the nightlife in Dupont Circle is not really our scene. We do like many of the restaurants and music venues in Adams Morgan, but it’s such a pain to get to that we don’t make it out there more than once a year at the most.

Craft beer has been hugely popular in the city for years, though until recently, most local breweries were located just outside the District, in Maryland and Virginia. Recently, however, there has been more of a push to open microbreweries inside the District; our venue, City-State Brewing, is the latest example of that trend. Other favorites include Bluejacket, 3 Stars, Right Proper, and Atlas Brew Works. And let’s not forget Red Bear Brewing, a gay-owned microbrewery that was crowd-funded — look for Nara’s name on the plaque by the front door! Recently, there has also been a boom in craft distilleries setting up shop in the District. Examples include Republic Restoratives (our original venue), Cotton & Reed, One Eight, New Columbia Distillers, and Jos. A. Magnus & Co. Nearly all of these distilleries are concentrated in the Ivy City area, and most have outdoor seating and tasting menus, so those of you staying at the Marriott could easily spend your Saturday afternoon hitting up these venues by foot.

And last but absolutely not least, D.C. is a phenomenally exciting city for foodies. The dining scene here is on fire, with many homegrown chefs building up restaurant empires, as well as a steady stream of outside talent moving in, and the addition of the city’s own Michelin guide in 2017 has only made the food scene more attractive to those wanting to invest in gastronomic innovation. As devoted foodies ourselves, we’re constantly dreaming about where we want to eat next, though checking out the “new hotness” usually requires more than a little dedication: it is common for newly-opened and hyped restaurants not to take reservations, leading to a long tradition of people waiting in line for hours before a popular restaurant opens its doors just to try to get a coveted spot on the waitlist for that evening. We’ve been there & done that… and now we’re too old for that kind of thing.

One thing worth noting about the dining scene: overall D.C. is not a great city for ethnic food, although there are a few exceptions. The Ethiopian and Eritrean food offerings in the city are excellent, and some of the most popular restaurants specialize in Thai, Laotian, and Cambodian cuisine. But notably, if you want good Korean or Chinese food, you’ll need to venture to the suburbs and exurbs of the city (i.e. Virginia and Maryland). Mostly, D.C. specializes in “New American” cuisine, which tends to be inspired by food from other cultures, but more often than not is made by white people. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, by any means, but if you’re looking for authenticity, this ain’t it.

Below is a map of our favorite restaurants and bars in D.C. (and some that might not make our top 50, but that are still solid places where we like to take visiting friends and family). Protip: if you open the map in a new browser by clicking here, you should be able to save it to your Google Maps, and then you can pull it up anytime as you’re walking around the city.

In addition to our tourist tips in the Things To Do section above, here are a couple of sample itineraries, ideal for a romantic outing for two.

We’re lucky to already have a home full of everything we need (and no room left for anything else), so in lieu of a registry with material things, we’re raising money for our dream honeymoon in Australia, as well as the travel costs associated with our wedding tour. You can find our registry on Honeyfund. Note that while our honeymoon was also postponed, we are still planning to make the trip as soon as Australia reopens to international travellers — currently we are aiming for October 2022.