Leah and Michael’s wedding at the Ford’s Colony Country Club in Williamsburg, VA, was filled with moments that will be cherished forever. They added a fun twist to their day by having a First Look with the groomsmen first, resulting in reactions that were absolutely priceless! When Michael finally saw his bride, the tears in his eyes said it all—he was completely captivated by Leah’s beauty. With their top priorities being photography and an incredible DJ, this couple made sure every moment of their celebration was beautifully captured and full of joy!
How did you meet?
We met in college at VCU in 2016! We went on a couple dates, decided timing wasn’t right and went our separate ways. About two years later, we reconnected and realized our connection was still just as strong. The rest is history!
What is your proposal story?
After returning home from visiting my family in western New York over the summer, Michael had suggested we go out to dinner to celebrate me coming home. I was a little hesitant after being in the car all day, but wanted to go and spend time with him. We went down by the water in Yorktown, had a delicious dinner, and walked down on the pier after eating to look at all the jellyfish. While I was distracted, Michael got down on one knee, I turned around and immediately said yes!
Tell us a little a bit about your wedding
We knew we wanted to get married sometime in the fall. The colors we picked were inspired by the season, warmer colors with some greenery. We wanted something classy, but still romantic, warm, and inviting, reminiscent of the amount of love we have for each other and our friends and family.
Tell us about your attire choices.
For the bridesmaids, we wanted something that would tailor to everyone’s individual style. We wanted something in the same color, but different styles where everyone felt comfortable in what they were wearing. I have been in weddings where I did not feel comfortable with how I looked and wanted to make sure our bridal party didn’t feel that way. We wanted “matching, not identical”. We also decided on a less traditional look for the groom and groomsmen. We wanted to make sure that the suits the groomsmen bought would be able to be worn again in other settings.
What was the most important to the two of you while planning? Was there anything that you chose to splurge on or skip?
When planning, we wanted to make sure that everyone had fun celebrating our love with us! Our main priorities were photography and the DJ. Both of these vendors way exceeded our expectations. We wanted to make sure that we had photographs that we could look back on year after year to remember what a great day we had. Our DJ was also amazing, with their Photo Booth. A ton of our guests RAVED about our DJ and how much fun they had.
What were your favorite parts of the day?
There is not one moment that we specifically state as our favorite, but we especially liked that we did a first look before our ceremony. It took a lot of the nerves away and it made us even more excited. Plus, we got a lot of the pictures out of the way so we could actually enjoy our cocktail hour. But mainly, we just loved seeing all of our guests, and seeing them enjoy themselves as we celebrated us and the love Michael and I have for each other.
Tell us about your wedding flowers.
We wanted something timeless and very natural to wematch the colors of the wedding. We wanted tons of greenery, very simple, blush colors
Tell us about your wedding cake.
Our wedding cake was delicious! Publix was amazing to work with. We ended up deciding on a white cake with raspberry almond filling and cream cheese frosting. For our guests we also had a marble cake with vanilla custard filling with white buttercream frosting! We wanted to give our guests some options.
What did you do for favors?
Our Photo Booth pictures were our favors! They had a personalized logo with our wedding date on it. Also, Michael’s grandmother had some traditional Italian wedding favors made for us – Jordan Almonds!
Please describe any DIY, handmade, or personal details.
We made/painted all of our wedding table numbers and frames, plus my aunt also made our ceremony sign that says “true love is when both people think they’re the lucky ones”. We had a table with some pictures of our family members-especially our grandparents, on their wedding days. Plus we also had a memorial table with pictures of friends and family members who were not there to celebrate with us
Did you include any family heirlooms or special traditions?
I wore my mom’s pearl necklace and earrings that she wore on her wedding day. Plus she got me a sixpence for my shoe.
Do you have any advice for couples planning their weddings now?
Just have fun with it! This day is supposed to be an extension of your love for each other! It should be an exciting time, planning a day where you can celebrate your love with all of the people that mean the most to you. The little details don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things!
Did any of your wedding pros deliver a standout experience? Let us know the details!
All of our vendors were FANTASTIC! They all truly made our day so special. It was literally the perfect day and we couldn’t recommend our vendors enough!