manor house king's charter wedding photos richmond va

Jessica & Michael

May 28, 2016

Jessica & Michael met while pursuing graduate degrees at Virginia Tech. Jessica was looking for ways to get to know new people and more about Blacksburg when she came across the Tang Soo Do club’s booth at VT’s Fall Gobbler Fest 2011. Having a background in martial arts, Jessica started regularly attending classes taught by Michael and earning belts! TSD tournaments, traffic jams, and chats about books over lunch on campus led to a beautiful relationship. “1,317 days later,” says Michael, he popped the question with Jessica’s late grandmother’s ring and then enlisted Jessica’s family and friends to coordinate a Harry Potter-themed scavenger hunt around Blacksburg to top off a wonderful day!

Jessica & Michael chose the Manor House at King’s Charter for its vintage look and feel that blended perfectly with their theme: books! Each table featured handcrafted flowers made from pages of their favorite books and tons of memorable quotes from works like Pride & Prejudice, The Princess Bride, and of course, Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone.

Jessica tells us, “We did a choreographed swing dance for our first dance. We both swing dance and worked hard to learn a new routine matched to a song mashup developed for the wedding. The songs included The Beatles’ I Want to Hold Your Hand, Paul Simon’s Call Me Al, Ima Robot’s The Green Back Boogie, The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers theme song, and Michael Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel. We danced on a floor that the groom and bride’s father made together!”

With everything said and done, Jessica & Michael consider getting married using their own personal vows to one another and dancing with their family & friends as the best part of their big day.