Love Stories

This Week's Tip:

Ask your Maid of Honor or a friend to keep your make-up kit handy and to watch for when your hair or make-up needs attention, especially for the times of those important photos-- announcement, toast, cake cutting, first dance and father-daughter dance.

Love Stories – How We Met

We're expanding our blog to include stories about how couples met. Send your stories and photos to mvucevents@earthlink.net and we'll do our best to publish them in future blogs.

Here's the first story (photo to follow):

Tying the Knot

“In 2008 Christian and I met at a Gala fundraiser for a community theatre in Charlottesville, VA called LiveArts. Every November LA rallies local restaurateurs, businesses and artists and pulls off a fabulous all night party which funds a good percentage of their annual operating costs. My friend Ian was wrangling aerial dancers to fly and spin over the heads of well healed supporters busting a move on the dance floor at the party. When I was called to volunteer, he told me he had something special in mind for me. Two dancers would be suspended over the side of the theatre wall to greet party goers as they entered the Gala. The day before the event, Ian introduced me to his old friend from graduate school, Christian, who had driven all the way from DC to volunteer, on his birthday, when the person who was supposed to be my safety guy canceled late in the game.

“Christian showed Steven (the other 'crazy enough' dancer) and me how to tie a few knots, then somehow got me to trust him as he lowered me over the side of a 4 story building- tied to him and the building. I was terrified. He was supremely patient and did a good job of instilling trust - still, it took a while to work up the nerve to experiment with jumps and to flip about while looking down on the street below.

“Throughout the weekend we chatted a lot. We began getting to know one another over e-mail and decided to meet for a first date about a month later. Coffee turned into lunch, turned into a long walk, then a chocolate shop expedition and a movie. We started talking on the phone, and going on dates and were pretty much goners not long after the New Year. Little did we know that first day, the significance a knot tying lesson would have.

“Hollin Hall came up in our venue search months ago. Christian stumbled over it even before we purchased our house only about a mile or two from Mount Vernon Unitarian Church. We thought it outside of our budget at the time, so we dismissed it. We looked at a lot of other venues and had pretty much decided on one in Vienna. Then last week we attended a summer service. We felt very warmly welcomed, took a stroll around the grounds and spoke with a few church members after the lovely service, and decided to reconsider our venue choice. I did some math, we did some thinking, and finally chose Hollin Hall because of it's beauty, flexibility, and accommodating space. There is also something attractive about being wed in our own community, rather than a transient space we'll likely not revisit. We were also really impressed with your knowledge and obvious love of the place. It shows that you all truly care about keeping a special space for community, reflection and spiritual cultivation.”