Somehow it’s already been over six months since our wedding (how?!) and sharing our photos is starting to become (/already is?) long overdue! The holidays came shortly after and then it just felt like we had months of life to catch up on after planning this shindig – oh, and then a global pandemic came along. Because of that last part, it felt a little insensitive to share our special day when so many have had to postpone their own. I decided to remove this from my content calendar back in March, but in the past few weeks I’ve gotten more questions than ever about wedding/honeymoon details. So after talking to some bride friends who are finding solace in continuing to seek inspiration and plan the details that they can, I’ve decided to go ahead and post. If I can help my brides in any other way during this time, just know my DMs are always open!
Today’s post features our favorite photos, video, and initial thoughts, and later this week will be a master post of every single detail and link imaginable. I also have a few more wedding-related post ideas in the pipeline, so stay tuned for those. This was one of my very favorite days, so I hope you guys enjoy being part of it!
Our wedding took place on Saturday, October 26, 2019 at Castle Hill Cider in Charlottesville, VA. If you’re a new follower, this is where we both grew up and we’ve always thought this time of year in our hometown is just magical. More on that here, and our backstory/engagement is here! Although there was a drought basically the entire fall and it hadn’t rained yet in October, you know this psycho bride was watching the forecast like a hawk and discovered an “unfavorable weather pattern” as soon as it appeared on the radar. Because of that, we had to make a few last minute decisions during our wedding week, and it did end up raining a bit that morning (and absolutely pouring when we left our afterparty). But the result was the prettiest cozy fall wedding photos that I wouldn’t trade for the world! Besides, don’t people always say cloudy is the best condition to shoot in, and rain is good luck?! That’s definitely what we told ourselves anyway, lol.
Speaking of amazing photos, next I have to talk about one of the best decisions we made for our wedding – our photographer and videographer. Like, aside from deciding to marry each other, this was probably next on the list 😂 We chose husband + wife team Ashley Boyan and Thirty 1 Films and although I knew their work was going to be incredible because of our dreamy engagement photo shoot, I’ll never be able to thank them enough for what they captured. Because we picked them largely due to the wonderful personality fit, there was never an awkward moment on the wedding day, which yielded natural, genuine photos that capture us perfectly. Needless to say, I couldn’t recommend them enough!
Like everyone tells you, our wedding day (and whole wedding weekend, in fact!) went by in a blink, despite our best efforts to take in every single moment. The morning was filled with mimosas and cuddling by the fire in the bridal suite with my girls in our lil flannels, and I was surprised at how relaxed I felt while we hung out and even when we started getting ready. While we got our glam on, Will and his groomsmen sipped on craft beers and bourbon, and before we know it it was time for our first look.
I used to be super against first looks and wanted the first time my husband saw me to be when I walked down the aisle, and while I still love that sentiment, the pros of doing a first look simply outweighed the cons! The best part of it, in my opinion, was getting our own mini wedding day date, away from everyone; to still have that wow moment (and in private), to calm each other’s nerves, and to just slow down time to savor this memory forever. It sounds cheesy, but even staying separated up until that point in the early afternoon was torture! It was the biggest day of our lives and we didn’t want to have to be apart for the majority of it, you know? So after that, it just felt so happy and relaxed, and we got to start having fun for the rest of the day. Other pros were: we got our photos knocked out, were able to enjoy cocktail hour with everyone after the ceremony, and the walk down the aisle still gave us butterflies.
Finally it was time for the ceremony, which was intentionally short and sweet. Probably the most unique thing about our ceremony was that we had our five year old nephew, Mason, be the flower boy. For some reason ring bearers felt too stuffy for our taste, but we still wanted to have our BFF involved in the wedding. The idea just came to me a couple of months before, so we asked Mason together and he could not have been more excited. He doesn’t recognize gender stereotypes, so why should we?! To make the quick ceremony a little more substantial and also give my mom a special moment, we had her do a reading of “Union” by Robert Fulghum, which always gives me the feels. As for our vows, we did choose to write our own, which I knew was going to be hard to get through but I’m SO glad we did it. Not only hearing what Will had prepared, but also just imagining him sitting down to write/practice it, made my heart explode! Lastly, we decided at the last minute to have confetti canons during our first kiss (inspired by Queen Kacey Musgraves), which was so much fun.
After we were pronounced husband and wife (!!!), we walked over to the lake to dig up the bourbon we buried a month before. If you haven’t heard of this Southern tradition, according to an old wives’ tale, if you bury a bottle of bourbon at your venue a month before and dig it up after the ceremony, it won’t rain on your wedding day. I’m all about a good superstition, and in this case, I’d say it worked like a charm!
Cocktail hour already felt super short because of the bourbon dig (lolol) and taking a few more photos, so I can’t imagine if we hadn’t done our first look. Before we walked into the reception, we had a few minutes alone where we just couldn’t stop smiling. We also took a second to remember the advice that someone we happened to meet just a week earlier said to me: “Before you go into the reception, take a moment for just the two of you, take a deep breath, and take it all in. Look at each other and simply revel in the fact that you’re actually married.” That’s exactly what we did, and I want to pass along this lovely advice to all of you.
Our first dance, dinner, speeches, cake cutting, and dancing the night away all went by seriously way too fast. I’ll never forget the feeling of having everyone you love in one room, and it was the greatest day we ever could have imagined. I’ve looked through these photos countless times, and they’ll always remind me of how we felt on that unforgettable day. I included our video below so y’all can get more of a peek at our wedding!
Thank you to everyone who helped make this day special for us, and thank all of you for reading!
