Matt and Caroline's Wedding in Leesburg, Virginia

The story of our wedding

My husband and I met the summer of 2012 in New York City. I was in New York on an internship as I prepared for my senior year of college at Elon University, while he was living and working in the city. We met by chance at a bar one (Tuesday) evening and have been together ever since. Five years after our chance encounter, he took me back to the American Yacht Club in Rye, New York, where we went on one of our first dates. This time, however, he had a ring. I excitedly said yes and started planning the wedding with my mom hours later! I always wanted to get married outside, so we quickly narrowed down our wedding venue options in search for the perfect setting. I'm lucky to have grown up in Northern Virginia, so we had several gorgeous outdoor options to choose from. When we stepped foot on The Oatlands Historic House & Gardens, we instantly new it was the location of our dream wedding. The Oatlands is a historic plantation, with stunning English gardens, rolling hills and a beautiful, large white tent to host receptions. The backdrop the venue offered was a perfect balance of rustic outdoor elements, yet elegant for our black tie wedding. We held our wedding date, September 22nd, 2018, on the spot and started planning our perfect day!Throughout our 15 month engagement, we had a fantastic time planning with our wedding planner James Abel. The year and and a half was full of dress appointments, tastings and dance lessons. Since my fiance and I were on the wedding circuit, attending 13 of our friends' weddings during the time we were engaged, we had a good idea of what we were looking for when it came to our big day. James and his team helped us find the perfect vendors to bring our vision to life. One of our favorite parts of wedding planning was incorporating special touches that were personal to us. My bridesmaid, and talented artist, sketched The Oatlands plantation house to use as our wedding logo on all of our stationary. We incorporated my late family dog, Rusty's, blue tag as my "something blue" in my bouquet. We also prepared an old family tradition that has survived three decades of weddings, the German wedding cup, where my husband and I would be challenged to drink Champagne from the cup at the same time at our reception without spilling a drop. We got incredibly lucky, dodging the remnants of a hurricane, and ended up with a perfect 70 degree day for our outdoor wedding. The day of our wedding, my bridesmaids, mom and I all got ready together at a beautiful house on the property. I was able to walk from the house directly to our first look in the gardens at The Oatlands. The first look was one of the most special memories of our day, as my husband and I were able to enjoy the gorgeous backdrop and time together before our guests arrived. Our ceremony took place in the gardens, with a string quartet and a very special sermon delivered by our Reverend. The ceremony lead directly into Cocktail Hour, where guests enjoyed our signature his & hers cocktails and several lawn games scattered throughout the gardens before processing through rows of luminaries that led them to the reception tent. Guests were greeted by our fantastic eight-piece band, Red Hot Rhythm, while making their way to their tables that were outfitted with gorgeous ivory florals, greenery and candle light. My husband and I are both big foodies, so we had the caterer prepare family style side dishes to go with our guests' preselected entree choices. The night was full of great music, food and dancing as we celebrated our wedding day with our closets friends and family. We truly were not ready for the night to come to and end, but have loved every minute of looking back on the memories from our big day!