Real RVA Wedding - Purple New Kent Winery Wedding

Alix & Charles

August 15, 2015

How They Met

Alix says, “We met in April 2012 after both being on eharmony.com. We were matched, and Charles asked me to dinner at a Thai restaurant, which I thought was unusual/risky for a first date (like what if I was a picky eater?!). I asked how in the world he came up with that, and he told me that he saw that I liked Thai food in my profile. His thoughtfulness really hooked me. After several dates, we decided it wasn’t really going anywhere, but as soon as the dating pressure was off, we kept talking and weirdly became friends! For several months, while training for the Richmond marathon, we grabbed dinner together on Friday nights before our long runs the next day and by December, we were officially dating again and never looked back this time!

How He Asked

I knew it was coming soon – we had been regularly discussing a proposal. Every time we did anything significant, I was kind of expecting it, so he was really throwing me off! We went to Puerto Rico, Boston, celebrated Christmas, our anniversary, New Year’s Eve, my birthday, AND Valentine’s Day, so there were many, many chances to propose! I was getting frustrated and thinking he would never get around to asking!

One random afternoon, Charles suggested going for a walk somewhere because I had some time to kill before I was meeting a friend for dinner. This wasn’t an unusual suggestion, we like to get outside and see the city, so I thought nothing of it. He suggested going to the old pump house at the back of Byrd Park, a place I have loved in the past because the building is beautiful. We walked around for a bit and once we were alone, he got down on one knee and popped the question! According to Charles, it was actually fairly impromptu, but he figured it was time!

The Perfect Place

We picked New Kent Winery for a variety of reasons, but in the end, it fit us well as we wanted to be married in the Richmond area, and we both love wine and visiting wineries is one thing we love to do in our free time. The building itself is gorgeous! It wasn’t a hard choice.

We love this thoughtful detail for guests! August weddings can be pretty toasty here in RVA, but popsicles definitely help!

Decor Details

Since it was in summer, I wanted to keep it casual, light and fun. I knew I wanted a wildflower look, so that is what drove the look of my bouquets and the table centerpieces, and from there added some summer fun touches.

Sneaking away for some sunset photos at your venue is always a good idea! New Kent Winery provides some gorgeous backdrops!

The WOW Factor

New Kent Winery alone is gorgeous, and I knew people would love it there! I also spent a lot of time on my cupcake display. I was proud of that and got many compliments from guests! Also, I really wanted it to just be fun for everyone involved, and I think we achieved that – everyone had a great time!

The Best Part

I don’t think I could pick my favorite part! We truly enjoyed everything about the day and having everyone we love in one place in a time of great happiness – the smiles never left our faces and we just couldn’t stop talking about how much we loved our day and our great the people we love really are.