So often in my line of work, I am swept away by sweetness. A touching love story, a heart-warming proposal, a beyond meaningful detail - those moments absolutely never, EVER get old to me. So when I came across this emotion-filled beauty captured by Jodi Miller Photography, I didn't have a chance. It has all the moments that tug at my sappy heart strings - a father giving his little girl away to the man of her dreams, two families joining together and one gorgeous soiree crafted with so much love to celebrate it all. It's perfectly joyful, and full of all the reasons why the sweetness gets me every time. Click here for more!
Charlottesville Wedding by Jodi Miller Photography
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From the bride... Brad and I knew almost immediately that we wanted to get married in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the heart of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. We are both graduates of the University of Virginia (but didn't know each other until after school!), and it's also where Brad took me the weekend we got engaged. Not only does it hold a special place in both our hearts, but we also thought that it would be great place for our family and friends to spend a fun Fall weekend. The weather forecast that week called for 0% chain of rain — zero! — on our wedding day. But nevertheless, the clouds rolled in dark and heavy about an hour before our outdoor ceremony. It actually started to rain as my Dad walked me up the aisle, but luckily it was just a drizzle and we didn't have to run for cover before saying our vows. There was something about the moody weather that actually made the ceremony seem even more special and romantic: the enormous rolling clouds, the wind whipping my veil around, the slight chill that had everyone hugging together. I was laughing about the rain, which is probably the only thing that helped me keep from losing it during the vows. It was an incredibly emotional moment.
Brad and I wanted our wedding to be elegant, cozy, and joyful. Without really any sort of theme or color scheme in mind, we just aimed for a mix of handmade items, vintage finds, natural fabrics like linen and burlap and locally-grown flowers. And candlelight, lots of candlelight! We had a lot of fun putting together all the many personal touches for our wedding. We made all of the paper goods at the reception, from the menus, programs and signs to the hand-stamped petal bags and the "merci" favor tags. My mom is great at sewing and made the linen table runners and also my veil. For a year, we collected vintage Virginia postcards for our guest book and skeleton keys for our escort cards. We also used lots of blue mason jars, vintage crates, and beautiful silver and mercury glass vessels. We wanted to make sure everyone ate well that weekend, so we served up lots of homey, fall-themed comfort food. Guests were greeted at the hotels with gift bags full of cookies that my sister and I made that week, apples from a local vineyard, and spiced apple cider. All of the wine we served was made right there at the vineyard, and the beer was from the local Blue Mountain Brewery. Dinner included shrimp & grits, bourbon-pecan steak, and an heirloom tomato salad. All of this yumminess was topped off with some absolutely to-die-for carrot cake!
Even though we had a great band that evening, we wanted to have some other fun things for people to do if they didn't feel like hitting the dance floor. We had a trio of lawn games set up: croquet, bocce, and cornhole. Our friends actually made a set of cornhole boards for us as a wedding gift! There was a fire pit at our venue, which we took advantage of by offering cigars and building a s'mores bar full of all the fixin's. Our wedding day truly felt like a dream. It was so fun to see all of our planning come to fruition, but even better than that was getting married to my best friend! One of the best parts of the day was taking a minute to look around the room and seeing that every single person in the world that we loved was right there celebrating with us. Indescribable.
Wedding Photography: Jodi + Kurt of Jodi Miller Photography / Wedding Venue: King Family Vineyards in Charlottesville, Virginia / Wedding Coordination: Events with Panache / Flowers: Sugar Magnolias / Catering: 20 South / Wedding Cake: The Baker's Palette / Band: Six Stylez / Wedding Dress: Romona Keveza via Hannalore's / Hair: Moxie Hair Lounge / Makeup: Oasis Day Spa & Body Shop / Bridesmaids' Dresses: Priscilla of Boston / Groom's Attire: Alton Lane / Calligraphy + Map: Calligraphy by Michele / Wedding Paper Goods, Apple Butter Favors, Matchbooks, S'mores Skewer Flags: DIY by the Bride + Groom / Table Runners + Veil: DIY by the Bride's Mother / Cookie Gift Bags: DIY by the Bride + Her Sister