Our “Last Wedding”: Tricia & Ian’s Northern Neck, Virginia Wedding
Ok, so we know you’ve probably been waiting for this on for a while now, especially you, Tricia & Ian, since you married last October! (Thank you so, so much for your patience.) We had really hoped to get it up on the Journal prior to (my) Anne’s surgery (some of you may know that I’ve been dealing with some health issues related to her BRCA status), but with the craziness of the election, the holidays and then preparing for her early February surgery, time simply got away from us. But there was another reason for the delay, as well. We found it more difficult than we thought we would to post our “last wedding” (never say never, but this was our last Holland Photo Arts wedding for the foreseeable future). It’s not that we regret our decision to step away from weddings at all, but this wedding in particular was just so bittersweet for us.
Let us explain.
We met Tricia and Ian after her Mom found our website and discovered we lived in Colorado, but also worked in Virginia. T&I were currently living and working in the Denver metro area, but were planning a wedding back in her Northern Neck Virginia hometown where she grew up. After meeting up for drinks and getting on spectacularly, we were absolutely thrilled they chose us to document their festivities. We didn’t know then that they’d be our last wedding, but we had a pretty good idea given the time of year they were getting married. Once we knew theirs would be it, it added a whole other level of excitement and pressure. Photographing weddings has always been about relationships for us – the ones we make with the couples’ families, their friends, their other wedding professionals, but most importantly, the one we make with the couple. And going out shooting the wedding of a couple we adored, in a place we loved and had lots of history with (Virginia), it just seemed to be the icing on the the many hundreds of wedding cakes we’ve photographed over our 14 years in business.
But enough about us – we’ll have more about what’s next for Holland Photo Arts in a future post. This one is about Tricia & Ian and their super fun wedding, even with the uninvited appearance from hurricane Matthew! Many, many people choose to marry in Virginia in the Fall because it’s one of the most beautiful times of the year; usually low humidity, the kaleidoscope of colors on the Fall trees and generally a pretty safe time weather wise – generally you don’t have to worry about snow making an appearance (unless you live in, ahem, Colorado) and the rainy season is usually reserved for Spring. But, as we all know, Mother Nature can be a fickle one when she wants to be. It became clearer by the day leading to their wedding that the hurricane that was supposed to hit more of the North Carolina coastline had actually changed it’s path and had it’s “eye” (ha!) on the coast of Virginia instead!
Well, let’s just say this created a unique set of challenges and we were very glad this was not our first wedding or there very well may have not been more than 350 to follow it! Rain on a wedding day is one thing. Non-stop heavy, pouring rain, windy hurricane would not be a photographer’s first choice, let alone a bride and groom’s! Especially when they’ve planned for the entire wedding to be outdoors. Thankfully, Tricia and Ian handled it all with aplomb, even though there were some serious scary moments thanks to the all the wet surfaces. The steady drizzle just prior to the ceremony started to pick up during the ceremony and then, just in time for portraits, poured. Ah, well. Tricia & Ian got to have their outdoor ceremony (complete with the bride’s entrance on horseback) and thanks to southern covered porches, clear umbrellas and a picture perfect barn, lemonade was made. ;-D
You may remember their gorgeous Colorado engagement session that we shot around the foothills of Boulder with the Flatirons making for an always stunning backdrop. We even got to capture her beautiful horse, Bear and their special relationship. (We had gorgeous weather for that one. Thanks, Colorado!) In fact, it was her love of horses and the horse farm she practically grew up at with the owners becoming a second family of sorts, that she knew that’s where she wanted to be married and start this new adventure in her and Ian’s lives. It can be tough for couples when they have a certain vision of their wedding day, that may not live up to expectations for whatever reasons, but T&I, it was amazing getting to show you your slide show in person and we think your day was absolutely picture perfect. We couldn’t be more delighted and honored that you love them, too!
But, enough chatting, because we can’t wait to (finally!) show you some of our favorite images from their crazy, fun wedding day!
Venue: Farmhouse Edenhof Private Horse Farm
Officiant: Rev. Jeff Cerar
Catering: Willaby’s Catering
Rental Company: Rappahannock Rentals
Hair Stylist: Moxie Salon
Cake Designer: Emily Pelletier
Bridal Gown Designer: Oleg Cassini
Anne’s Faves of Bill’s:
Bill’s Faves of Anne’s:
Details, details… 🙂
Dear k&n,
Some of our favorite moments from your wedding include:
That moment of quiet just before the ceremony, when you paused to look outdoors and wish the rain away, Tricia. Yet your combination of blithe attitude toward the weather and determination to wed outdoors, while not specifically a moment per se, lead to a romantic, misty ceremony in the rain. Your wedding party gleefully photo bombing the silhouette portrait of you in the horse barn. The scary tumble down the porch stairs into the mud, Ian, saving Tricia’s dad from injury, and leading to incredible tenderness with the two of you to nurse your newly re-injured knee. Seeing so many people step up to help keep the path safe and clear by rolling out spare carpet between the tent and barn atop the increasingly deep mud, and then running towels along the dance floor so at least your first dance would be dry. Your courage and determination when you stuck to plan and lifted Tricia high, high in the air, Ian, during your first dance. The huge thumbs up you gave Emily when tasting her home-made delicious cake. The shrug of, “Ha, well of course!” when you saw all the carefully strung cafe lights in the nearby mature tree flicker out, literally just before we were going to do some evening portraits of you both. Your enthusiasm for getting absolutely drenched just for the chance to make one cool portrait in the rain (it worked!). And lastly, when we got together a few short weeks after your wedding, watching your faces when you saw your wedding slideshow for the very first time. Still gives us goosebumps.
Thank you so, so much for having us document your big day! We’re so thrilled we went out with a bang! And lots of hugs. Congratulations, you two and we’re excited for your many new adventures together!
xoxo,
…a&b
Taking an intimate moment with my husband. 
