Wedding Prayer
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Lord, behold our family here assembled.
We thank you for this place in which we dwell,
for the love that unites us,
for the peace accorded us this day,
for the hope with which we expect the morrow,
for the health, the work, the food,
and the bright skies that make our lives delightful;
for our friends in all parts of the earth.
Amen
Hi Readers! As I’m sure you can tell the Charlottesville Wedding Blog is always a work in progress. It is my wish to continue to grow and develop this blog so that it will be more helpful, useful and interesting to couples planning their wedding in the area.
To help me learn what you would like to see more of here on the blog, I have created a simple little survey that I would love for you to take. Only 7 questions total and your input will be very helpful and much appreciated.

Click Here to take survey
THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU
The Bride’s Cafe is a colorful and beautifully done wedding blog created by Janie Medley of Janie Medley Flora Designs right in our very own Richmond, VA. Janie is an incredibly talented floral designer and The Bride’s Cafe blog is full of her love of beauty and of weddings. Tons of photos and great ideas for your own wedding… but mostly it’s a feast for the eyes… enjoy!
Earlier this year… wow, all the way back in January…. a couple I married asked 3 of their friends to come up and read these wonderful movie quotes at the very beginning of their ceremony. I thought this was a lovely idea because it so clearly reflected the personalities of the couple, their shared appreciation for romantic movies and their great sense of humor. Your ceremony reading choices can be truly creative and meaningful to you, not just what’s expected. Enjoy!
Quote from the movie The Notebook - “The best love is the kind that weakens the soul, that makes us reach for more, that plants fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that’s what you’ve given me. That’s what I hope to give you forever.”
Quote from the movie Love Actually - “Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think of the arrivals
gate at the airport. General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don’t see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the twin towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board
were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. And if you look for it, I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that love actually is all around.”
Quote from the movie Fools Rush In - “You’re the one! You are everything I never knew I always wanted. I’m not even sure what that means exactly but I think it has something to so with the rest of my life! And I think we should get married! Right now!”
Sunday was the most spectacular autumn day: crisp, colorful, sunny and cool… perfect! The 16 mile drive North on Rt. 20 to Barboursville Vineyard from Charlottesville was truly spectacular. As soon as I drove up I could see the horses in the field and hear the geese on the pond in the distance. As I walked up the road to the Inn I felt absolutely blessed to be doing what I do!
Kelley and Jay chose to have their morning ceremony in the
octagonal garden behind the 1804 Inn and then have lunch at the award-winning Palladio Restaurant over at the Vineyard. What a fantastic choice for an elopement.
I also got to meet Lynn Russenberger, the Innkeeper of the 1804 Inn who obviously works very hard to maintain this beautiful and historic Inn in good order and loves her job! Please give Lynn a call at 434-760-2212 or drop her an e-mail at 1804inn@barboursvillewine.com to find out more. Also,
be sure to spend a few minutes at the website to see photos of the beautiful rooms and learn more about the history of the 1804 Inn, the adjacent Barboursville ruins, the Palladio Restaurant and the Vineyard itself.
Enjoy!
Barack & Michelle Obama were married on October 3, 1992! I wonder if their dreams in 1992 could have been this big.


Another beautiful wedding reading, an excerpt from Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s
Gift from the Sea
… enjoy!
When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. It is impossibility. It is even a lie to pretend to. And yet this is exactly what most of us demand. We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity - in freedom, in the sense that the dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern.
The only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what was in nostalgia, nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation, but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now. Relationships must be like islands, one must accept them for what they are here and now, within their limits - islands, surrounded and interrupted by the sea, and continually visited and abandoned by the tides.