Katie and Chris
September 14, 2019

How They Met
Katie and Chris’ story starts when Katie moved to Richmond in 2013 to take a job as the weekend meteorologist on 8News. With her unique hours, waking up at 2 am and going to bed by 8 pm, she knew it would be hard to meet someone, so she took the plunge into online dating. Eventually, she found Chis through Bumble and decided on an early dinner date since she had to be in bed by 8! Sparks flew immediately. Katie explains, “They say, ‘when you know you know’ and I never knew what that meant until I met Chris.”

The Proposal
Chris surprised Katie by proposing to her while they were on a trip to Florida in 2018. Chris took Katie to a piano bar where he surprised her by playing Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” on the piano. “He is the king of grand gestures, so he took lessons for weeks and learned enough to play.” He popped the question shortly after, and they left Florida as fiancés.

The Details
When considering their September wedding, these two knew they wanted their ceremony and reception at the same location and fell in love with The Manor House at Kings Charter and its quaint charm.

Their original plan was to do custom vows during the ceremony, but they knew they would be a mess of tears. “We ended up writing vows to each other and read them separately right before the wedding.” Pinterest inspired their loose theme of romantic fall elegance. With burgundy, blush, cream, gold, and greenery as their colors, they captured Virginia’s seasonal beauty.

With most of Katie’s family and friends being from Michigan, they wanted to bring in Southern food choices, showcasing the cuisine this area has to offer. Scrumptious Old Bay shrimp was followed by pulled pork sliders and stuffed portobello mushrooms.

They danced to all their favorite songs and ate bites from their cake bar as their night came to a close.

Favorite Part of the Day
“Seeing my groom’s face as I walked down the aisle. We decided against a first look because we both wanted to see each other’s faces as we walked down the aisle. Our videographer captured the moment so beautifully. It was the best part of the day by far! Chris says that that was his favorite moment too. Second to that (and my second too!) was his two bites of Shyndigz…yes…we only ended up eating two bites!”

Biggest Challenge
“For me, the hardest part was picking music! I love music, so it was so difficult picking songs–to walk down the aisle to, to dance with my dad to, to leave the ceremony, to enter the reception…the options were endless! Ultimately, I am really happy with our decisions! Our DJ (Don Juan!) was so great!”

Best Piece of Advice
“Do your homework, go with your gut, look for their work on Instagram.”

*All information in our Featured Weddings is provided by the couple. Richmond Weddings™ is not responsible for discovering and adding vendors who were not on the submission form completed by the couple.* All photos courtesy of Aniko Levai Photography