Be sure to pick up your copy of The Hook’s Weddings supplement… it’s full of great information and resources for your wedding planning…

At the end of last month I had the privilege of performing a wedding ceremony at the highest point in the Shenandoah National Park: Hawksbill Mountain (elevation 4050 ft.).  I met the bride and groom, Tammy & Arthur, plus Arthur’s daughter and her family at mile marker 45.6, just south of Skyland Resort. We headed out for the relatively easy 1 mile hike to the top of Hawksbill Mountain and were surrounded by lush Virginia mountain beauty every step of the way. At the end of our little hike, we held Arthur & Tammy’s ceremony on a beautiful rock outcropping at the very top of the mountain with the almost 180° scenic backdrop of the Shenandoah Valley behind us and bluest sky this side of the Rockies above us.  It was a most beautiful and joyful day and I’m so happy to share these non-professional, but still lovely photos with all of you… enjoy!

Here's the wedding processional from the parking lot to the top of the mountain!

Along the way...

Almost there... this was the longest aisle I'd ever seen.

Tammy and Arthur's ceremony was so sweet and full of love... it was my honor to marry them!

A few formal (or not so formal) wedding portraits after the ceremony.

A very strict dress policy: hiking boots or sneakers only!

One last spectacular view before our descent.

A sweet little doe checks us out on the way down the trail.

Tammy & Arthur enjoyed their blackberry icecream sundae after lunch at Skyland.

What a wonderful day this was… thank you Tammy and Arthur for allowing me to be a part of your very special celebration… I wish you both a lifetime of happiness!

You may have seen this on You Tube since it seems to be making the rounds. I liked it so much that I wanted to share it with my readers who might not have run across it yet. I promise it will make you smile .

Enjoy!

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

If you’re planning a wedding (or not) and love wedding blogs, like I do, you’ve probably seen a few out there in the Blogosphere… I haven’t shared my favorites in a while so today I’m happy to send you links to a few of the blogs that I read (or at least scan) every day. These blogs are not local to Charlottesville but are filled with stories, ideas, inspiration, instructions for various projects and tons more.

Most wedding blogs are, naturally, focused on the interests of brides in particular… which is understandable since statistically it’s the bride who undertakes a great majority of the planning.  However, today I discovered something quite unique (I think) a blog written by a groom, telling about his experience preparing for his own wedding which, apparently, is more than a year away.  It’s a relatively new blog written by “Dave” in Los Angeles… he calls it “Temple of Groom”.  Cute, huh?

So, I know that this post about wedding blogs isn’t specific to Charlottesville but since so many of the brides I work with are blog readers, I wanted to share a bit about my own wedding blog habit… and also to ask you if you’d let me know what your favorite blogs are. Very soon I’ll be sharing my favorite local Charlottesville wedding blogs… so stay tuned!

Style me Pretty ~ Weddings Unveiled WeddingbeeSnippet & InkEcochic WeddingsTemple of Groom ~ Brooklyn BrideBride’s CafeOffbeat Bride ~ Kiss the Groom Ritzy Bee

Send me a comment and let me know which wedding blogs are your favorites!

My good friends and ultra-fantastic photographers Bill and Anne Holland of Holland Photo Arts have a wonderful weekly feature on their blog that I wanted to let you all know about: Friday’s Fab Finds.  Every Friday they post cool, beautiful and useful items & ideas they’ve seen or come across in their many wedding-related adventures.  Friday’s Fab Finds include things like: invitations, places, people, links, real weddings, do-it-yourself tips and lots of creative ideas.  Without a doubt you’ll find some inspiration for your wedding, check it out!

Contact Information for Holland Photo Arts:
~ website: www.hollandphotoarts.com
~ phone: 434-295-9681
~ e-mail: info@hollandphotoarts.com
~ blog: www.hollandphotoartsblog.com

If you’re planning a wedding in the Charlottesville area, the Charlottesville Wedding Directory will make your life so much easier… check it out… and happy wedding planning!

If having a cake-topper, other than the typical bride-n-groom one  sounds good to you then check these out. Toppers with Glitz is owned by Sari Watkins who actually designs and makes these unique custom cake-toppers and other accessories with her very own talented hands. Sari says, “You now have the opportunity for your cake topper to be unique while still suited to your wedding style. Whether you go with a single letter, monogram, or shape, I provide options a nd have choices to match any bride’s theme. If you know exactly what you want, you’ll love being able to make all the final decisions. If you are the type that prefers to leave the creative design to someone else, you are in capable hands.”
Toppers with Glitz’s website has tons more examples of Sari’s beautiful work, samples of the dozens of  crystal colors she has available plus other ideas for unique items that Sari can create for your wedding day… have fun!

Snippet & Ink is a wonderfully creative and inspiring blog for anyone planning a wedding. Kathryn, of Snippet & Ink seems to be especially fond of creating amazing inspiration boards like those I’ve miniaturized here to show you. She has, quite literally, hundreds of them using every imaginable color combination and texture.

So, if you’re looking for ideas and inspiration for your wedding, or really for any event at all, take some time to look over this fantastically creative blog. But, I warn you, don’t go over there unless you’ve got time on your hands because not only will you find post after post after post of wonderful pictures and Kathryn’s unique narrative voice but she also has an exhaustive blogroll of other wedding, photo, food and inspiration blogs to check out. So, I’m warning you, don’t go over there you might never get out !

One of many other unique features at Snippet & Ink are their “Discounts and Giveaways” for all kinds of products and services: jewelry, paper goods, hair & makeup services and on and on… Kathryn is truly an amazing and unstoppable resource for you… don’t miss Snippet & Ink.

Now clearly this would not exactly fall under the category of “useful resource” but I love You Tube and I’d never seen anything quite like this ’til yesterday… it is a very well done trailer called

Rob & Lindsay’s Wedding Preview/Trailer

the creators obviously not only had a great time creating it but clearly know quite a bit about video production. I guarantee you will laugh out loud!
… at the very end of this 4 minute video there’s a little message that pops up that says, “Want a movie preview for your birthday, wedding or other special event? Contact LindsayNRoberts@yahoo.com.” Let me know if you do, or if you have!

If you’ve been planning your wedding for awhile now you very well may have already encountered the Style Me Pretty blog written by the amazing and prolific Abby Larson. Abby writes about every imaginable aspect of the wonderful world of weddings and each post is full of colorful photos and links to great resources. To give you a tiny taste of the broad range of Style Me Pretty’s content here’s a tiny sampling of what has been on the blog in the last couple of weeks: wedding cakes; cinematography; little black dresses; wedding sweets; invitations; breast cancer awareness; and this week she is devoting solely to do-it-yourself projects for weddings. This little list doesn’t even scratch the surface!

Among many other features, Style Me Pretty has it’s very own, exclusive, directory of wedding vendors around the country called the Little Black Book. As I understand it, Abby only accepts 3 in each category per locality and each vendor listed is screened and recommended by colleagues as one of the very best in their category.

Ok, that’s enough from me… now hop on over there and check out Style Me Pretty… but please be sure to come back!

Last week I had an e-mail from Christoph Herby, a co-owner of Happy Rickshaw (his partner is Ian Ayers). Until then I had no idea that this great service even existed in Charlottesville! Now that I’ve discovered it I’ll have to have a ride sometime.

Here’s a bit of info. on Happy Rickshaw’s wedding-related services that Christoph sent along plus some fun photos:

We offer “everything from carrying the bride and groom away from the service, to shuttling wedding guests to parking areas before and after the service, or special fun rides for kids. We’ve transported a rickshaw all the way up to Leesburg, VA (100 miles) for a wedding, but it cost extra for the transportation. As you’ll see in the photographs, we can decorate the rickshaws for special occasions.”

Doesn’t this look like fun:


If you’d like to contact Christoph and Ian at Happy Rickshaw to see how you might incorporate this fun, low-impact mode of transportation into your wedding day please visit their website for all the details and/or drop them an e-mail at info@happyrickshaw.com.

Here are a couple links to some recent press featuring Happy Rickshaw:

• Cville 9/9/08
• UVA Alumni Magazine Summer ’08

And if you’ve already had a rickshaw experience please let me know how it was… I’d love to hear from you!