Charlottesville Vintage-Inspired Wedding

A couple who’s as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside, an intimate wedding ceremony, and stunning images from Cramer Photo make today’s wedding the perfectly sweet day it was. Frances and Thaddeus are both yoga instructors who imbued their ceremony with love, spirituality, and touching personal values — with a perfectly peaceful wedding reception to follow!

From the bride, Frances: The aesthetic and energy of our wedding combined my love of all things vintage, delicate and feminine in the setting and style with the quirky, non-traditional, spiritual orientation that guides our life as a couple. Our ceremony was officiated by our teacher from Crestone Healing Arts Center in Colorado, which is where Thaddeus and I met. We had three other friends and teachers share blessings and poems in our ceremony. We wrote our vows and shared them with each other for the first time at the ceremony. Although they were different in form, the feelings and the expression of life values complemented each other perfectly.

As dedicated yoga practitioners and instructors, we made some non-conventional decisions for our wedding. For example, we did not serve any meat or eggs and we made sure all the cheese was rennet-free. Our caterers used beautiful organic and local produce. We decided to refrain from serving alcohol because it is not a part of either of our lives. This decision accorded nicely with our desire to have a morning ceremony followed by a luncheon. In terms of budget, this was a huge bonus because we did not need to hire a band, dance floor or set up a bar.

Both Thaddeus and I wanted a small and intimate wedding. We had only 40 guests. This was truly special because over the course of the weekend, we had the opportunity to spend time with each and every one of them starting with our colorful Indian feast the night before, all the way up to a final evening of chill time at a local tea house.

I love vintage fashion and I knew that whatever I would wear for my wedding needed to have soul and history. When I saw a picture of my maternal grandmother on her wedding day in 1942, I knew I had found my dress. One of my aunts had worn the dress for her wedding in the ‘80s and so she sent me the lace and chiffon gown to try on. It fit almost perfectly. I had it professionally restored and altered, changing the openness of the neckline, but keeping the original style intact.

Any advice for future brides planning their weddings now? Pick a photographer that you adore! Our photos bring me so much joy whenever I look at them and we loved hanging out with Sarah on our big day. Most importantly, be flexible with the changes that will inevitably occur, but stick true to your most heartfelt vision. Our wedding was planned to be in a garden with a luncheon on the side lawn, but when the weather forecast turned to an ominous 100% chance of rain we had to bring it all inside and change the layout of the entire event just two days before the ceremony. Our wedding day didn’t end up looking exactly the way I imagined, but sharing our vows in that perfectly warm, sweet, pink parlor, intoxicatingly fragrant with flowers and nuzzled up close with all of our dearest friends was beyond heaven. Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. At the end of the day, beyond all the beauty and excitement, the most important thing was that I had married my soul mate and best friend.

Wedding Location: Scottsville, VA / Wedding Photographer: Cramer Photo / Wedding Venue: Belle Haven / Vintage China: sourced by the couple. Frances will be selling half of it, so keep an eye out for the listing on Recycle Your Wedding or get first dibs by emailing her at francesharjeet at gmail dot com.