Our Wedding Blog

Keswick 5/7/22 Keswick 5/7/22

The weathermen gets it wrong again!

Katie & Neal were married the same weekend as Kadie & Chuck, my previous blog, on May 7th. As I previously blogged, this entire weekend had rain forecasted at 95% for both Friday and Saturday. Never would I have thought that both Friday and Saturday’s weddings would be able to have their ceremonies outside! But it’s true!!!

Katie & Neal had one giant good luck charm on their vendor team. Jaclyn, from Exchange Events, has some pull with Mother Nature and has managed to not have it rain when she does a wedding at Keswick Vineyards. We always joke about how it doesn’t rain when Jaclyn is here, and she worked her magic again but definitely had to work a little harder this dayJ

Katie & Neal were able to have their ceremony outside. There was a steady mist happening but that didn’t matter to them. Keswick Vineyards is always prepared for our couples, so umbrellas were on hand for guests to use if needed. For the most part, only a few guests chose to keep their umbrellas up during the ceremony. Because of the mist and wind, it was decided it was best to have cocktail hour under our heated tent. Once again, Keswick Vineyards as their venue was prepared for whatever weather conditions Mother Nature had instore.

The positive thing to having a wedding on a cloudy day is that the lighting for photos is perfect! Ask any photographer out there and they will tell you they would hands down take a cloudy, overcast day versus a bright, sunny day to take photos in. This gives the photographer the opportunity to take photos anywhere because they don’t have to worry about the shadows that are a constant issue to battle on sunny days. Just something to remember if you are upset that your wedding day isn’t sunny.

One of the little details that I just loved from this wedding is the individual script wooden names at each place setting. What a lovely keepsake for each guest.

Thank you to the following vendors:

Wedding Planner Jaclyn Grieger

Catering by Exchange Events

DJ Frank Smith of Prime Time Sound

Photographer Danielle Norton

Videographer Monika Garland

Cake by Cake Bloom

Colonial Florist

Hair & Make-up by A More Beautiful You

Rentals by MS Events

Transportation by Quick Buses

Keswick 5/6/22 Keswick 5/6/22

Rain Plan

So, you’re thinking of doing an outdoor wedding. I can’t think of anything more beautiful than an outdoor wedding in Virginia but, being Virginia, you know the saying. “If you don’t like the weather, just wait an hour.” But in a seriousness, if you are planning an outdoor wedding, you always have to have a rain plan so you can still have your celebration.

Kadie & Chuck had been planning their wedding for years. Originally, they were to be married back in 2020 but then covid happened and forced them to reschedule. Their wedding week was finally here, and Mother Nature was not looking that kindL The entire weekend was calling for 95% chance of rain. At their rehearsal the night before, we all kind of knew that it was almost for sure that we would be doing their wedding under our tent versus outside. I told everyone to say a prayer that night and to everyone’s astonishment, they had their wedding outside as originally planned!

You will see that we originally had a ceremony set up for under our tent. Kadie & Chuck chose to have their ceremony under our tent with the greenery embankment as their backdrop. So, we set up 110 chairs on the dance floor with an aisle down the middle with the alter being in the center of the tent where normally their sweetheart table would be for the reception. It is very easy for us to flip this space from ceremony to cocktail hour to reception which is awesome. There really is no need to rent another tent for your rain plan. You can see how the lighting is just perfect under the tent versus how dreary it would look if under a vinyl tent. So, you can see at Keswick Vineyards, no need to stress over your rain plan. Our tent is just perfect to house everything under.

But that set up under the tent for their rain plan never had to take place! The rain ended up holding off until 10:30pm that night allowing Kadie & Chuck to have their dream outdoor wedding at Keswick Vineyards. Just look how happy Kadie is as she is about to get escorted by her father down the aisle.

Waiting under the tent was an amazing charcuterie board from one of our preferred caterers Goodrich Gourmet. Besides the beauty of this culinary delight, guest could adore the wedding cake along with a delicious dessert bar with homemade desserts! Yummy!!!!

I am so happy that after the long wait these two had to tie the knot that everything ended up falling into place and they had their dream wedding on May 6th.

Thank you to the following vendors that stayed with them during this wait:

Goodrich Gourmet Catering

DJ T.D. Layman of Sound Enforcement

Musicians Melodious Strings

Ward Photography

Desserts by a family member

Colonial Florist

Officiant John Charlet

Hair & Make-up by Kelsea Dayberry of Radiant Reflections

Easy Rider Buses for transportation

Keswick 5/1/22 Keswick 5/1/22

A Fairy Tail Wedding

Sammie and Trents wedding on May 1st, 2022 was truly a dream come true. Every girl dreams about meeting her prince charming and living happily ever after. Sammie definitely achieved this goal with her dreamy spring wedding here at Keswick Vineyards.

Sammie and Trent are professional ice skaters so if there is one thing they know how to do, it is put on a show! They decided to have a horse drawn carriage appear from behind the trees for a grand exit from their ceremony. This definitely wow’d their guests. It was truly something out of a fairy tail.

They also decided to incorporate their profession into the centerpieces on their reception tables. The tables had a round mirrored tray with a blade from an ice skate on top. This was a unique way of making the wedding feel very personal to the couple.

This was a beautiful day full of all of Sammie & Trent’s loved ones. Keswick Vineyards was honored to be their venue!

A special thank you to all of their vendors:

Wedding Planner - Erin Cleveland

Catering - Blue Ridge Catering

DJ - Nathan May (DJ Fit)

Photographer - Bobby Matthews

Videographer - Amative Creative

Cupcakes by Caked Up Cville

Florist - Blooms by Doyles

Hair and makeup b Emily Harris with Bodyworks Spa and Salon

Keswick 4/30/22 Keswick 4/30/22

Trees Under the Tent?!

Stephanie and Emile’s wedding here at Keswick Vineyards on April 30th, 2022 was definitely one to remember. Not only did this couple have beautiful weather and beautiful spring florals, but they did a few things regarding decor for their wedding that made their day stand out!

Stephanie and Emile decided to have full size trees placed under our sail cloth tent to wrap up the poles. I hadn’t seen anything like this done before and it had a wonderful way of bringing the beauty of the outdoors underneath the tent. Doing this really made the tent feel more cohesive with the vineyard and other outdoor areas of the venue. This was such a fun and unique idea!

They also made the most of our newly improved cocktail lawn area. This area is now fully astroturf so regardless of the weather or the time of the year, the cocktail lawn will remain nice and green year round! They also decided to add our cocktail bistro lighting which really adds something to this space and allows your guests to take advantage of the space throughout the night!