This past July, darling bride Whitney and her maids arrived on the grounds of the Historic Whitehall Manor to prepare for her beautiful Southern Wedding shot by the talented Stephen Gosling Photography. This 200 year old venue is located right at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northern Virginia and makes for a charming backdrop. On the steps of the picturesque Manor, Whitney + Josh exchanged vows in a sweet, touching ceremony in front of their dearest friends and family. Whitney dazzled guests in a charming strapless gown that she paired with a classic strand of pearls and a gorgeous summer bouquet from Lavender Green English Floral Design while her ladies sported a shade of burgundy. After the ceremony, the newlyweds and their bridal party posed for some gorgeous rustic portraits before joining their guest for toasting and dancing! We love this beautiful Whitehall Manor Wedding!

Wedding Vendors

Photographer: Stephen Gosling Photography / Catering: Celebrations Catering / Floral Designer: Lavender Green English Floral Design / Ceremony and Reception Venue: Historic Whitehall / Bakery: Joy's Cake Studio

Beautiful bride Maggie tied the knot to her handsome husband, Mike, this past summer in an intimate ceremony on the grounds of North Carolina's Burke Manor Inn where Faces in Focus Photography was on hand to capture the entire day. Maggie was kind enough to fill us in on all the details of her darling Southern Wedding!

Tell us a little bit about how you met your husband... My husband and I met on Match.Com…. Yup it really does work. I feel in love with a picture where the sun was in his eyes. That bald head of his was really the magic ticket. Honestly it does help that he is a sexy man, but his words in the profile he wrote went straight to my heart.

charleston weddings blog, Hilton head wedding blogs, myrtle beach weddings blog, lowcountry wedding blogs, faces in focus photography, burke manor inn

How did he propose? How long were you engaged for?

Mike proposed to me at Winter Green Ski Resort this past January. Martin Luther’s King’s birthday. A year prior he took me there as my first time ever to ski. I broke my ring finger. This January as we started to get all of our gear on he told me to wait a minute.. He walked into the bedroom came around the corner bent down on one knee and asked me to marry him. And I quote this is his proposal “even know that you are a pain in my ass, I love you more than life itself and cannot imagine my life without by my side” Will you marry me? AS I stand there in my ski wear with face and head gear on and he could not see my face. Only my eyes I was floored. Yeah we spoke of rings etc…. but never did I expect that. We were engaged for 7 months before we said our dos. And keep in mind that on our wedding day of August 27^th we had a hurricane, Days prior a heart quake and one week to the day my father had a heart attack where he got two stints but in, but was still there to give me away and we had our very first dance EVER.

Your wedding was filled with gorgeous details. Did any have special meaning? What was your favorite? The flowers had special meaning. The girl who did them lived outside the box as I asked her to do. I gave her a clear canvas to show her talents but at the same time my touch. The flowers were done in Japanese lettering to match my shoulder tattoo. It means double happiness and love. And those are what we stood on when we said our own vows to each other. We did a sand ceremony as well that I wrote myself and the class that we poured our sand in matched the flowers and my tattoo.

How did you choose your venue? We choose the B&B to be sure that all of our family was together and not spread apart. As they come from far and in between we wanted our family close and to share memories and to make new ones.

Tell us a little bit about your menu... Well I am a very picky eater. And our family and friends all love meat and potatoes. So we had prime rib, salad, mixed garden veggies and a potato bar with all the fixings. It was delicious. There are still people talking about the food and it as over three months ago. We had wine imported in from our engagement night that we later found out that is not easy to find. We had NY wine sent to us as well. Each had a meaning and those were shared with everybody.

What’s your favorite picture from your wedding? My favorite pic is where my father and I are dancing. As I said that was the very first time I ever danced with him and considering he had a heart attack one week prior to that. Well I just about didn’t get that chance of a life time. My father raised me from 15 years old until the time I was 17 by himself. Until I gave him a shot of courage to ask someone out who now is my step mother. Yes, I hooked my dad up…

Out of the entire day, what was the most memorable moment? Out of the entire day... sitting here with tears in my eyes as I type this is that I shared special, priceless moments with my father. We danced to Britney Spears all the way to Pit Pull. His hands in the air and feet off the ground he never skipped a beat and told me that it was the best day of his life. My dreams weren’t just answered or my blessings didn’t stop when god gave me a guardian angel with Mike…. They continued when he spared my dad’s life to give me memories that only very few of us ever get a chance to have with their fathers. If you knew more about me you would clearly understand why my dad is my world. And the best memorable moment with Mike was when cake went down the front of my halter wedding dress between my cleavage and he went right in after it in front of god and everybody. That was a memory that I don’t just have it is also on DVD…..

Looking back on your engagement and wedding, is there any advice you would give to brides in the planning process?

Take one day at a time. Don’t let anybody talk you into something that you or your soon to be husband doesn’t want. And enjoy it. It goes by way to fast. Remember it is about both of you and nobody else. So do what makes you happy and what is meaningful to the both of you. After all this is the first party as husband and wife that you are giving so make a hell of day.

Vendor

Photographer: Faces in Focus Photography / Ceremony and Reception Venue: Burke Manor Inn / Designer/Planner: The bride! / Invitations: Juliepatolies / Cake: Carolina Cake / Flowers: Eleventh Hour / Bridal Gown: David's Bridal / Hair & Makeup: Hair done by Jillian Cannon and Make up by Stacy Sharerrill / Entertainment: Island Sound / Transportation: My brand new 2011 JK. (Jeep) I bought it just so my gown wouldn’t get dirty….. Honest!!