Charlottesville Area Weddings Blog

West Main Bridal & Couture

Claire Goodman — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:15:31 +0000

July Dress of the Month

Earlier this week Susan Sorbello of West Main Bridal & Couture sent over some info. and photos of a wedding gown they’d just received and are loving. Susan said, “it is the Melissa Brooch by Maggie Sottero and it’s absolutely stunning! The brides who have been lucky enough to see it so far have loved it. It is a figure flattering, ruched, tafetta gown with Swarovski detail in front and back at the hipline. The sweetheart neckline is extremely popular and looks great on the brides. This gown is very affordable, definitely within most brides’ budgets, but looks a million dollars.”

Thanks Susan…. it’s absolutely beautiful!
Be sure to give Susan a call to set up a time to see this beautiful gown and all the other wonderful gowns and accessories at West Main Bridal & Couture!

Contact Info. for West Main Bridal & Couture
~ address: 101 East Water St., Charlottesville
~ website: www.westmainbridal.com
~ e-mail: info@westmainbridal.com
~ phone: 434-979-5683

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

Real Wedding: Megan & Chuck ~ Part 2

Claire Goodman — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:08:55 +0000

Aren’t Megan and Chuck’s black, white and red wedding colors just incredible against the beautiful green backdrop of lush Nelson County? As always, Jen Fariello captured the true essence of Megan and Chuck’s beautiful wedding day. The horse and carriage added such a lovely feeling to the event… you could almost imagine a country wedding a hundred years ago right in that very location… so lovely!

Contact Information for Jen Fariello Photography:
~ website: www.jenfariello.com
~ e-mail: jen@jenfariello.com
~ phone: 434-963-7976
~ blog: http://jenfariello.bigfolioblog.com

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

Barb Wired Event Management

Claire Goodman — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:12:02 +0000

Guest Post by Barb Lundgren

Today I’m happy to share a guest post from Barb Lundgren of Barb Wired, LLC, one of the Charlottesville Wedding Blog’s wonderful sponsors. If you’re thinking of hiring a wedding coordinator be sure to read on!

Maureen and Geoff
April 18, 2009

At the beginning of the planning process, Geoff was opposed to hiring a wedding coordinator. He told his then-fiancée that they had plenty of time to plan, could do it themselves and, since he was a guy he admits, had a list of excuses.

Geoff wrote me to share his feelings after the wedding, and to make sure that others didn’t waste a lot of time contemplating this decision. Not only did they entrust me with their wedding planning and direction, we became the best of friends. This would be a first, and probably the only time, that I have had a groom recess the aisle saying to me “I love you Barb, I really do”, before he embraced his bride in the vestibule.

Maureen and Geoff were extremely decisive and organized from the beginning. However, this was a destination wedding with few familiar contacts in the area. There were many details to oversee, but they had chosen some of the best vendors around and I could see it was going to come together beautifully. The weather was picture perfect that day as we set the ceremony at the UVA Chapel. From the gorgeous vistas of King Family Vineyards; to the impeccable tastes and service of 20 South Catering; and the floral design of Amy Webb, the guests were more than impressed with the reception settings. What a treat when Cav Man arrived for a visit during cocktails!

The night got even better as one of our favorite wedding bands “The Dickens” played all of the favorites and everyone was on the dance floor. We sent the happy couple off with a “sparkling” tribute at the end of the evening.

There are many special couples in my life. Maureen and Geoff stay in touch whenever they come to Charlottesville and look forward to moving here some day. I look forward to that as well. And from Geoff — “It’s hard for me to say what I value more, the incredible job Barb did from start to finish - ensuring a flawlessly executed wedding from the rehearsal and dinner through the big day - or the fact that we found someone so incredibly special who we knew from the outset truly cared about not just what we wanted, but about us as people.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Looney Photography

Contact Info. for Barb Wired, LLC Event Management
~ website: www.barbwiredllc.com
~ e-mail: barb@barbwiredllc.com
~ phone: 434-531-3247

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

Real Wedding: Megan & Chuck ~ Part 1

Claire Goodman — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 19:18:36 +0000

Megan and Chuck’s late May wedding at Veritas Vineyards was a great combination of elegance and fun… I loved their black, white and red color scheme… which you’ll see more clearly when I share Jen Fariello’s lovely color images with you in my next post. Meanwhile, I know you’ll enjoy her amazing talent in these ever-so-lovely black and white pics. Thanks so much, Jen… as always, your photos are fantastic!

Contact Information for Jen Fariello Photography:
~ website: www.jenfariello.com
~ e-mail: jen@jenfariello.com
~ phone: 434-963-7976
~ blog: http://jenfariello.bigfolioblog.com

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

Space Planning for Your Wedding

Claire Goodman — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:39:05 +0000

Guest Post #5 by Kathryn Kieffer of Festive Fare

More great tips from Kathryn… enjoy!

Thoughts of wedding flowers, table linens, and the menu are all huge parts of planning a reception. Another major consideration is planning a reception that will work in your space. If you plan to have a tent wedding, there are many things that you should consider regarding the size of tent and style of reception.

A 20′x30′ tent sounds big, but if you consider the square footage you only have room to seat 60 guests! And that does not give you space for a bar, dance floor, or even a cake table! The rule of thumb is you need 10 square feet per person seated. Festive Fare recently jumped the technology bandwagon and now has CAD drawing capabilities. I have done hand drawings forever, but the computer program is fun and illustrates my point.
By the same token, if you elect to have a wedding in a University Pavilion garden - if fair weather everything is good, but in the event of inclement weather it is nice to have a flexible menu and reception style to accommodate more guests in a smaller space. I love using smaller tables and stand up cocktail tables that are easy to move, easy to place in tight spaces (i.e. indoors). Smaller tables and a lower ratio of seating to number of guests encourages your guests to mingle and move about. They also take up less square footage!

The other thing I’m discovering about designing events on the computer…it let’s you change the feel of your event without using the eraser! It is also helpful for brides to plan seating charts as this client provided diagram points out! The bride provides a diagram so that when the caterer, rental company, or anyone else who has a role in the wedding knows exactly how the event should be set up.

Here are some helpful guidelines for planning for the space your reception will be held in…
6 square feet per person, cocktail buffet
10 square feet per person, seated dinner
3 square feet per person, dancing

Festive Fare
1745 Broadway St., Charlottesville, VA
phone: 434-296-5496
e-mail: kkieffer@festivefarerentals.com
website: http://charlottesville.classicpartyrentals.com

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

Real Wedding: Heather & Chase

Claire Goodman — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:11:32 +0000

Heather and Chase were married in May at the spectacular Blue Ridge Overlook at Nelson County’s Wintergreen Resort and, as you will see, the views were completely magnificent. Aaron Watson of Aaron Watson Photography completely captured the beauty of their day. Aaron has kindly shared another of his fusion videos with us today… thanks Aaron, and Congratulations to Heather and Chase!

Heather & Chase’s Wedding from Aaron Watson on Vimeo.

Grier & Tad’s Wedding from Aaron Watson on Vimeo.

Contact Information for Aaron Watson Photography:
~ website: www.aaronwatsonphoto.com
~ e-mail: info@aaronwatsonphoto.com
~ phone: 434-962-7143
~ blog: www.aaronwatsonphotoblog.com

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

Harvest Moon Catering

Claire Goodman — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:54:40 +0000

I must admit, I don’t really understand how caterers do what they do and as a Wedding Officiant I don’t often cross paths with the catering crew. So last month when I was at a lovely, small home wedding and the Harvest Moon Catering folks arrived to prepare the meal I was so happy to have a chance to spend a few minutes chatting with them and watching them do their magic. Bill Smith of The Photosmith kindly agreed to take lots of food pics for me so that I could share them with my blog readers. Thanks Bill! Unfortunately I had to run off to another wedding so didn’t have an opportunity to actually taste this lovely meal, but I can tell you that it smelled absolutely wonderful and just looking at the photos makes me hungry!

Contact Info. for Harvest Moon Catering:
~ website: www.hmcatering.com
~ e-mail: barbara@hmcatering.com
~ phone: 434-296-9091

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

Real Wedding: Kristina & Robert ~ Part 3

Claire Goodman — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:42:19 +0000

Today’s final selection of Jack Looney’s beautiful photos of Robert and Kristina’s day focuses on their reception and the beautiful venue: Veritas Vineyards. We hope that you enjoyed this beautiful Springtime wedding… and, if you love Jack’s images, there’ll be more of them here on the blog before the summer is out… I promise!

Contact Info. for Jack Looney Photography
~ website: www.jacklooney.com
~ e-mail: jack@jacklooney.com
~ phone: 434-249-6266

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

Real Wedding: Kristina & Robert ~ Part 2

Claire Goodman — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:01:05 +0000

Honestly, Jack Looney of Jack Looney Photography sent me so many incredible pics (literally, hundreds!) and I wish I could show you all of them… but I can’t So, here’s part 2 of the ones I like best… these are mostly of our beautiful couple, Kristina & Robert, and their ceremony. Thanks again to Jack Looney and Eric Kelley for their beautiful work and generosity!
The groom and his groomsmen waiting in the barrel room to line up for the ceremony (it’s nice and cool in there):Kristina and her Dad awaiting their cue at the door of the Tasting Room:“Kiss, smile, run down the aisle”

Contact Info. for Jack Looney Photography
~ website: www.jacklooney.com
~ e-mail: jack@jacklooney.com
~ phone: 434-249-6266

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

Real Wedding: Kristina & Robert ~ Part 1

Claire Goodman — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:21:05 +0000

Are you ready for a picture-perfect late springtime wedding at one of the most scenic venues in Central Virginia? Well, here it is… Kristina & Robert’s beautiful Veritas Winery wedding as captured by the spectacularly talented Jack Looney of Jack Looney Photography, ably assisted by Eric Kelley. Jack was so generous with his images that I will be sharing this wedding with you in several parts… starting today with some of the details of the day… Kristina & Robert made such classy, yet unpretentious choices for their details, I know you’ll love every shot… enjoy!
If you’re lovin’ Jack Looney’s beautiful work, please hop on over to other posts here on the Charlottesville Wedding Blog with lots of Jack’s images: here and here and here and here and here.

Contact Info. for Jack Looney Photography
~ website: www.jacklooney.com
~ e-mail: jack@jacklooney.com
~ phone: 434-249-6266

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!