Bride Liz shares her romantic mountain garden wedding!
The more Tenth-Anniversary Issue real weddings we share here, the more I realize what an embarrassment of riches we have in real wedding beauty! I must admit, though, that I’m partial to the ones from my neck of the woods. This Virginia lovely is another reminder of how lucky we are to call the mid-Atlantic “home.”
While Liz works in event planning, her best advice to brides-to-be is to hire a wedding planner! It is always so satisfying to hear (and see!) that a bride’s dream vision for her wedding came true. But Tim took the reigns in our interview to share his favorite detail of the wedding and steal the show. His favorite part? “How it was literally a perfect day. And Liz looked incredibly beautiful.” (AAAAAAAAW!)
Big hugs to Liz Fogarty for these gorgeous images!
We got married in the summer, at a bed and breakfast turned into a venue. The venue was in Waterford, Virginia, and it’s gorgeous. The ceremony has the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background. We had also always imagined an outdoor wedding with a big tent for the reception and our planner helped bring our dream to life.
Tell us about finding your wedding dress. I had brought my mom, my future mother-in-law, my maid of honor, matron of honor, and one of my bridesmaids with me the first time I went dress shopping. The boutique let all of them wander around and pick out dresses they thought I might like. I had always envisioned a huge, poofy princess wedding gown, and I could imagine getting married in all of the dresses I tried on. But when I tried on my wedding dress, I could tell all five of the ladies were in love. They saw that it was perfect for me before I realized it myself!
We wrote our own vows. Tim is the more talented writer of the family, and one of my favorite lines from his vows was, “I promise to cherish you and pursue your laughter, to be the shoulder for you to cry on, to care for you when you are sick, to rejoice in your health, and to be your best friend…I pledge to say ‘I love you’ every night, and I vow to love you from here to the moon, sun, stars and back.”
What was the most memorable or touching moment of your wedding day? I had a total of seven bridesmaids, and Tim involved them all in a series of my most memorable moments. He had written me eight letters and they were given to me by each of my bridesmaids starting from the rehearsal day. The first letter came after we had gotten our nails done the day before, then it was during our rehearsal dinner, when I had given my ladies their gifts in the hotel room, while we were driving to the venue the wedding morning, while I was getting my hair and make-up done, when I was opening the present he had gotten me, and the second to last one right before I was going to walk down the aisle. He gave me the final letter himself, and it was on the back of the vows he had written.
We imagined our guests wandering all around the beautiful property, moving guests from one area to another but with it all flowing together flawlessly. We wanted our guests’ experience to be spectacular! The reception was elegant but also had a wonderful garden feel to it. After the ceremony overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains, guests moved to cocktails around the lawn and by the pool, then for dinner they walked through beautiful flags to get to our Sperry tent. After dinner, guests were passed popsicles as they gathered to watch our cake cutting. Then we ended the night with dancing by the Carriage House with a fantastic band and string lights, all under the stars!
What advice would you give to someone currently planning his or her wedding? Hire a planner! Whether it’s a full-service planner or a month-of planner, it is completely necessary and makes all the difference in the world! We hired Pam Barefoot from Atrendy Wedding as our full-service planner (I called her three days after we got engaged) and it made our wedding planning and engagement experience so lovely!
We had our cocktail hour all around the house and by the pool. We brought in a huge built-in wooden bar, which had cascading florals and lanterns all around it. There was also lounge furniture all around the lawn and around the pool. We even rented two faux lampposts that were by the pool. The lampposts next to this beautiful blue couch were definitely one of my favorite touches!
The funniest moment was definitely when we were on the dance floor and three of Tim’s groomsmen start dancing in the middle of the circle and unbuttoning their tux shirts. After some hilarious dancing, they revealed matching shirts with Tim’s face on them! We could not believe they had those shirts hiding under there all day!
Tell us about your grand exit. We had a sparkler exit with a vintage Rolls Royce waiting to whisk us away to our after party. One of our favorite moments of the night was sitting in the Rolls, looking out the back window and seeing all of our friends standing there with sparklers sending us off. I remember looking at Tim and telling him to take a mental photo of it. It was so picturesque and the perfect way to end our wedding day. I can still remember it exactly and the image always brings tears to my eyes!
Describe the proposal! After work that Friday, my best friend Brianna had asked me to coffee with her. First of all, it was really weird because a) I don’t drink coffee and b) she refused to have dinner with me too, just coffee. After our lovely coffee date, I drove home, and when I opened the door, Tim had transformed my entire house. He had put up draping and string lights leading from my front door to the back deck. The draping and lights had created a tunnel of sorts and pinned on the draping were chronological photos from the 5 years we had been dating. He had recorded a message for me on an iPad, which was sitting by the front door, and I was sobbing by the time I had finally walked to my back deck. I think he got too excited because the video we have shows me walking outside and him immediately getting down on one knee and proposing. He had a photographer hidden outside and my closest friends and his brother hiding upstairs watching a live stream of our engagement. It was perfect and more than I could’ve imagined!
How did you prepare for marriage while planning your wedding? First, we went through a series of pre-marital lessons through our church, then we met with the pastor who would be marrying us. We did our actual pre-marital counseling with a couple from our church, and the counseling lasted about four months. The couple who led us through our engagement period were incredible, and they really helped us focus and prepare us for not just the actual wedding day, but for the rest of our lives as husband and wife.
How many guests attended your wedding? 200.
What kind of food did you serve at your reception? I had previously worked at Main Event Caterers, who catered our wedding. I knew all of my favorite food items and knew exactly what we would want to serve our guests.
What were some of the highlights of the reception? Our dinner was under a beautiful Sperry tent, and our planner had made flags that resembled the ones on the top of the tent. The billowing flags lined the walkway leading to the tent. After dinner, butlers were lined up alongside the flags with trays of popsicles for our guests. As the guests enjoyed their popsicles, they watched us cut our cake under a huge tree, which had florals going up the tree. Then we danced the night away under string lights and the stars. It was exactly like we had imagined.
Best advice or most memorable comment someone made to you during the wedding celebration? Two pieces of advice for the day-of that were given to us before our wedding day that we really appreciated: 1.) Don’t forget to slow down, take it all in, and take mental snap shots of everything. The day passes by incredibly quickly and you want to be able to look back and remember smells, feelings, emotions, and the people you celebrated your wedding day with. 2.) Do not leave each other’s sides the entire day (if you can help it)! The day is meant to celebrate you two and your union together, but it’s easy to wander off to try to spend time with different groups of friends, but it’s even more precious when you spend those moments side-by-side.
Photographer: Elizabeth Fogarty | Videographer: Sok Vision | Planner and designer: Pamela Barefoot Events and Design | Venue: Blue Hill Farm | Florals: Toulies en Fleur | Caterer: Main Event Caterers | Wedding cake: Fancy Cakes by Leslie | Ice cream cart: King of Pops | Bride’s gown: ìStyle D2174î by Essense of Australia | Bridal salon: Betsy Robinson’s Bridal Collection | Bride’s shoes: Badgley Mischka | Bride’s earrings: Blue Nile | Bride’s veil: Blanca Veils | Bridesmaid dresses: “Fleur Dress” in Blush by BHLDN | Hair and makeup: Amie Decker Beauty | Groom’s fashion: DC Custom Clothiers | Groomsmen fashion: National Tuxedo Rentals | Paper goods: Brooke Lauffer | Tent: Sugarplum Tent Company | Rentals: White Glove Rentals | Linens: La Tavola Linen | Ceremony music: Harpist via Bialek’s Music | Band: Six Stylez via Sam Hill Entertainment | Transportation: Chariots for Hire | Vintage car: Vintage Limos | Restroom: U.S Mobile Kitchens
Pamela Barefoot Events and Design is a lovely member of our Blue Ribbon Vendor directory!
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful wedding! We love this couple and designing their special day was such a dream!
[…] these two were on the latest Southern Weddings Magazine! […]