Keswick Vineyards

I love when we get to see some of the photo’s from the amazing photographers that photograph weddings at Keswick Vineyards located just outside Charlottesville.  Don Mears just added some new photo’s from Shannon & Zac’s September 24, 2011 wedding. To view these amazing photo’s, please click here. More photo’s and write up about this wedding can be found by viewing our wedding blogs from last year.

Well, I knew it would eventually happen and it did. We had our first rained on wedding:(   The good news, our rain plan worked and everything was fine. Stephanie & Nick said “I do” on May 5th amongst their guest under Keswick Vineyards

Sperry tent. Stephanie’s father was a hands on father and made this beautiful pergola to be used for the ceremony. (He also made a table & benches to be used for a lounge area) Initially the pergola was set near the vineyard but Mother Nature wasn’t going to give a break so we quickly moved the pergola under the tent and set chairs on the dance floor and created an aisle. With umbrellas in hand, Stephanie was escorted by her father to the tent. Parents were seated on the dance floor while the rest of the guest sat at their tables. I must say, this created a wonderful, relaxed feeling for the ceremony. Stephanie and the rest of the bridesmaids looked stunning with their hair being done by Moxie in Charlottesville. After the ceremony, guest mingled under the tent while enjoying food & drinks by 20 South Catering. I couldn’t resist myself from sampling some chocolates that were made by the bride’s Aunt on the chocolate table. If you want to order some delicious, homemade chocolates, go to www.ldcandy.com. Personally the chocolate covered carmel with salt on the outside was unbelievable along with the toffee. Right next to the chocolate table was a simple, yet elegant wedding cake by Cakes by Rachel. Guest enjoyed dancing the night away to music being played by DJ Derek Tobler. The guest were treated when the brides great Uncle played the accordion for a traditional family wedding dance. The finale to the night was Carpe Donuts for some and brandy & cigars for others. Thanks to Albemarle Limousines for transporting everyone safely back to their hotels. The entire wedding was captured by Andrew Harnik Photography.

Keswick Vineyards began its 2012 wedding season on April 28th with the marriage of Sarah & Joyee.  What a way to start off our wedding season.  Sarah & Joyee had 2 ceremonies; one American & one Hindu.  Sarah wore a beautiful lace wedding dress for their first ceremony.  Joyee and the groomsmen wore dark suits.  Guest enjoyed the backdrop of the Southwestern Mountains and the vineyard as they gathered on the front lawn of the estate.  Sarah was escorted down the flower lined aisle by her father.  After the first ceremony guests enjoyed cocktails & hors d’oeuvres while the wedding party changed to get ready for the Hindu ceremony.  Sarah was carried in like Cleopatra by four groomsmen.  She kept her face covered with 2 leaves as she circled 7 times around Joyee before revealing her face to him.  I was fascinated with this ceremony.  I have never seen a Hindu wedding and was just amazed by the beauty and culture.  Even though I couldn’t understand a word of the ceremony, it was easy to understand by the hand gestures and props that were used throughout the ceremony.  The colors were just amazing with all the red and gold.  I’ll never forget this ceremony;  simply breathtaking!  Once all the ceremonies were completed the guest were escorted  to the Sperry Tent for the reception.  After dinner the dancing began and again, what a treat that was with the Indian music and dances.  I can’t say enough to how sweet of a couple Sarah & Joyee and their entire family were.  I really appreciate you choosing Keswick Vineyards for your wedding and wish you a lifetime (times 7) of love and happiness.  Congratulations!  Special thanks to the following vendors for such a wonderful job:  C&O Catering, Jen Fariello Photgraphy, BeeHive Floral & Decor, DJ Pauly Madison, Barb Wired Wedding Planner, Albemarle Limousine.

Thrilled to share this beautiful blog featured in Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book of Shannon & Zac’s wedding at Keswick Vineyards on September 24, 2011.  Such beautiful photographs from Don Mears Photography. Click here to view blog.

It’s such an honor when people write blogs about weddings hosted at Keswick Vineyards. Recently a wedding hosted back in May, 2011, was featured in 2 blogs.  Click here to go to our post on Amelia & Andrew’s wedding and click on the links to see the other blogs on their wedding day.

So excited to share this blog showcasing Sarah and Patrick who will be married at Keswick Vineyards on September 22, 2012.  Can’t wait to to see what photographer Aaron Watson captures that day.  Looking at these photo’s I know we all will be blown away.  Click here for blog by Stephanie Marie of Fete.

Keswick Vineyards is so excited to announce we won the Wedding Wire Bride’s Choice Award for 2012!  How are the winners determined?
The WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards ™ recognizes the top local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the organization, the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ are awarded solely based on the reviews from over 1.2 million newlyweds. Awards are determined by a combination of four factors: Overall rating (quality), total number of reviews (quantity), review performance from 2011 (recency), and consistency of reviews from year to year (consistency). This year’s recipients represent the top 5% of WeddingWire’s vendor community, across all service categories and all regions throughout the US and Canada.  Congratulations to Keswick Vineyards event team!!!

I am so happy to share with everyone this video taken by Kirby Martin Cinematography of Sarah & Matt’s wedding on October 22, 2011, at Keswick Vineyards.   It was a pleasure to work with Kirby and I absolutely LOVE the very end of this video.  I highly recommend couples video taping their weddings and you can see that Kirby does an outstanding job.  I know my husband & I enjoy watching ours each year on our wedding anniversary. Click here to be connected to this video.

On Sunday, November 20th, Keswick Vineyards hosted its last wedding for the year with the marriage of Laya & Stephen.  When Laya & Stephen booked their wedding I wondered who would do an outdoor wedding in Virginia towards the end of November?  Who would imagine that on their wedding day the weather was warmer then it had been for the past few week ends.  Laya and Stephen were so blessed to have such a beautiful, fall weather day.  There was an overcast of clouds which the photographers love since you don’t have to worry about harsh shadows on anyones face.  Laya and Stephen had a traditional Christian ceremony.  Stephen’s father, who is a pastor, officiated the ceremony along with their church pastor.  Beautiful hymns were sung by Stephen’s sister while  musicians played.  You really could tell that religion was a very important part for this wedding.  Laya’s family is Persian and I found out that her grandfather had a winery in Iran and that is why getting married at a vineyard was very important to them.  Keeping with some Persian customs, Laya & Stephen did this photo of them looking into a mirror and you take the picture of them looking into the mirror.  You will see below my attempt at capturing this tradition.  It was beautiful to see Laya and her parents do some Persian dancing as the evening went on.  I can’t think of a more wonderful wedding to end our season this year.  Thank you to the following vendors which help make this wedding a success:  Catering by Anderson Carriage House, Festive Fare for party rentals, Pastry Chef Lisa Sheih, guitarist Andrew Walker and cello player Judah Goverman, Pastor Steve Aaron Sr., photographer Brian Tropiano, videographer Jillian Video Productions.  Enjoy some of my photo’s below and stay tuned for April when our 2012 wedding season will begin!