How to Have a Micro Wedding at the DC War Memorial
We Can Help You Plan Your DC War Memorial Micro Wedding!
If you’re planning a micro wedding in Washington, DC and want a ceremony location that feels iconic without spending thousands of dollars on a traditional wedding venue, the DC War Memorial might be one of the best-kept secrets in the city.
It’s beautiful and it’s surrounded by some of the most recognizable scenery in Washington DC. It gives you a covered ceremony option without putting you inside a hotel or event space and the current National Park Service wedding permit application fee is only $90.
There is, however, a catch.
Getting married at the DC War Memorial is easy when you know what you’re doing but it can be a tad challenging for first timers.
After planning more than 75 weddings at the DC War Memorial, we know this venue inside and out. We know how to get chairs there without paying an outrageous rental minimum, how to create a timeline that actually works with the permit, where your guests should go, what transportation makes sense, where to take photos and what seemingly small logistical details can cause headaches on the wedding day.
And it happens to be one of the venues that works especially well with our all-inclusive Washington, DC micro wedding package.
what and where Is the DC War Memorial?
The DC War Memorial is a beautiful domed memorial located on the National Mall, not far from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
Unlike many of DC’s monuments, the memorial has a circular, open-air structure with large columns and a domed roof. That combination makes it particularly great for weddings because you still get the trees, greenery and natural light of an outdoor ceremony, but the structure itself provides some coverage if the weather doesn’t cooperate.
The National Park Service allows wedding ceremonies at the DC War Memorial with an approved permit. The permitted time is two hours total, including setup and cleanup. Chairs, a small table, a wedding arch or chuppah, and a battery-operated sound system are among the equipment that may be approved as part of the permit. (Don’t worry - we’ll help you with the application process!)
That two-hour timeframe is also exactly why we love it for micro weddings.
Our All-Inclusive Micro Wedding Package Is Also Two Hours
This is one of those rare situations where the venue and the wedding package fit together perfectly.
Our standard Tiny Wedding Co. all-inclusive micro wedding package is built around a two-hour event, the same amount of time you receive for a DC War Memorial wedding permit.
Rather than trying to squeeze a traditional six-hour wedding into a National Park Service permit that was never intended for one, we plan the celebration around what the DC War Memorial does really well.
You have your ceremony.
You celebrate with your guests.
You take family and group photographs.
You spend time taking portraits around one of the prettiest parts of Washington, DC.
And then, if you want to continue celebrating, you can head somewhere else for dinner or a reception.
Our all-inclusive package includes day-of coordination, timeline creation, a legal ceremony with an officiant, professional photography, two personal floral designs, a small celebration cake and a champagne toast, along with planning calls and support leading up to the wedding. Packages currently begin at $4,775.
In other words, you don't have to figure out how to assemble a dozen different wedding vendors for a two-hour ceremony on the National Mall. We've already built the team.
It’s Perfect for a Wedding With 50 Guests or Fewer
We think the space really shines as a micro wedding venue. Tiny Wedding Co. specializes in weddings with 50 guests or fewer, and at that size, your guests can gather beneath the dome rather than having your ceremony spill far out onto the surrounding lawn.
It feels intimate without feeling cramped.
You get the architectural impact of the columns and dome surrounding you, while still being able to look out onto the trees and greenery of the National Mall. And because your wedding is intentionally small, you can put more of your budget toward the things your guests actually experience rather than spending it simply because you need a room large enough to hold 150 people.
Yes, You Can Have Chairs at the DC War Memorial
This is one of those details that sounds simple until you start the process. The National Park Service allows chairs at the DC War Memorial as long as the equipment is approved as part of the permit.
The bigger challenge is getting them there.
Traditional rental companies often have delivery minimums that make absolutely no sense for a micro wedding. You might only need 20, 30 or 40 chairs, but the delivery requirements can make a small chair order surprisingly expensive (like thousands of dollars expensive…)
Because we plan so many DC War Memorial weddings, we have a vendor we work with specifically for chair delivery who doesn't require the crazy-high minimums you'll often encounter with larger rental companies.
It's a small detail, but it's exactly the kind of detail that can turn a seemingly inexpensive DIY ceremony into something more complicated than expected.
Our couples don't have to start calling rental companies hoping someone will deliver 30 chairs to the National Mall. We already know who to call.
The DC War Memorial Gives You a Built-In Rain Plan
Outdoor weddings in Washington, DC are beautiful but only if you have a solid rain plan.
One of the biggest advantages of the DC War Memorial is that the ceremony can take place beneath the memorial's dome. You're still surrounded by an outdoor setting, but you aren't standing completely exposed on a lawn if a shower rolls through.
For micro weddings especially, having that built-in coverage can eliminate the need to reserve an entirely separate indoor ceremony venue just in case it rains.
And the Photo Locations Are Hard to Beat
Another reason we love the DC War Memorial is what happens after the ceremony.
You're already right there on the National Mall.
Instead of spending a large portion of your photography time driving between locations, you can step away from the ceremony and immediately start taking portraits in a setting that feels unmistakably Washington, DC.
The memorial itself gives us beautiful architecture, columns and greenery. From there, your photographer can create a portrait plan based on your timeline, the season, the light and the locations that make the most sense for your wedding.
This is particularly valuable when you're working within a shorter micro wedding timeline. Every 20 minutes you don't spend loading into a car is 20 minutes you can actually spend celebrating or taking photographs.
The Tricky Part of a DC War Memorial Wedding Is Logistics
This is the part couples tend to underestimate.
The memorial might look wonderfully simple when you visit it on a Saturday afternoon.
You apply for your permit, bring some chairs and get married, right?
Not quite.
Parking is one of the biggest considerations.
Your wedding permit does not include parking. The National Park Service directs visitors to nearby metered parking along Ohio Drive and the A, B and C parking lots, but that doesn't mean we'd recommend telling 40 wedding guests to simply drive over and hope for the best.
Depending on your guest count, where everyone is staying, whether you have older guests, your wedding time and what else is happening in DC that weekend, we may recommend a completely different transportation strategy.
That's where having planned 75+ weddings at this exact location becomes especially valuable.
We've seen what works.
We've seen what doesn't.
We can help you determine whether guests should use rideshare, whether arranging transportation makes sense, how your vendors should arrive, what needs to be delivered and when everyone needs to be in place so you aren't using half of your two-hour permit waiting for someone who's circling the National Mall looking for parking.
There Are Also Some National Park Service Rules You Need to Know
The DC War Memorial isn't a private wedding venue. It's public parkland, so there are some restrictions you wouldn't necessarily encounter at a traditional venue.
For example, the National Park Service currently specifies that receptions and alcoholic beverages aren't allowed at the ceremony site, electricity isn't available, candles aren't permitted unless they're battery operated, and petals, rice and confetti can't be tossed. The site also has to remain accessible to the public during your wedding.
None of those things are dealbreakers for a micro wedding. You just need to plan around them.
And this is another reason we prefer using the DC War Memorial as what it does best: an incredible ceremony and celebration location, followed by dinner or a reception elsewhere if you'd like to keep the party going.
What could a Two-Hour DC War Memorial Micro Wedding Look Like?
This is where couples often realize just how much can fit into two hours when the event is planned intentionally.
For example, your wedding might look something like this:
4:00 PM: Vendor Team on Site for Setup (Maybe you’re doing a First Look with your photographer during this time!)
4:15 PM Guests Arrive
4:30 PM: Ceremony begins
5:00 PM: You're married! Family Portraits
5:15 PM: Cake cutting and a champagne toast
5:30 PM: Couple portraits around the DC War Memorial and surrounding National Mall
6:00 PM: Permit concludes and everyone heads to dinner
The exact timeline will vary based on your wedding, guest count and priorities, but this is precisely the kind of timeline our team builds for our couples.
Because the answer isn't simply "you have two hours."
The question is how do we make those two hours feel relaxed, celebratory and like a real wedding rather than a race against the clock?
That's where the planning matters.
Then Take Everyone Somewhere Great for Dinner
A DC War Memorial wedding also gives you the freedom to separate your ceremony from your reception, and for micro weddings, we think that's often a good thing.
Instead of renting a traditional wedding venue for an entire evening, you can have a beautiful ceremony at the memorial and then take your closest friends and family to one of DC's incredible restaurants, private dining rooms or hotels. With 20, 30 or 40 guests, you have options that simply aren't available to a couple planning a 150-person wedding.
You could do a Michelin rated seated dinner, cocktail style at a bar or even a rooftop celebration at your apartment! And if you want your photographer or coordinator to continue with you after your two-hour package, additional coverage can be added.
Why Book Tiny Wedding Co. for Your DC War Memorial Wedding?
Could you plan a DC War Memorial wedding yourself? Sure.
But if your goal is to have a micro wedding because you don't want wedding planning to take over your life, spending months separately sourcing an officiant, photographer, florist, cake baker, coordinator and rental vendor somewhat defeats the purpose.
That's why this particular venue is such a natural fit for our all-inclusive package.
-We know the space.
-We know the timeline.
-We know the permit limitations.
-We know how to get the chairs there.
-We know how to work without traditional venue amenities.
-We know that parking and transportation need an actual plan.
-We know how to pivot when the weather changes.
And we know how to fit a beautiful, meaningful micro wedding into the exact two-hour window the DC War Memorial gives you.
You bring your favorite people. We'll bring the wedding team.
If you're dreaming about getting married at the DC War Memorial with 50 guests or fewer, our all-inclusive Washington, DC micro wedding package was practically made for it.