Our Wedding Blog

Keswick 10/20/19 Keswick 10/20/19

Wine and Jellyfish? | Stacey and Don

Completing our triple wedding weekend was the marriage of Stacey & Don on Sunday, October 20th, 2019. The colors of fall were still in full view, but Mother Nature decided they needed a little watering on this day. Thankfully, Keswick Vineyard has an excellent rain plan that will keep everyone dry. Just look how beautiful our ceremonies are under the Aurora tent. You are still having that “outdoor” wedding, it just now has a cover over it, but the beauty of nature is still seen and surrounding you. Thankfully, the rain was gone right after the ceremony and everyone was able to go back outside for photos to take advantage of those amazing trees covered with golden leaves.

During the ceremony, the couple definitely had a focus on wine with two different wine related ceremonies. The first is a blending ceremony where the couple each begins with their own glass of wine and just as a blended wine is often better than the sum of its parts (thing Bordeaux blends!), the two of them blend their glasses into one to create something better than just the combination of the two. As you can see, Don gave a thumbs up for their blend. Secondly, the wine box ceremony (one of our favorites) is having a nice bottle of wine placed in a wooden box. Then, during the ceremony you place a letter to one another in the box and seal it away to be opened years down the road. This time however, their parents also placed some letters in the box with tips on building a lasting marriage! Now, when they open that box years later and drink the wine, they can read each other’s love letters as well as some advice from their parents on continuing their beautiful marriage.

Now we can’t talk about this wedding without mentioning some of our favorite details! There were so many from this wedding that we cannot list them all without attaching an associated spreadsheet, but I’m going to try. First, the table numbers printed in calligraphy on geode slabs of agate, stone and more mixed in with the loose greens on the table and glass boxes… wow! Secondly, the individually potted succulents at each place setting as a wedding favor. Thirdly, the timeline board letting guests know what is happening throughout the day with cute little icons. Fourth, their dog as a ringbearer. Fifth, the tree print that guests were signing as a guest book. Sixth, the ice-cream sandwiches being served for dessert and lastly (but definitely not least) Don’s signature dance move “The Jellyfish” complete with matching socks!!

Can. Not. Get. Enough. Of this wedding. Thank you to all of those that helped put this wonder together!

Wedding Planning by Amanda Shaver of Ashley Baber Events
Catering by Hank’s Smokehouse
Entertainment by DJ Dennis Payne of Playback DJ
Photography by Molly Hitch (The photos in this blog were taken by owner of Keswick Vineyards, Cindy Schornberg)
Desserts by Wonderment Bakeshop & Creamery
Florals by Willow Branch Flowers
Ceremony by Julie Trump
Hair and Makeup by Kristen C. Artistry
Transportation by Easy Rider Bus Company
Rentals by Festive Fare

Keswick 10/19/19 Keswick 10/19/19

The Golden Wedding | Brynn & Henry

OK… I know we’ve written a lot about the beautiful fall weather we’ve had for 2019, but wow, did Brynn & Henri strike gold with their wedding day! Such gorgeous weather and perfect golden colors were again present for Brynn and Henri when they were married at Keswick Vineyards on 10/19/19 (great date!). The golden colors in the trees and vineyard was a perfect match to the golden colors they used in their décor.

How creative it was to paint miniature pumpkins silver and gold for centerpieces to give a slight nod to the fall season.

Their celebration wouldn’t be complete without two crucial participants; their dog & their event planner. It is always so sweet to see our couples include their 4-legged friends or family members into their wedding day. Brynn & Henri’s dog was their ring bearer escorted by one of their flower girls. After walking down the aisle with the rings, their proud “son” took his seat in the front row to witness the marriage of his parents.

The second crucial person that day was their event planner. A sometimes-overlooked role in a wedding, the planner (and often also coordinator) is the one in control of all of the moving parts that day, which there are a lot of! Cristelle, from C&O, has been doing weddings at Keswick Vineyards for years and each time she really makes the day special. Our couples are definitely in good hands when she is on-site. I just happened to be able to snap a photo as she carried a tray of food to the children & babysitters. As you can see, she’s on top of it all! Our readers may recognize her as the planner from another wedding in May of 2019 where she helped move the entire ceremony outside in mere minutes when the rain stopped (read: It Takes A Village).

Cheers to Brynn and Henri and their golden fall wedding and all the vendors who helped make it come true!
Wedding Planner, Cristelle from C&O
Catering by C&O Catering
Entertainment by DJ Ricky Morris
Photography by Jeff Gleason (The photos in this blog were taken by owner of Keswick Vineyards, Cindy Schornberg)
Dessert by Cakes by Rachel
Florals by Gregory Britt Floral Design
Officiant Alex Ziber
Hair and Make-up by Lou Stevens Glam Squad
Transportation by A&A Limousine
Babysitting by Local Nanny Network

Keswick 10/18/19 Keswick 10/18/19

Black, as a wedding color? Definitely! | Nikki & Jeff

I first learned of Nikki and Jeff’s vision of having a black & white color-schemed wedding when they visited during the summer with their event designer. Then, on October 18th, 2019, I saw their vision come to life as they celebrated their marriage at Keswick Vineyards with friends and family. I must admit, when I heard their colors were black, white and mixed metals I was both shocked and intrigued. I’m a fan of the mixed metal style that’s trending right now, but I had a hard time imagining a wedding with no pinks or blues or greens or any of that!

Well, Nikki and Jeff certainly impressed me with their vivid set up. Everything looked absolutely stunning! Just look at what they did to their reception bar? Have you ever seen such a floral arrangement on a bar? Nikki & Jeff rented black seat cushions for our Chiavari chairs and all of the florals were a brilliant white. They even had us removed our usual amber color gels from our Aurora tent up lighting to create a more contrasted white glow in the tent which looked so good, we were tempted to leave the lights like that for all our weddings! To top it all off, the entire wedding party were all dressed in black, which was a striking choice and really brought this wedding up to a different caliber (even our Keswick staff was dressed in all black). What a classy celebration for a very classy couple!

Special thanks to the all the vendors who made this wedding come true:

Wedding Planning and Design by Tiffany Rivera of Simply Breathe Events
Catering by The Catering Outfit
Entertainment by DJ Kevin Graham
Ceremony and Cocktail Music by Peter Richardson
Photography by Finn Lively (the photos in this blog were taken by owner of Keswick Vineyards, Cindy Schornberg)
Florals by Hedge Fine Blooms
Ceremony by Tamara Riley
Hair and Make Up by Anne Kibler of Charlottesville Make Up Artist
Transportation by Camryn Limousine
Rentals by MS Events

Keswick 10/13/19 Keswick 10/13/19

When Things Just "Click"! | Brett & Katherine

Every now and then a couple comes along to Keswick Vineyards and things just click. That was how it felt when I met Kat and Brett leading up to their big wedding day on October 13th, 2019. Right from the beginning we hit it off fantastically and we were there every step of the way following their progress in wedding planning as though it was our own wedding! We were thrilled when they had the beautiful fall day they were hoping for and all of the wonderful autumn colors began to shine.

Naturally, Brett and Kat chose to get married in our “Fall Location”. Aptly named as you can tell from the photos! Choosing this area for your ceremony allows your guests (and photographer) a panoramic view of the estate, fountain, vineyards and mountains and all the autumn colors that come with it. The gorgeous fall weather was accented by all the beautiful touches that Kat and Brett brought to their celebration.

One of my favorites of these special touches were the boutonnieres for the children (of which there were quite a few). They all had little golden dinosaurs on them! They had a large role to play in the wedding as the wagon bearers escorted the flower girl down the aisle…. Quite possibly one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen! Then the elaborate golden frame that had their table seating chart. It was very stately and made a wonderful impression as guests entered the tent.

One lesson learned from this wedding: When performing the southern tradition of “burying the bourbon”, choose a bottle of bourbon that ISN’T super tall! I will never forget when Brett and Kat came to bury their bottle one month before their wedding and they bought a special bottle that shared their initials. It was a wonderful idea and a great bottle of bourbon if not rather tall. However, when it came time to digging… it was a more laborious effort than any of us imagined getting the hole deep enough for that bottle! A humorous moment that I will think fondly on as many more weddings in the future perform the same tradition.