It is hard not to fall in love with this sweet and sentimental wedding from Wolfcrest Photography! With cherished heirlooms and DIY details, this wedding is full of meaningful details that make our hearts sing. The bride even made her own cutting cake!
Our location choice was an obvious one for us! We met at the University of Virginia, so the historic chapel on the campus was a must for our ceremony. We spent many years throughout college and our relationship hiking and drinking our way around the Crozet area, so Restoration was the perfect reception venue for us. It is naturally such a beautiful space, both in the hall and the mountain views outside, so in many ways the venue speaks for itself and didn’t need a ton of decoration in the first place.
I had many family heirlooms to honor all the special women that have been in my life over the years. I used my late grandmother’s purse that she used on her wedding day. She even left a poem inside it that she wrote on her wedding day which was so touching. I also wore her earrings and necklace. My other grandma has such a unique tradition that she has done for all of my cousins when we get married. She used my great-grandma’s handkerchief and sowed on pieces of wedding dresses from my mom, grandma and great-grandmas. Then my sister pinned it inside my dress.
My wedding band was my mom’s. This wasn’t her original wedding band, but my dad gave her this ring when my twin sister and I were born as an “upgrade/thank you” ;). My wonderful bridal shop, Elegance by Roya, also helped refresh my mom’s veil from the 80s and it perfectly complemented my dress. My mom passed away last year so it was really important for me to carry her with me on my wedding day.
The ceremony was a really big deal for both of us. Timmy’s face when I came down the aisle was priceless and Sara at Wolfcrest Photography captured some adorable gems! Saying our vows, exchanging our rings and knowing we were officially married was so awesome!!
I knew that I wanted an off-white lace dress with a “fancy back” and I couldn’t have asked for anything better than my Pronovias dress. It was the first one I tried on (of many!) and it was just perfect. It also didn’t hold me back from dancing which was a plus! I also was obsessed with my sparkly Badgley Mischka flats that I had my eye on before I even picked out my dress.
We opted to save money by not doing traditional favors and chose to do something a bit more personal. We made handwritten notes for each of our guests tying in personal anecdotes as well as thanking them for coming to our wedding. Two of my seventh grade students used their amazing calligraphy skills to write all the guests’ names and table numbers on the mini envelopes and they looked just beautiful. This took quite a bit of time to type them up on a Google Doc, handwrite them on the mini cards and design the envelopes. Timmy’s dad also handcrafted these awesome wooden stands for the envelopes to stand up in at our wedding since they also served as escort cards as the guests entered the reception.
Neither of us were particularly stressed during the wedding planning process or the wedding week, but the cake was ironically the one thing that I stressed about the day before our wedding! I love to cook and bake so I crazily decided to bake our own cutting cake. It wasn’t huge–7 in. round about 1 foot high–but of course I wanted it to be perfect…and it was! I test-baked this for months for my friends, coworkers and students and I’m so happy I did. The layers were carrot cake with a salted caramel filling and brown butter marscapone frosting. Our baker (Cakes by Rachel) who made phenomenal cupcakes and mini desserts for us, did a beautiful job of placing the flowers on the cake, and I’m super grateful for that!
Photography | Wolfcrest Photography | Ceremony Venue | University of Virginia Chapel | Reception Venue & Catering | Restoration Hall at Old Trail | Planning | Events with Panache | Florals | Urban Flora | DJ | Dennis Payne | Rentals | MS Events | Wedding Cake | DIY by bride | Desserts | Cakes by Rachel | Invitations | Minted | Hair & Makeup | Face Value Salon | Wedding Dress | Pronovias | Bridesmaid Dresses | Azazie | Transportation | Albemarle Limousine | Submitted via Matchology
