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From the Bride… I married the boy down the street. My first kiss, my only love. When Jon and I got engaged, my immediate desire was to design a wedding that truly reflected us. We grew up together, share the same friends, and have been a part of each other’s families for almost a decade. I wanted to create the most authentic celebration for the two of us.

I have always had a very clear vision for my big day – an intimate garden, soft pink flowers, and LOTS of lace. The feeling was definitely rustic and romantic. I strongly believe in the perfection of imperfections and actively made decisions that would create visual interest. I asked my girls to wear a champagne dress. I encouraged them to wear something that they loved – no matter what material or style – the more embellishments the better! The boys were asked to wear a navy suit. Each person we asked to be in our wedding was so important to us and I think by subtly distinguishing everyone, they maintained their identity. This was important to me.

I was constantly looking for little ways to honor our friends and family. I made my necklace out of a ring my father had given to my mother and I hung my father’s wedding band from it. For the escort card station, I found three rustic doors to hang each guest’s table assignment from. Each name tag was attached to a single skeleton key. The center door contained pictures of our parents and grandparents on their wedding day. I think it was a beautiful way to honor love. I also asked my two older brothers to officiate the ceremony. They were inspiring and poignant and it meant the world to us to have them stand up there with us. I found that when you make things so personal and so important to you, there is absolutely no way anything can go wrong!

I wouldn’t change one decision I made. My advice is to prioritize! Care deeply about a small handful of things and base all other decisions around them. Have perspective and never lose sight of your initial vision. Surround yourself with people who are just as excited as you are to plan your big day. My planner, my florist, and my amazing photographer could not have been more talented or wonderful. I owe Crystal Whitaker and The Event Company everything – when things get dramatic or stressful, having trust in the people who are helping you makes everything right.

Photographer: Kristen Gardner / Event Planner: The Event Company / Venue and Caterer: Clifton Inn / Floral Design: Pats Floral Design / Wedding Cake: Favorite Cakes / Calligraphy: Meant To Be Calligraphy / Rentals: Festive Fare / Lighting: The AV Company / Tent: Sperry Tents Virginia / Reception Band: Another Level / Invitations and Programs: Saima Says Design / Transportation: A Goff Transportation / Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier / Wedding Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Groom’s Suit: Hugo Boss / Bridesmaid Dresses: They picked their own champagne cocktail dress from various retailers / Hair: Ashley Warmus (she was a bridesmaid, she did hair for the bride) and Celeste Williams-Maude Hair (she did the remaining girls) / Make up: Melissa Downs of Kiss and Makeup

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Post tags: A Goff Transportation, Clifton Inn, Favorite Cakes, Festive Fare, Jimmy Choo, Kiss and Makeup, Kristen Gardner Photography, Monique Lhuillier, Pat's Floral Design, Saima Says Design, Sperry Tents, The AV Company, The Event Company, Virginia
Post categories: Traditional Elegance

Ryan and I met on a blind date our first year at the University of Virginia, but we didn’t start dating right then. Instead we became good friends over the next couple of years, and started dating the summer before our fourth year! Six years later, Ryan made a surprise trip to Philadelphia where I was working in buying for Anthropologie (he was a consultant in DC, and we had been long distance for over three years). He arrived in the morning, and literally proposed on my front stoop. He whisked me around Philadelphia to celebrate by hitting up some of our old favorite restaurants and places culminating with a extravagant dinner at Fountain. It was such a fun and exciting weekend, only to be surpassed by our actual wedding weekend which was ten months later.

For our wedding, we immediately knew that we had to go back to where it all began: Charlottesville. The good news was, my mom actually grew up outside of Charlottesville, so we also knew that we wanted to have the reception on the farm where she grew up. This is the place where we spent every Christmas and made countless other visits, and always reminds me of my mom’s mom with whom I was very close. We picked a beautiful church on the downtown mall, Christ Episcopal, for the ceremony and were so blessed to be married by an amazing priest there, Dave Johnson.

We had two main goals of our wedding: to make it fun for our guests, and to make it personal. For the fun factor we focused on special touches such as a fabulous band, busing guests to/from our reception, and passed hors d’oeuvres and champagne for all upon entering cocktail hour, to name a few. Regarding personal touches, we spent a lot of time picking details for our ceremony, Ryan’s sister hand drew our sixteen page wedding booklet, our table names were places at UVA, and our beer and wine was from local companies. We poured countless hours in to these to these details and many more, which I think make a wedding really feel special.

Ryan was very involved in the planning process, but my mom and I were the team that executed all of the special details. We were very lucky to be in the same city during the time leading up to the wedding, so we worked on everything together loving every minute. One of my favorite memories, is that my mom and I worked with a wedding gown designer in Richmond, VA to transform a Monique Lhuillier wedding gown in to exactly what I had always dreamed about. My mom even handmade the gorgeous flower on my hip. It was a lot of work but we loved the time together and the finished product.

Regarding color inspiration, I knew I wanted to incorporate yellow in some way… my nursery was yellow and I have loved the color since childhood. I decided, however, not to have eight beautiful but all very different bridesmaids wear yellow. So I thought of navy. It’s a classic color, and it felt a little softer than black for a wedding at the end of May with an outdoor reception. I found some fantastic yellow beaded necklaces at Anthropologie, which I thought would do just the trick to make the look a little more fun than traditional. My mom and I wrapped the necklaces and sent them to each of my bridesmaids with a note that they could choose any short navy dress they wanted to go with the necklace. My little sis and maid of honor chose a long dress, which I loved because it helped her stand out. I was thrilled with that decision because everyone picked a dress in their price range in which they were comfortable, and we were all photographed together the look was stunning!

Ryan and I have so many vivid and beautiful memories from our wedding day (expertly captured by Jen Fariello) but I will speak to just a couple. We have both discussed this ad nauseum, and we both agree that our absolute favorite memory was between the cocktail hour and reception. Our coordinator moved our guests to the tent, holding back my mom, dad, Ryan and me. There was a path between the porch where we held cocktail hour and the tent for dinner and dancing. She send my parents down the path and a couple of minutes later me and Ryan. When we got to the tent everyone was clapping and cheering, and our band immediately started playing our first dance song and we whirled on to the dance. It was an unexpected memory as we hadn’t planned to make that entrance, which made it all the better.

Another amazing memory was our exit. Everyone was lined up and the path was lit by sparklers all the way from the tent to our getaway convertible. Our band was playing one of our favorite songs in the background and everyone was clapping and yelling excitedly! When we got to the car, my sweet mom was standing right there. I was so happy that I got to give her a big hug and tell her how perfect the entire day was since we had planned the entire event ourselves. The car was already packed with champagne and a picnic basket, and Ryan and I were in amazement looking back on the crowd, tent, and beauty.

Photographer: Jen Fariello / Floral Designer: Pat’s Floral Design / Invitations: Reaves Engraving / Cupcakes: The Mixing Bowl / Wedding Gown Designer: Pleiades Bridal / Bride’s Dress Flower: Bride’s Mom / Venue: Private Residence / Day of Coordination: Beverly Wakefield / Ceremony Location: Christ Episcopal Church

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Post tags: bouquet, Charlottesville, Christ Episcopal Church, Color Palette Yellow Navy, Cupcakes, Do-It-Yourself Inspired, Jen Fariello, Monique Lhuillier, Pat's Floral Design, Pleiades Bridal, Reaves Engraving, Summer Weddings, The Mixing Bowl, Wedding Flowers, Wedding Photography
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Little Black Book Blog

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From the Bride… The design inspiration for our wedding was my engagement ring and dress, both from the 1920s, and the historic Southern setting of James Monroe’s home at Ash Lawn-Highland. We wanted to extend the old world feel to our wedding invitations so we decided to work with a letterpress design studio in Brooklyn. By combining Art Deco typefaces with 18th century silhouettes, we were able to set the tone for our wedding day.

Our bouquets and table arrangements featured flowers that were popular in the 1920s – calla lilies, orchids, and dahlias. My dress was marine blue and we used that color for many elements in the wedding including the invitations, table settings, place cards, and hospitality booklets. For the food, we chose local southern fare — wild trout, red velvet cupcakes, and mint juleps in a proper cup.

Wedding Photography: Jen Fariello Photography / Wedding Invitations: Swayspace Letterpress Printing / Wedding Dress: NY Vintage / Florist: Pat’s Floral Designs / Catering: C&O Catering / Cupcakes: Favorite Cakes / Music: The Virginia Ramblers / Wedding Venue: Ash Lawn-Highland / Lighting: Skyline Lighting

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Post tags: 1920's, Ash Lawn-Highland, Blue, C&O Catering, Charlottesville, Favorite Cakes, Jen Fariello Photography, NY Vintage, Outdoor Wedding, Pat's Floral Design, Roaring 20's, Skyline Lighting, Swayspace Letterpress Printing, Tented Reception, The Virginia Ramblers, Vintage Chic, Virginia, Yellow
Post categories: Vintage Chic

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From Millie Holloman Photography: Millie Holloman Photography and Salt Harbor Designs recently collaborated on a workshop created for both designers and photographers.  The collaboration between photographers and planners/designers is so important, and the two companies hoped to show other industry professionals just how rewarding working together could be!  The workshop focused on building relationships with vendors, networking, creating photo-worthy weddings and capturing the details in a way that best represents the event and the couple.  Millie from MHP and Jennifer from SHD wanted to demonstrate how much better the product and how much happier the client when vendors work together!  The workshop culminated with an inspiration shoot where the design details were brought together complete with a model bride and groom, and the photographers were given the opportunity to capture the day.  The experience allowed weddings vendors a hands-on chance to build, understand, and photograph the significant details of a wedding day!

Photography: Millie Holloman Photography / Design: Salt Harbor Designs / Location: The Atrium / Wedding Dress: Joy Noelle / Cake: Nicki’s Cakes / Macaroons: Flower and Flour / Hair:  Melissa from Fringe Salon / Make-up: Jacey Rogers / Lighting: High Performance Lighting / Calligraphy: Elizabeth Singletary / Chairs, table, and accessory furniture: Susan Covington / Linens and Rentals: Party Suppliers and Rentals / Place Settings and Glassware: The Fisherman’s Wife

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Post tags: Flower and Flour, Fringe Salon, High Performance Lighting, Jacey Rogers, Joy Noelle, Millie Holloman Photography, Nicki's Cakes, Paris, Party Supplies and Rentals, Pat's Floral Design, Salt Harbor Designs, Susan Covington Art, The Fisherman's Wife
Post categories: Photo Shoot

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From the Bride…My husband, Jeremy, and I wanted to get married around Charlottesville, VA, which we fell in love with while Jeremy was at law school at UVA.  We’re both from around New York City and now live in Washington, DC, but rather than a city wedding, we decided to get married in rural Virginia.  We had been to King Family Vineyards many times, and the gorgeous location had special meaning to both of us.  It was absolutely perfect for our wedding.

We wanted the decor and feel of the wedding to blend with the beautiful surroundings of the countryside and the vineyard, so we decided to use lots of sunflowers and hydrangea, as well as other summer flowers that blended well with the area, and burlap table cloths.  We used a variety of containers to hold the flowers, such as glass bottles, tin buckets, and pitchers, as well as a mix of flowers at the tables so that everything didn’t match exactly, but still worked well together.  We also had dinner outside under a tent so that everyone could enjoy the beautiful views while it was still light out, and we then had dancing afterward inside the carriage house.

The ceremony was outside, and it was certainly a warm day.  We provided fans and lemonade before the ceremony to help people cool off a bit.  We had an interfaith wedding, so we had two officiants lead the ceremony.  As a result, we were able to craft the ceremony ourselves using aspects personal to us, including readings from our siblings and my uncle, while also incorporating parts of both of our faiths (Jewish and Presbyterian).  My family’s adorable black lab, Norton, got to walk down the aisle.  Even some of the horses in the background gathered as close as they could to listen!

My mother was really wonderful and key player in crafting the design for the wedding.  Additionally, she created and put together the seating cards with each guest’s name and table number on card stock, punched holes in them, and used colorful ribbon so that they could hang from arrangements of branches.  We also draped similar items over wine bottles from the vineyard which we placed on each table that showed the table number on it.   We used a firework image, since the wedding was on July 4, on our invitations, menus, seating cards, and frisbees (which my dad created stickers for).

We wanted to use all local food, wine, and beer for the wedding reception.  Our caterer did a phenomenal job getting delicious local beef, trout, tomatoes, and many other items.  Jeremy and I live in DC, and the chef at one of our favorite restaurants, Birch & Barley, gave us the recipe for their amazing beet risotto which we used during dinner.  We used King Family Vineyards’ wines, and beer from Blue Mountain Brewery, a local brewery close by.  For dessert, we had mini cupcakes, and passed warm chocolate chip cookies with shots of milk (my favorite!) and passion fruit and cucumber sorbets from Splendora, a shop in Charlottesville.

It was a truly wonderful event, and more than we could have ever hoped for.  It meant so much to have so many of our friends and family with us to celebrate on that day.  All of the vendors we worked with in Charlottesville could not have been more kind, helpful, and professional.  Our wedding coordinator Kennon Ibbeken was absolutely phenomenal. The bridesmaids’ dresses and groomsmen’s pants and vests are from JCrew.  I also won a sweepstakes on the blog, District Weddings (www.districtweddings.com), where I won 10 free Vineyard Vines ties.  The groom, groomsmen, and both dads picked out their own ties that they wore to the wedding.  My wedding dress was by Jenny Lee.

Event coordinator: Kennon Ibbeken, Easton Events / Venue: King Family Vineyards / Caterer: Harvest Moon / Cupcakes: Cakes by Rachel / Florist: Pat’s Floral Design / Photographer: Holland Photo Arts / Ceremony musician: Peter Richardson / Band: Mr. Potato Head / Hair and make up: Serenity Spa / Rentals: Festive Fare / Ties: Vineyard Vines / Dress: Jenny Lee /  Bridesmaids: J Crew

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Post tags: Cakes by Rachel, Easton Events, Festive Fare, Harvest Moon, Holland Photo Arts, King Family Vineyards, Mr. Potato Head, Pat's Floral Design, Peter Richardson, Serenity Spa, Virginia
Post categories: Casual Elegance, Little Black Book Blog

This color palette is so clean and crisp with just the perfect blend of whimsical, elegant color. Not to mention, the backdrop of this beautiful vineyard just adds to the overall charm. More lovely images to come.

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Angela & Webster, Charlottesville, Holland Photo Arts, Pat's Floral Design, The Event Company, Veritas Vineyards, Virginia
Post categories: Little Black Book Blog, Real Weddings, Traditional Elegance

The lush floral arrangements were sculpted by Pat’s Floral, another of our very own Little Black Book members. Don’t you just love the pops of stark white peeking out from among all of those vibrant blues and purples? This is just the beginning. Stay tuned…

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2008. | Permalink | 1 comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Angela & Webster, Colorful, Holland Photo Arts, Pat's Floral Design
Post categories: Little Black Book Blog, Real Weddings, Traditional Elegance

Thank you so much to photographer, Jen Fariello, and event planner, Jennifer Carroll for sharing this beautiful wedding with us. And to Tatiana and Justin, congratulations on an absolutely lovely day! Here are the vendors that helped with the event…

Wedding Designer & Planner: Jennifer Carroll of Jennifer Carroll Events, LLC, Photographer: Jen Fariello
Flowers: Pat’s Floral Designs, Hair & Makeup Artist: Lucinda Riley of Face Value Studio
Lighting: Blue Ridge Light Forms, Greenery: Greenscapes Nursery, Venue: Veritas Vineyard & Winery, Cake: Anita Gupta of Maliha Creations, Italian Pastries: Giancarlo, Harpist: Adrienne Wager, DJ: Derek Tobler

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Post tags: Arienne Wager, Blue Ridge Lighting Forms, Charlotte, Derek Tobler, Face Value Studio, Giancarlo, Greenscapes Nursery, Jen Fariello, Jennifer Carroll Events, Lucinda Riley, Maliha Creations, Pat's Floral Design, Photography, Veritas Vineyards
Post categories: Real Weddings, The Blog, Traditional Elegance, Wedding Photography