Noelle and Hunter's Ballroom Wedding

Noelle + Hunter had the most elegant Richmond wedding you could ever imagine! It was a formal black tie wedding with a traditional Catholic mass and a grand ballroom reception fit for a princess. It was seriously perfect. At multiple points during the reception, I kept thinking to myself "this looks like it's straight out of Beauty and the Beast" (aka my favorite Disney movie as a child)!

Noelle looked drop dead gorgeous in her all form fitting all lace wedding down. Her bridesmaids complimented her soft, feminine attire with their pale blue mismatched bridesmaid dresses and vibrant bouquets filled with rich blue, peach, and ivory hues. Hunter and his groomsmen looked very handsome themselves in their tuxedos and matching blue bow ties.

Even though their wedding took place in April, the weather was less an ideal. It had been in the 70's all week long but on their wedding day it was super windy and it even flurried a little! After their ceremony, Noelle decided to brave the cold and the wind to have some wedding portraits taken outdoors. I'm so glad she did because the more we photographed, the more the sun came out and the warmer it got. I love the warm, spring feel and pastel hues to all of their wedding portraits. You'd never guess it had been flurrying earlier in the day!

Noelle + Hunter's ballroom reception at The Commonwealth Club was truly spectacular. The 1920's ballroom was custom lit by the Lighting Professors and highlighted every inch of the space. One of my favorite parts of the night was when they switched the lights to dark blue and everyone headed to the dance floor. It was such an amazing wedding and we are so happy for the new Mr. + Mrs. Curle!!

Noelle and Hunters Ballroom Wedding - Image Property of www.j-dphoto.com

How they met | Hunter and I met during the second semester of our freshman year at James Madison University at a Valentine's Day party thrown by his fraternity. I saw him there and of course thought he was super cute, long hair and all! I kept telling my friends that I was going to introduce myself to him but was way to nervous to actually say anything. Eventually that night, he asked me to dance (yay!) but then we realized that no one else was dancing anymore so he said, "Never mind" and that was that for our first meeting. Thankfully, we saw each other again two weeks later and really hit it off! Hunter officially asked me to be his girlfriend on April 19, 2009 and almost SEVEN years later we finally got married!

Noelle and Hunters Ballroom Wedding - Image Property of www.j-dphoto.com

Their Vision | Hunter and I chose the church and reception venue before we decided on any other wedding details. Once I chose my dress and our wedding colors (cornflower blue, peach, and ivory) every other decision we made was based off of these three (location, dress, colors). The wedding ended up having a springy, elegant, romantic feel and Hunter and I were SO happy with the way everything came together!

My favorite parts during the ceremony were walking down to the aisle to Hunter, saying our vows, and sharing our first kiss as husband and wife! The reception was tons of fun from start to finish but I really enjoyed getting on the dance floor (to a song list that we had been planning out for months!) and being with all of our friends and family.

Noelle and Hunters Ballroom Wedding - Image Property of www.j-dphoto.com

Noelle's tips for future couples planning their weddings | Be organized (keep track of the budget, make to-do lists, assign tasks to willing friends and family, etc.), don't let the stress of planning the wedding take away from the excitement of getting married to your best friend (this was really hard for me but I managed to finally enjoy myself once the wedding weekend officially started!), don't try to greet every guest at the reception (If they want to talk to/take a picture with the new bride and groom they will make that happen), eat (I ate my whole dinner, which apparently is unheard of for most newlyweds!), lastly enjoy all of the funny, beautiful, and crazy moments of the day. It only happens once!

Noelle and Hunters Ballroom Wedding - Image Property of www.j-dphoto.com