On June 10, 2023, Amanda and James got married in Lexington, Virginia at The Seclusion. It was a sunny and floral-filled day in the mountains, surrounded by friends and family. They have been together for over 8 years and initially met in college when they lived down the hall from each other freshman year.

Listening to Amanda describe her proposal helped us get to know her and her now husband so well. She said, “He timed it perfectly to be his over a girls weekend (a couple of my college girl friends were visiting us in Morehead). Because they were in town, I had a whole itinerary planned, including a sunset cruise on James’s family’s boat. Since the boat ride had been my idea, I wasn’t at all suspicious until we were heading back to the dock and James, who was driving, asked our other friend to take over for a second. At that moment I was 90% sure it was about to happen but I was trying to act cool in case it didn’t. One of our friend's sons, who was just about to turn one, was holding himself up on the cooler, learning to stand. James said “Hey Charlie, can you grab the champagne out of the cooler? But we can only open it if she says yes…” Well… She said “YES!” so they popped the champagne and the planning began. From the beginning, Amanda told us she wanted a rusty romantic style wedding.

When we asked Amanda what the most important part of the planning process was, she said “Hiring vendors who I could trust and who knew the venue well was key to being stress free on the wedding day. I also just wanted the overall event to be a big party - we had a live band (so so glad I went with Julie’s rec for the silver bullets), light up tambourines, and the groom’s sister had bought me these fun floral sunglasses the day before from Pumpkin Seeds in Lexington and I never took them off the entire party portion of the night.” We truly wanted their day to represent them well and I think we were able to make that happen!

When we asked Amanda why they chose The Seclusion as their venue, she said, “Since we met each other and so many of our friends in college at W&L, we really wanted to do it in Lexington, Va. We decided to rehearse on campus but wanted a bit more of a scenic option for the actual wedding. I stumbled upon the Seclusion from researching venues around Lexington online (this was in 2019, years before we got engaged haha) and fell in love with it. Once we got engaged, I looked at a couple of other venues in the area but liked how so many things were included with the package (tables, chairs, flatware, etc), how beautiful it is inside, and the views are hard to beat!!”

And the best part of their day? “I really enjoyed eating dinner with James at the sweetheart table. It was the first time that day we got to relax together and talk. I was indifferent before the wedding on sweetheart vs head and glad we went with sweetheart!! Also, the dancing portion of the night- again, Silver Bullets were amazing.” We always loved it when the couple decided to do a sweetheart table with just them two. Getting to watch everyone dance, sing, and celebrate love was so much fun!

Amanda and James chose the partial planning package. When asked what tip they would give other couples, she said, “As I said above, hire vendors you can trust. And to the extent possible, vendors that have worked with your other vendors and at your venue. That helped ease my anxiety because I trusted people would pretty much know what motions to go through etc.” They did select amazing vendors that made their day run smoothly! We loved getting to know Amanda and James and working with them was truly such a blessing!

Bride’s dress: Little White Dress

Bride’s dress designer: Savin London

Groom & Groomsmen Attire: Assortment (any tux with bow tie and cummerbund)

Bridesmaid dresses: BHLDN

Invitations: Minted

Favors: Grady cups and koozies from Sip Sip Hooray

Caterer: Lexington Catering Company

Cake: The Baking Mariner

Music: Silver Bullets

Florist: Florals by Kimberly

Makeup: Transformations Artistry

Photographer: Luke & Ashley Photography