Tell us a little about yourselves!
Brandon and I lived in the same neighborhood until the end of Middle School. when my family moved. The funny thing is, he was friends with my brother and we didn’t really pay much attention to each other back then. Fast forward to 2020, our paths crossed and there was an immediate attraction and spark. The butterflies were instant, and something that I've never felt. We had apartments within a couple of blocks of each other while dating, which was the best coincidence.
In 2021, we bought a home together and a few months later we added our beloved Golden Retriever, Buddy. Brandon proposed to me in the backyard of our first home on New Years Eve 2023, followed by a surprise NYE party with close friends and family. Brandon had the backyard completely transformed with string twinkle lights and candles everywhere and light, romantic music playing. There was even an arbor decorated with flowers and lights with a runner leading up to it.
Brandon is a 31 year old builder, rehabber, and educational coach in Richmond, VA and surrounding areas. Marlaina is 30 years old and works within banking at Capital One bank, although her passion resides in party planning, cooking/baking, and reading.
We both cherish small weekend trips, usually to Charlottesville, VA or Smith Mountain Lake, VA. We love spontaneous trips that always include finding a cozy coffee shop to relax and read together.
Why did you decide to get married where you did?
From early on in our relationship, we always dreamt of having a Charlottesville, VA wedding in the fall. Charlottesville is the “Wine Country” of Virginia, and has such a charming feel with the mountains in the background.
We toured a number of different venues in Charlottesville, all with October dates available. However, once we drove down the winding driveway to Castle Hill Cider lined with apple trees, we started to fall in love. Seeing the outside bar veranda surrounded by trees, the ceremony tree grove, pond, and classic white exterior already swayed us upon arrival.
Once we stepped into the venue, we immediately fell in love and were awed by the entire back wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. That wasn’t the only show-stopper, there were string light bulb fixtures draping all across the ceiling, which is exactly what I wanted to create that intimate and romantic feel. The venue had everything we wanted and more. After our tour, we knew that we did not care about the dates that were available, just that this was our dream venue and we had to have it.
How many guests did you have?
We had 95 guests.
What was your budget?
Our budget was $50,000.00, which ultimately increased to $55,000.00
Tell us about your outfits.
One thing I knew before even getting engaged was that my dream dress was a Berta wedding gown. I have dreamt of having one since I was a teenager. The mixture of elegance, lacework, and bodice work is one-of-a-kind. I traveled to the NYC Berta location, planning on having a weekend full of dress shopping. My dress was the third dress I tried on, and the only dress I cried in. It was stretching my budget, so we put a hold on it and continued our search. After trying on 20+ other dresses, I knew I couldn’t stray from my dream dress, texted my Bridal Stylist, Alyssa, and immediately went back to Berta. The dress was strapless with detachable sleeves, a mermaid shape, with a corset bodice and an open mesh-back. The lacework was a thick lace that I have never seen before, in the shapes of flowers throughout the dress. There was a secret element that gave this dress an additional “wow” effect, which was the lining. The lining was a nude glitter that was stunning. It changed how it reflected in every light I stood in, sometimes simply resembling a nude lining, and in other light having a subtle sparkle effect. My dress had a dainty miniature pearl waistline with a small pearl bow, which was the sweetest touch. To compliment this, I wore my grandmother’s pearl ring, and a beautiful pearl necklace my mother gifted me. My heels from Dolce Vita were silk with pearls on the heels which tied everything together.
I searched and searched for a reception dress to change after that wasn’t your typical bridal reception dress. After a long search, I found this full-length silver sparkle dress from BabyBoo, which was a show stopper. The quality was thick and incredibly flattering with a low back.
After we decided on our color scheme, which was white, beige, and black, we both immediately knew we wanted a wedding party dressed in all black. We knew the guys would be in tuxes to give that elevated feel, but with ties so Brandon stood out in a bow-tie. Brandon wanted to be in a classic black tux, which was perfect. We wanted something for the bridesmaids that would compliment them all, looked elegant, and was seamless throughout them all. I wanted something they felt beautiful in and not your typical “bridesmaid” dress. After searching endless stores, Amazon was the surprising winner. Once I saw the strapless, silk, and backless dresses I immediately knew those would be perfect. I had the girls also carrying wicker baskets with their floral arrangements, which were stunning and tied elements of the wedding together.
What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?
Never losing sight of “us”. There are a lot of opinions from others when it comes to planning your wedding. We both were aligned with what we wanted our wedding to look and feel like, which was classy, intimate, and romantic. We did not want to look back and regret one bit of the day! We did not go over 100 guests, which is hard to stick to if you have a big family and friend network. I did not want to buy everything, not only because that would be far more expensive, but it would lose that personal value to us. I spent hours outside breaking stones to get the perfect size signs and name tags. All of the signs were custom-made by myself, featuring my cricut! The entire wedding was so customized and seeing it put together was so rewarding.
Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?
I wanted our wedding to feel like us and stay true to ourselves throughout the entire process. I always had the vision of our wedding from the moment Brandon proposed and it never changed once. It was important to me to make our wedding feel completely customized to us, which is exactly what I did.
I handmade all of the signs, including the acrylic, stone, and linen displays. My stepfather built the seating chart wall which was one of the original visions I had and could not stray from, the sign was 8’x8’ and was beautiful. Another element that was important for us to incorporate was the stone signs I made out of Travertine and Limestone. Brandon is a builder and flipper, so I thought a fun way to customize our wedding further was to incorporate the stone as an aspect of him.
Any tips for couples getting married?
The beginning of wedding planning can absolutely be stressful and overwhelming! I planned our wedding within 7 ½ months, which is not a lot of time in the wedding world. However, I had one rule that I stuck to throughout booking of each vendor that helped me through the entire process. I not only had to love their work, but also had to click with their energy. I needed to feel like I was working with friends who were just as passionate as I was about my wedding. By doing this, I had complete confidence and trust in each vendor, which ultimately helped in making me not feel one ounce of stress during my wedding day.
Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?
Eloise Lake Photography: It’s hard to put into words our feelings about our photographer, Eloise. Brandon and I both have not stopped talking about her to this day and continue to receive compliments about her. Booking her was the best decision we could have made because working with her was an absolute dream. Leading up to the process, she was so invested in getting to know us personally, and what we wanted. It was so easy to describe what we wanted, because it completely aligned with her style already, which was art. Eloise’s ability to capture the raw and authentic emotions in a light that is only noticed by an artist is truly unmatched. Most of my wedding pictures are unposed and captured as the moment happened, without any interruptions. What touched our hearts was how truly invested she was in our wedding and us as a couple. Throughout the day, we would catch her shedding tears with a huge smile while she was capturing the sweet moments we had. Eloise made us both feel on cloud nine and completely comfortable being in front of the camera. Her work and how she works is simply inspiring. Guests are still raving about how dedicated she was and how lovely of a presence she had. An element that was so sweet and special to us was the polaroid pictures. She was taking polaroids throughout the whole day. Towards the end of the evening, Eloise came to the dance floor to dance with us and then pulled me to the side to give the sweetest gift box, which included all of the polaroids from the day. Our ride home consisted of us tearing up in the back of our limo reliving the dream of our day through her polaroid pictures. We felt as if I was working with a friend who was just as invested in our wedding as we were. We feel so lucky to have found Eloise and are so excited to use her in the future as our family grows.
Amy Marie Events: Our florist, Amy, was a dream to work with. Amy and her team went above and beyond, even requesting to walk the venue prior to our final meeting, ensuring there was nothing missed. The dedication, excitement, and passion they displayed made me excited and so trusting in them. They really create pieces of art with their floral arrangements. Amy took our vision and exceeded our expectations by far. I wanted roses sticking out of the ground that lined the aisle. Amy had an element created so they could accomplish this and in the event of rain, they could quickly move it inside to still give me the same effect. One flower I wanted was a singular white Orchid for Brandon’s boutonniere, and to incorporate Orchids in my bouquet. They surprised me with incorporating Orchids throughout all of the floral displays, which was such a lovely surprise and breathtaking. Nature even agreed with how beautiful the flowers were. There were butterflies flying around the ceremony arches they created throughout the whole ceremony.
Erin Cleveland Events: Brandon’s brother and sister-in-law had the most amazing wedding planner for their wedding back in 2022, Erin Cleveland. After witnessing how amazing her and her team were, we both knew we needed her for our wedding. Erin was our first vendor we reached out to, even before booking a venue, and circled back making sure she was still available. Which thankfully, she was. I booked her for planning starting at 3 months out, but she was available throughout it all and was so quick to respond. Erin was the sweetest to work with and was just as dedicated to our vision, which made us have so much confidence in her and her team. We had a lot of pieces to incorporate and an unexpected rain shower 30 minutes prior to guest arrival, which she tackled seamlessly, making me not have one ounce of stress.
Photographer: Eloise Lake Photography @eloiselakephotography with 2nd shooter Katie Preston @ktprestonphotography | Planning: Erin Cleveland Events @erinclevelandevents | Flora: Amy Marie Events @amymarieevents | Ceremony Location: Castle Hill Cider - Linden Grove @castlehillcider | Hire: MS Events @mseventscville & Kenya @kenyaxhc | Makeup: Kamryn @kams.glams | Hair: Jessica Solomon @hairby.j.s | Catering + Beverages: The Local Catering @thelo | Cake: Pearl’s Bake Shoppe @pearlsbakeshoppe | Stationery: Forever Paper Co @foreverpaperco | Entertainment: Rhythm of Love DJ @rolweddings | Wedding Dress: Berta @berta | Reception Dress: Babyboo @babyboofashion | Suit: Men’s Wearhouse @menswearhouse | Veil: Anjolique Bridal @anjoliquebridal | Earrings: NADRI Jewelry @nedrijewlry | Engagement & Wedding Rings: Diamonds Direct @diamondsdirect | Shoes: Dolce Vita @dolcevita | Wedding Party Attire: Amazon @amazonfashion | Matches: BoCoDesigns byCassidy via Etsy @boco_designs | Pizza Boxes: ShinyHappyParty via Etsy @shinyhappyparty | Drink Tags: WhiteConfetti Box via Etsy @whiteconfettibox | Mirror: Costco @costco