Vanessa & Christopher's Cypress Grove Wedding

Cypress Grove Wedding

Vanessa and Christopher tied the knot during their Cypress Grove Estate House wedding in Cypress Grove Park. The two envisioned a romantic and enchanting feeling for their big day, which visually flowed through from golden candelabras to delicate florals.

Matchmaking Friends

As fate may have it, the two met through their friends and roomies at the time acting as matchmakers. Vanessa’s bestie was dating Chris’ roomie and the two thought that Vanessa and Chris would be a good match. Well, as luck may have it, they were! While they lived and attended different universities, they traveled long distance for over three and a half years to see each other. Graduation time came both as a milestone for their careers and a milestone of finally being able to live together.

Falling in love with Chris’ positive and kindness, Vanessa explains that Chris is “just an amazing person and friend” all around. For Chris, he loves how much “Vanessa cares about the people around her.” Through her loyalty and willingness to make those she loves happy, she truly makes him feel loved.

Washington DC Proposal

Moving in together, Chris knew he was ready to ‘pop the question,’ but wanted to wait for the perfect time. While visiting DC for a date night, the two arrived early for their dinner reservation and sat at the bar; reminiscing about their years together and enjoying one another’s company. Once their reservation time arrived, the two sat down for a nice dinner and dessert. After dessert, Chris asked their waiter to take a picture of the two of them to remember the amazing date they were having, which was when he got down on one knee and asked Vanessa to marry him. Of course, Vanessa said, “yes!” and the entire room cheered and clapped for the couple, along with bringing them a champagne toast!

Wedding Day at Cypress Grove Estate House

Fast forward to their wedding day, Vanessa and Chris created an enchanting and romantic feel through shades of green, pink, and peach, tons of floral, and touches of brass and gold. Arriving a bit early, we greeted our bride while waiting on our guys to arrive. Vanessa was so insanely organized, which made for a quick start in being able to grab her details and photographer her tribe before getting in their dresses. One of our favorite surprises during getting ready, was large “BRIDE” balloons that we incorporated into Vanessa’s getting ready shots; super fun and silly, we loved them!

Chris and his guys arrived at the perfect time with the girls needing to put on their dresses. During this bit of downtime with the girls, we captured our groom getting ready and groom’s party portraits outside. Afterwards, once the girls were ready and dressed, we captured a special moment with Vanessa’s mom helping her put on the dress, along with her and her bride’s party portraits outside as well. Knocking out the girls and guys formal portraits before the ceremony, allowed for our couple to have a little time at cocktail hour and more newlywed portrait time as well.

Taking place overlooking the water, their ceremony could not have been more beautiful. A special item incorporated into their ceremony, was Vanessa’s wedding band, made by Chris’ father. A delicate touch with a gold leaf, the floral complimented it perfectly. After the ceremony, we headed back to the front of the estate to capture formal portraits of the entire bridal party and family. Newlywed portraits took place as the sun began to set, which made for the most romantic, dreamy light.

Partying the night away, and a little karaoke compliments of our couple’s bridal party, we enjoyed celebrating with Vanessa and Chris as they officially became Mr. and Mrs.!