Maddie and Ward’s Clubhouse Wedding

Today we are sharing Maddie and Ward’s wedding with a timeless color palette of blues, green, white. Every detail fell together seamlessly for the couple to create a romantic yet traditional feel for their day. A favorite detail of ours is her stunning bridesmaids dresses, having various colors, patterns and lengths it was such a feminine touch!

How did you two meet? What were your first impressions of one another? We met through mutual friends in Richmond, VA, when we both attended a Friendsgiving party in November 2015. Ward was living in Richmond at the time while Maddie was in grad school in Charlottesville, but she was visiting the area during Thanksgiving break. She still remembers the Star Wars t-shirt Ward was wearing at the party.

Tell us a funny story relating to your wedding day or relationship! We had to move our ceremony location a month before our wedding from a church to outside on the golf course where our reception was due to Covid concerns. My mom informed the bus company about our new location change, but there must have been a miscommunication. Two days before our wedding, I was looking at the updated bus proposal and I didn’t recognize the buses’ destination address. I googled it and discovered it was Top Golf! Fortunately, we were able to correct the bus routes and everyone made it to our ceremony!

Describe a hurdle you had to overcome in your relationship or during your wedding planning. Because our wedding was in September 2021 when the delta variant was surging, we had to make some last minute changes the month leading up to our wedding. We moved both the ceremony and reception outside, so we had to change bus routes, the design layout, florals, as well as get some additional equipment. We were so thankful to our vendor team and our planners for being so accommodating! I think our Plan B turned out even better than what we had initially planned!

From the bride: I knew I wanted to go with a blue and green palette – I love that color combination and thought it was fitting for a September wedding. I also thought it would go well with the venue’s aesthetic given the golf course backdrop and white clubhouse, and I was hoping for blue skies (which was the case!). I wanted my bridesmaid dresses to really set the color scheme, so I gave them the options of blue solid, blue & white floral, green solid, and green & white floral. Then my sister, who was my MOH, stood out because her dress featured all of the colors. I love the varied bridesmaid look and most importantly, I loved that they felt comfortable in their dresses since they picked them themselves. They ended up picking such beautiful dresses too! Because my bridesmaids were all different, I thought that I would stand out best if I was in a crisp white dress. I also wanted thin straps and something that shaped my waist. The Lela Rose dress I wore checked all those boxes. I was also really excited for my second look! I’m known for loving fun pants, so I hunted for months to find the perfect ones and a fun top to match them. In terms of Ward’s outfit, we thought he’d also stand out in a white jacket. Plus it was special and different! We both love the loafer look too! Olivera’s florals and many of the rented items, like the linens, matched the green, white, and blue palette. I wanted the vibe to be feminine and flowy, yet also traditional. We couldn’t leave out Chessy either! He’s such a good dog and an important part of our lives, so wanted to incorporate him somehow. I had a local artist paint him and enlarge the art to be part of a welcome sign, which we included in our drink board, which also had some of our favorite drinks that our guests could immediately grab as they headed into the clubhouse. Chessy was also featured on the groom’s cake – that was 100% Ward. I didn’t even know that he knew what a groom’s cake was until he started explaining his vision to CCV’s pastry chef! The cake was the 18th hole on the golf course where the reception was with a figurine of Chessy sitting on the green!

What is the most honest thing you can say about love? Having someone in your life who you love and who loves you back is one of the greatest gifts in the world!

Any special ways you incorporated your family or family history into your wedding day? We loved having a very intimate family and relative-only dinner on Thursday evening to settle into the weekend! It had stormed all day, but then the sun came out in the evening and we had the most beautiful sunset! It was also a great way for all our extended family on both sides to get to know each other.

What part of your wedding day was/is most important to you? There were so many important and memorable parts! Some highlights include getting ready with my bridesmaids, my mom, and Ward’s mom at our house, our first look, riding in the trolley to the ceremony with the entire wedding party, the actual ceremony itself, including walking down the aisle with my dad, seeing the reception for the first time, all the special dances, Ward’s performance, and dancing on the dancefloor with our family and friends!

What is your favorite thing about each other? Maddie – I love how thoughtful, kind, and goofy Ward is. He has such a big heart and doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. He always know how to make me laugh and lighten up a day. I also love watching him perform on stage!
Ward – I love how caring, considerate, and smart Maddie is. I love talking to and spending time with her – time seems to fly by, nor do things ever seem to get old. I love seeing her smile and laugh deeply – It makes me happy! We are best and life is greatest when we are with each other.

What is the best thing you’ve learned from one another? We challenge each other to be better individuals and to live more in the present. And to never miss a good sunset!

What was your favorite part about planning your wedding? We loved planning all the little details that we think made our wedding unique and special to us and putting together a great itinerary to showcase Richmond that our family and friends could enjoy! The menu and cake tasting was a favorite too.

If you had one piece of advice for other couples, what would it be? Enjoy every moment of the weekend and make sure to truly live and recognize the present instead of fretting about what’s next on the schedule!