Our Wedding Blog

Keswick 9/3/16 Keswick 9/3/16

To Bora Bora! | Bella & Ryan

Bella and Ryan are our latest Keswick Vineyards couple and they kick started our Labor Day Weekend weddings! After spending the afternoon binge watching Harry Potter in the man cave, tears of joy flowed for these two when they exchanged their vows. Guests were commenting that they’ve never seen Ryan so happy and I believe it; he never stopped smiling!

They each wrote personal vows that were read aloud during their ceremony. The love was so apparent and it was felt and shared by everyone who was there to witness it. After they said their “I do’s” the music was cued and Terra Voce played their exiting music which then sent guests off to cocktail hour to enjoy delicious appetizers from Harvest Moon and perfectly paired Keswick Vineyards wine. They even served one of my fall favorites, grilled cheese and tomato soup shooters! A classic that will never get old.

Once guests entered underneath of the reception tent, they were immediately awed by the bright colors of coral and yellow that the couple chose. Their flowers beautifully accented these both and were showcased lovely in their centerpieces. Dinner and dancing followed and the party then took off! At the end of the night the couple was sent away to their getaway car where they said goodbye to their friends and family before they left for their honeymoon in Bora Bora!

Best of luck to you both and congratulations again Bella and Ryan!

Day of Coordinator, Keswick Vineyards. Catering, Harvest Moon Catering. Photographer, C. Tyler Corvin Studios. Florist, Blue Ridge Floral. Hair and Makeup, FBJ Studio. Rentals, MS Events & Harvest Moon Catering. Lighting, Skyline Tent Company. Musicians, Terra Voce. DJ, National DJ Connection. Desserts, Cakes by Rachel. Officiant, Bhavani Metro. Transportation, Camryn Limousine.

Keswick 8/27/16 Keswick 8/27/16

Tara and Andy Get Married! | Tara & Andy

Tara and Andy are our newest Keswick Vineyards couple. They were married here last Saturday, August 27th, 2016 and finished our August weddings strong!

Tara and Andy have personalities that are contagious. There are some people you meet in life and immediately it just works. Similarly, there are venues in Charlottesville that you see and you just know it’s the one. The same was true in both cases for Tara and Andy. We immediately clicked and they immediately fell far in love with Keswick Vineyards. After completing their tour almost a year ago to date, they took the short 2 hour drive back home to DC, picked up the phone and gave us a ring. They knew our dates went fast so they didn’t want to miss the chance of locking down their perfect one!

With the combination of the perfect venue and the perfect vendors Tara and Andy’s wedding was off to a killer start! They hired Keswick Vineyards to be their day of coordinators, so throughout the planning process we were here to offer helpful planning advice and glue together those loose ends couples often find challenging with their busy work schedules. Because they hired us as their day of coordinator, they experienced some advantages that became very helpful to them on wedding day.

It’s no secret that with a wedding comes a bit of stress. However, with a wedding at Keswick Vineyards, comes less stress, and less worry. They were in good hands. In the excitement of the day, a tie was forgotten. Finding this information out very close to picture taking time, Keswick’s team quickly went to trouble shoot, ran inside to the owners house (since Keswick Vineyards is a private residence) and borrowed a tie from the owner, Al. So….what have we learned from this? Al isn’t only useful for his fountain duty, but for his wardrobe too!

After that mini crisis was adverted, we were back on track and smooth sailing. Dinner was served by The Catering Outfit in family style fashion. The couple, having many children in their family, wanted to make sure that they too enjoyed their wedding day as much as they would. They decided to get creative and set up a smaller version of kids tables underneath of the Sperry tent. Clever! They were the perfect size for their tiny guests and even came with tiny chairs and gift bags with activities for the kids to keep occupied throughout the evening. This is one idea I’ll certainly be sharing with our future couples!

Thank you for our vendor friends for helping us through this beautiful night. Day of Coordinator, Keswick Vineyards. Catering, The Catering Outfit. Photographer, Gianny Campos Photography. Rentals, Festive Fare. Hair & Makeup, Charlottesville Makeup Artist LLC. Florist, Growing Wild Floral Company. DJ, National DJ Connection. Desserts, Moo-Thru & Elisabeth Scott. Official, Bhavani Metro. Transportation, Blue Ridge Tours.

Keswick 8/13/16 Keswick 8/13/16

Tyler and Julie's Wedding! | Tyler & Julie

Congratulations to Tyler and Julie, our newest Keswick Vineyards married couple! They celebrated with us here on Saturday, August 13th and their wedding was truly one for the books!

All of their details were very well thought out and beautifully executed. Everything from their handmade chalkboard signs to the angle of the Rosemary sprigs individually placed at each place setting made their wedding a very memorable one. In particular, their chalkboard signs were my favorite. They were handmade by a friend of the bride, who also happened to be one of her bridesmaids. Everyone was in awe of her talent and complimented her work endlessly. What an incredible gift! They helped indicate what was happening and when so that guests knew what to expect and knew they didn't have to think about anything but soaking in the scenery and enjoying the delicious wine.

As if the scenery and the wine weren't enough, Julie and Tyler made sure their guests also were able to capture and save memories of their wedding with their photo booth! It was a huge hit all night. Guests gathered in the gazebo and picked from an assortment of home made props and snapped photos of themselves with friends and (of course) with the bride and groom! We'll check this one off as another picture perfect Keswick Vineyards wedding!

A big thank you to our vendor friends for making this wedding come to life! Day of Coordinator, Keswick Vineyards. Caterer, Harvest Moon Catering. Photographer and Photo Booth, Ward Photography. Videographer, Partytrap Studios. Hair & Makeup, Elizabeth Harrell and Suzanne Jackson. Florist, Blue Ridge Floral. Desserts, Carpe Donut and Deborah Smith. Transportation, Albemarle Limousine and Easy Riders Bus Company, and Bistro lighting by Skyline Tent Company.

Keswick 8/4/16 Keswick 8/4/16

My Friend's Wedding | Susan & Steve

Keswick Vineyards hosted the marriage of Susan & Steve on Thursday, August 4th. This wedding was extra special for Al & I. We have been friends with Steve for many, many years sharing some wonderful memories together. Through those years we were able to see Steve enjoy his bachelor lifestyle. I guess we never thought Steve would ever get married again until he brought Susan over to meet us some 2 years ago. Right away both Al & I saw something different with Susan. Could she be the one? You could instantly see a connection with these two. Our gut was telling us that Susan was the one. And we were right!

During the past two years of us getting to know Susan we always had an on going conversation of Al’s fountain duty he has for all our weddings. It was always a topic of conversation because they usually came for a visit on Saturday’s and Al would always say how he had to get back to do fountain duty. With the “fountain” being such a focal point for all of us it was a natural choice for the location Steve would propose to Susan last year. With me hiding to capture the moment on film, Steve dropt to his knee to ask for her hand in marriage. When she said yes, Al triggered the fountain to go on and they finally got to experience what they had heard for a year themselves.

Al & I were flattered when they told us that they wanted to get married at Keswick Vineyards. Of course, they would choose the fountain as their location for their ceremony. Susan knew they wanted a really relaxed and casual style to their wedding day to match their personalities. She envisioned guests seated out in the lawn area for the cocktail/reception time versus under our Sperry tent. Steve envisioned a bourbon & cigar bar and they both agreed that having a food truck was the perfect choice to pull off their casual/partying theme. I was a little concerned about doing the entire wedding outside of the tent in August since it is normally hot and people would want to be under a tent for shade and fans but I kept an open mind. Who would have known that they had chosen the most perfect day you could have possibly had? Perhaps burying the bourbon bottle a month earlier had something to do with it?

Their day started with the guys relaxing in the “man’s cave” playing pool while the girls got their hair and make-up done at Moxie Hair Salon. The ceremony was to be intimate with only the immediate family attending. Susan was walked down the aisle by her two sons while her daughter was a junior bridesmaid. Steve had his son and father as his best men. Look closely at the photos and you will see our winemaker, Stephen, as their officiant. As Stephen made reference to remembering Steve’s Mother who died earlier this year from a courageous battle against cancer, a butterfly swooped down as to make her presence known. When Stephen announced that Steve could now kiss his wife, Al with his exact timing had the fountain come on.

After the ceremony the rest of the guests arrived. They enjoyed drinks & appetizers while mingling and headed over to the Bavarian Chef food truck to get more delicious food when needed. After a couple of hours everyone went under the tent for speeches and dancing! Finally, the moment most of the guests were waiting for happened. The bourbon & cigar bars opened! I’ve never seen so many happy faces. It was like children in a candy store. Ron Barker provided the cigars and was on hand to help the guests pick the perfect cigar for them. As you can see by my photo everyone really enjoyed hanging outside the tent enjoying themselves all night long.

Special thanks to everyone who helped Susan & Steve have the wedding of their dreams: Catering by Bavarian Chef Food Truck, Event Planner Cindy Schornberg, Photographer Cindy Schornberg, Officiant Stephen Barnard, Florist Verde Natural Florals, Cupcakes by Pearl’s Cupcake Shoppe, Cigars by Ron Barker with CigarVolante, DJ Kevin Graham, Buses by UVA Transit, Hair & Make-up by Moxie Hair Salon, Rentals from MS Events, and of course, fountain duty by Al Schornberg!