Virginia Garden Wedding: Congratulations Jane and James!

Jane and James were married at Stone Manor, a charming Bed and Breakfast, in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Jane shares, “James and I really wanted to elope. I’d never fantasized about my ‘dream’ wedding (aside from coveting the custom M&M’s that a friend had at her wedding almost 10 years prior), and the stress of planning had gotten pretty overwhelming early on. But, we weren’t sure if we would really feel married unless we made our promises to each other in front of our community. I was especially wary of getting married without my sister, Ann. I had been her maid of honor and I knew I wanted her by my side when I got married. James and I looked around at different options near and far and started seeing packages where, oddly, you could elope, but still have a small number of guests. That seemed like a nice compromise. We kept finding packages with larger and larger numbers of guests until it was no longer an ‘elopement’, but an ‘intimate’ wedding with 30 guests. My sister was my maid of honor and her three children were all in our ceremony, too.”

The rooms were filled with wonderful antique treasures.

Guests received handmade lavender sachets. Jane shares, “There were so many projects for the wedding that James and I collaborated on – the monogram that we used throughout, the invitations and programs (that were also fans!) that we designed, printed, and assembled, the favors, the playlists. It was fun being crafty together and good practice working together as a team.”

The intimate ceremony took place in the garden in the early evening. It was performed by Matthew Hunt, a friend of James from their Peace Corps days.

There was some rain in the afternoon, but Jane says, “We were lucky and it was sunny and clear for the ceremony.”

Jane and James met in 2005. The beginning of their love story had its twists and turns, and a very happy ending with a beautiful wedding. I had the pleasure of taking Jane and James’ engagement photos in Washington, D.C. in June.

After the ceremony everyone headed inside Stone Manor for a delicious dinner.

Cheers!

After dinner, Jane changed into a beautiful party dress by BHLDN. So pretty!

James shares some of this favorite moments from the day, “I really liked our first dance – not too formal at all or even announced. We just went for it and had our own fun. It was basically the same with the cake cutting. Oh, and one word: mini-pies. After that it was nice to be able to wander around from table to table, catching up and just chatting with folks.”

James continues, “The s’mores-makin’ in the fire box on the back patio was also a really nice way to wrap up the evening; even after the kids had gone to bed. Turns out that s’mores go great with a nice tempranillo.”

“And that wasn’t the end of the celebration – we hopped a plane a couple of days later for Minnesota to party again with a corn feed, skeet shooting, volleyball, hayrides, and a bonfire.
When we started the planning for the wedding, we said that we wanted something fun, irreverent, simple, meaningful, laid-back, and elegant but rustic, and I think we really pulled off a wedding that fit that.”