We were married in my parents garden on Smith Mountain Lake in Penhook, Virginia. My family and I have been spending summers and weekends at Smith Mountain Lake since 2001, and it has always been a special place for us. My husband (then boyfriend) knew I dreamed of getting married on the property and he proposed there in 2019. As it turns out, 2020 was not the best year to plan a wedding. In March, we made the decision to pivot a large-scale wedding to a three-day celebration with just 25 guests - as even though we couldn’t celebrate with everyone, we knew we still wanted to be married. We pushed the big wedding back to 2021 and changed it to a vowel renewal celebration instead and moved forward with our small and intimate wedding weekend. We hosted a beautiful lakeside rehearsal dinner alongside a dream outdoor wedding ceremony and reception. We still wanted the same atmosphere that we planned for the large wedding - whimsical, dreamy, romantic and blissful but with an intimate feel. A lot of the details became more personal, really focusing on Sean and I. While we were sad not to have everyone there, we were excited for a more relaxed day. |