Robyn & Mickey’s sweet, small wedding, with just their closest family and friends in attendance was held just a few weeks ago at Farmington Country Club.  Their day was  photographed by Tom Daly and today I’m sharing Tom’s preview collage from their event.  Tom always makes it so easy for me to give you a glimpse of a wedding like this one because he’s so great at putting together a nice selection of images to share… thanks, Tom!

After their ceremony, which was held under the shade of some big trees right at the edge of the golf course, friends and family gathered in The Jefferson Room (one of my absolute favorite spaces in all of Charlottesville) for cocktails and dinner. It was a happy day and my privilege to play a small part.  Congratulations to Mickey & Robyn and thanks so much to Tom Daly for the great pics!

Contact Information for Tom Daly Photography:
~ website: www.tomdalyphotography.com
~ blog: http://www.thedalydose.com
~ phone: 434-409-3287
~ e-mail: tom@tomdalyphotography.com

In looking through my notes of my meeting with Brynne & Kevin last fall I discovered that they’d hired the talented Sarah Cramer of Cramer Photo to capture their big day. I sent Sarah an e-mail right away to see if she’d done an engagement session with these two lovely people and if she’d be willing to share.. and the good news is she was so generous with her beautiful pics that it took me quite awhile to narrow it down to this small selection I get to share with you today. I hope you love them as much as I do and I am so excited about their wedding day coming up so quickly!

Contact Information for Cramer Photo:
~ website: www.cramerphoto.com
~ e-mail: sarah@cramerphoto.com
~ phone: 434-242-6074
~ blog: http://blog.cramerphoto.com

Melovee & Joe’s wedding at Kluge Estate Winery & Vineyard was very special for most all of us who played a part.  Joe and Melovee own Blue Ridge Light Forms so we’ve all known them as colleagues for years. Having the opportunity to participate in their big day was a real privilege and today I am so happy that I can show you just a glimpse of the day through the lens of Brad Bennett’s video camera. Thanks, Brad… beautiful work!

Contact info. for Brad Bennett of Shaking Hands Productions:
~ e-mail: shakinghandspro@gmail.com
~ phone: 434-258-1212
~ website: www.shakinghandspro.com

Additional Vendors:
~ planner: Easton Events
~ photography: Jack Looney Photography
~ lighting: Blue Ridge Light Forms

Today’s Real Wedding is offered by Peter & Sarah Davis of PS Davis Photography.  This wedding just feels like a great time for everyone and I think that Peter and his assistant Wendy Ward captured it beautifully… I especially love the photos of the bride and groom downtown on the mall having ice cream and at the carousel.  Here are a few words from Peter about the day:

The wedding was July 17th at the UVA Chapel and the reception was at Siips which made for an intimate reception venue. The bride and groom, Jenny and Travis are from Northern Virginia and the vast majority of their guests were from out of town as well since the couple has literally lived all over the world! Their wedding could not have been any more fun. Jenny and Travis chose to see each other before the ceremony…  This was the first couple I’ve ever met who has named their relationship. “Sparkle Motion” became an inside joke with them after seeing a movie several years ago. It eventually became the name for their relationship and they wove it into all the details including renting a space on the Paramount Theater’s sign downtown. Everyone was so laid back and relaxed mostly because everyone was on vacation for the weekend enjoying good food, drinks, and good company! Travis has a background in law enforcement which explains the cake topper (the cake was by Terri Edwards) includes a husband and wife with guns. The evening was capped off by the best toast I have ever seen which included a song performed by the maid of honor and brother of the bride to the tune of Elton John’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” You can tell how popular the toast was by the reactions in the last few photos.

Bride & Groom having icecream at Chap's on the downtown mall!

Contact Information for PS Davis Photography
~ website: www.psdavis.com
~ phone: 434-825-4054
~ e-mail: peter@psdavis.com

Jamie & Ben got married on May 1st of this year on a family farm in Albemarle County… it was a beautiful, somewhat windy Spring day in the rolling hills of Central Virginia.  Today I have a wonderful selection of pics of their day kindly shared with us by Aaron and Candi Hark of Hark Photography… a wonderful local husband and wife team who were so much fun to work with.  Jamie and Ben were one of those couples that being around their smiling faces was absolutely contagious and made everyone else smile and laugh with them!  Thanks to Aaron and Candi for their beautiful work… hope to see you again soon!

everyone walked up a long mown path to the ceremony site which was in a beautiful field surrounded by mountains... so lovely!

The photos above and below are of a funny and precious moment in Jamie & Ben’s ceremony… when I turned to the best man to get the rings his face was sheet-white as, for some reason, he didn’t have them… that was a first for me! He felt so badly and after an initial moment of “oh, no… what do we do now?” all the parents in the front row started taking off their rings and passing them up so that Jamie & Ben would have temporary rings to exchange in their ceremony. In a way this was one of those wedding “disasters” that really turned into such a a sweet memory for everyone involved.

Jamie & Ben took cuttings from a huge Christmas Cactus that belonged to Jamie's grandmother so each guest could have a gift to take home. I have mine sitting right on a table next to me and it's growing strong!

Contact info. for Hark Photography:
~ e-mail: photos@harkphotography.com
~ phone: 803-960-3517
~ website: www.harkphotography.com

Last night about 100 of our community’s finest wedding and event professionals gathered at Old Trail Golf Club in Crozet.  The party was organized by the Community of Charlottesville Wedding & Event Professionals, our brand new local professional organization! Thanks to: Old Trail Golf Club and The Event Company provided wonderful food and drink and, of course, the beautiful venue; DJ Stroud gave us great music; the fabulous Anita Gupta of Maliha Creations brought dozens of yummy cupcakes; Karen of Hedge Fine Blooms filled the room with hydrangeas and sunflowers; our wonderful colleagues at Festive Fare let us use their classy blue and white table linens and Tammy Keefer helped Jessica and I at the check-in table.  Thanks to everyone who helped and everyone who attended… we’re so glad you could come out for the party!

I have to admit that with 25 or more of the best photographers around in the room it is always a bit odd to be the one taking pics on my little point-and-shoot!

See you at the Christmas party… Jessica and I are already making plans!

This morning I got an e-mail from Peter of Peter Davis Photography letting me know that they’d officially named their contest winners. Here’s some of Peter’s message to me:

“I wanted to be sure you knew that we had posted the contest winners…  The best part for me about this year is that not only will I be photographing one deserving couple’s wedding for $29, but two other local deserving couples (the runners up) will also have their wedding photographed by other photographers who volunteered their services! I am amazed at the support we got as we ran this contest and I am so excited to be able to bless this many people along the way especially since 10 years ago, we were in their same situation and were fortunate enough to have a friend who was a good photographer volunteer to photograph our wedding. Chris D. Scott and Wendy Ward will both be photographing weddings as part of this contest. One of the runners up came to us via your blog, I believe, and will be having a small hot air balloon wedding! I’m also in touch with a few Richmond area photographers to try and find someone to photograph the wedding of the sister of our contest winners. Those two sisters are getting married within about 4 months of each other. “

Be sure to stop by Peter & Sarah’s blog to get more details!

Today I”m happy to welcome photographer Natalie Bell of Natalie Bell Photography to the blog. I’ve been aware of Natalie for quite some time but this is her first submission to the Charlottesville Wedding Blog and I know you’re going to love her pics. It has also been quite some time since I’ve had a Boar’s Head Inn wedding to share with you so today you will catch a glimpse of this lovely venue with Natalie’s photos of Allison & Tim’s Summertime wedding.

I especially love the contrast of the bride’s white-on-white with the incredible bright pink bridesmaid’s dresses against the lush and verdant green of  a Virginia summer… just makes me smile

Contact Information for Natalie Bell Photography
~ website: www.nataliebellphotography.com
~ phone: 760-473-2581
~ e-mail: natalie@nataliebellphotography.com
~ blog: www.nataliebellphotography.com/blog/
Other Vendors::
~ Venue & Catering: Boar’s Head Inn
~ Flowers: Blue Ridge Floral Design

This morning I discovered that Peter and Sarah Davis of Peter & Sarah Davis Photography are running their 2nd Annual $29 Wedding Photography Contest. I will let you read the story of how this contest came to be on their blog… but the good news is that Peter has kindly offered to extended their deadline for entries especially for you… readers of the Charlottesville Wedding Blog… so you’d better get moving preparing your entry right now!

Here are the basics that you need to know right now:

The Prize:

♥ up to 8 hours of photo coverage on your wedding day for only $29;
♥ online proofing of images for you, family friends and wedding guests;
♥ no obligation to purchase anything additional.

The Rules:

♥ submit your love story to peter@psdavis.com telling why you should win the contest (tell your love story);
♥ you should be a super-in-love couple who can’t afford a big fancy wedding;
♥ wedding venue must be within 1.5 hour drive of Charlottesville on a date they haven’t booked yet.

Read more details on the contest here and check back next week when we’ll be able to announce Peter & Sarah’s winner… I know they can’t wait to hear fro you!

Afton Mountain Vineyards hosted their first wedding today! Eric & Frances exchanged vows at the beautiful ceremony site that Elizabeth and Tony Smith created at the Vineyard specifically for weddings. With the long rows of grape vines and the Blue Ridge mountains as a backdrop about 20 of the bride & groom’s family enjoyed a relaxing time sipping wine, snapping photos and after the ceremony enjoying a special meal catered by The Shebeen. In every direction you look the scenery at Afton Mountain Vineyards is absolutely beautiful… I’m sure the wine is fabulous too, but I’m afraid I can’t report on that today!

ceremony site

after the ceremony

another member of the family

catering by The Shebeen

Contact Information for Afton Mountain Vineyards:
~ website: www.aftonmountainvineyards.com
~ phone: 540-456-8667
~ e-mail: finewines@aftonmountainvineyards.com