Donnaha Valley Farm Wedding Tobaccoville

Carrie & Nate are Married!

October 27, 2018

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Carrie and Nate were married last weekend at Donnaha Valley Farm in Tobaccoville, NC. Words won’t be enough to say how magical this day was but I will try. Carrie & Nate’s love was truly written in the stars and everything aligned perfectly. I hope by sharing this blog they will be able to relive this day for years to come.

Carrie and Nate met while playing co-ed softball together. They were friends first, which I absolute love! Almost 4 years ago their friendship blossomed into a relationship.

Their first date story is adorable and Carrie tells it well: “Nate is originally from New Jersey, which means he has a fondness for pizza, and he claimed that people in Virginia did not know good pizza. I disputed his claim, and named multiple (excellent) pizza places in Roanoke, Virginia (where we were living), Grace’s Pizzeria being my personal favorite. At that time, Nate indicated he could never try any of these places because he was working second shift, which meant he went into work at 2 pm at got off around 1 am. I told him it sounded like he could do lunch any day of the week, and I was sure he could find a friend to meet him for lunch. I then said, “I’ll even meet you for lunch.” Shortly after that, Nate invited me to lunch at Grace’s on December 18, 2014, and we’ve been together ever since.”

Carrie and Nate are both extremely intelligent, active, hard working people who love the outdoors. They have built a beautiful life together already and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for them. To see more of Carrie and Nate you can click here for their engagement session.

Before I talk about how wonderful their day was let me just tell you about their venue. Donnaha Valley Farm is simply stunning. The view from their ceremony site will have you convinced you are near the Blue Ridge Mountains. The owners are so kind as well and were with us every step of the way helping to make their day perfect.

For the 10 days before the wedding, I know this because Carrie told me, rain was in the forecast. Sunshine was predicted for every other day but their wedding date. The morning of their wedding brought rain but as soon as we arrived the rest of the day was beautiful. The heavens were smiling down upon them and I think we helped to usher in the sunshine!

I began the day with Carrie and her ladies hanging out at the bride’s cabin. They were getting hair and makeup done while drinking Prosecco. Carrie was smiling and laughing. She was so excited to see all the pieces of the wedding day come together.

Kristin went to hang out with Nate and his guys at Carrie and Nate’s home. The men were relaxing and getting ready. Nate even taught himself how to tie a bowtie! Thank goodness for YouTube tutorials.

After they finished getting ready Nate headed to the venue for his first look with Carrie. Their first look was filled with two of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. If you don’t know what being delighted to spend the rest of your life with someone looks like, you can head to that portion of the day on the blog!

Every detail of this wedding was elegant and thoughtful. The floral arrangements from Dahlia’s were stunning as they always are! The massive metal arbor at the ceremony site was decorated with flowers and greenery. My favorite parts of the reception decorations were blankets sitting next to the “to have and to hold in case you get cold” sign and the “dancing shoes” sign next to the basket of flip flops!

As Carrie walked down the aisle with her father, the sun peeked through the clouds and illuminated her path to Nate. Nate and Carrie held hands as Nate’s sister Natalie read two poems. The first was by John Muir and the second was from The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. In the raddest, most magical storybook moment at a wedding ever Natalie spoke the line “And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.” Not a second later the wind started blowing as though the Universe approved of this union.

During sunset pictures I’m pretty sure I said “this is perfect” about a thousand times. I still can’t believe how lucky we were with the great weather, beautiful skies and golden glow. As the sun began to set Carrie and Nate were introduced and had their first dance.

Carrie and Nate balance each other gracefully. They drift seamlessly from sweet and romantic to grounded and funny. During their first dance they went from swaying with their foreheads together and their eyes closed to heads thrown back and laughing soon after.

Their reception was so much fun. People played cornhole, ate smores by the fire, took photos at the photos booth and best of all, danced the night away! Carrie and Nate are surrounded by family and friends who love them. At the end of the night they all said goodbye to Carrie and Nate with a sparkler exit.

Carrie and Nate are such thoughtful and kind people. They provided all their guests who stayed at hotels with transportation. There were two buses that took them to the wedding and back so they wouldn’t have to worry about driving and could enjoy themselves!

There were so many special details during their day. My favorite detail were gold brooches attached to Carrie’s bouquet. These brooches came from both her maternal and paternal grandmothers.

Carrie and Nate thank you so much for trusting me! I am so grateful that I got to spend time with you on one of your best days and I am wishing a lifetime filled with joy for you both. I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.