Carrie & Andrew’s Intimate Williamsburg Winery Wedding

A Small Wedding at Wedmore Place

Carrie and Andrew’s Williamsburg Winery wedding was an intimate celebration with just 16 guests, followed by plenty of time to explore the property for portraits. Their wedding took place at Wedmore Place, the European-inspired hotel located on the grounds of the Williamsburg Winery.

I started the afternoon with Carrie as she finished getting ready in one of the suites at Wedmore Place. From there, everyone gathered on the back lawn of the hotel for the ceremony. The lawn was comfortably shaded by that point in the afternoon, which gave us beautiful, soft light for the ceremony.

With such a small guest list, everything felt simple and relaxed. After the ceremony, Carrie and Andrew headed inside to the library, where they cut their wedding cake and listened to a few toasts from family and friends.

Family Portraits and Golden Hour in the Vineyard

Before heading into the vineyard, we used the courtyard at Wedmore Place for portraits with family and friends. With only 16 guests, we could photograph the important combinations without taking a large portion of the afternoon away from Carrie and Andrew.

Then it was time for the part of the day I had really been looking forward to.

We had about an hour set aside for portraits in the nearby vineyard, and the timing worked out perfectly with Golden Hour. Instead of rushing through a short portrait window, we could walk through the vineyard, find the best light, and create a good mix of natural and more dramatic wedding portraits.

Carrie was also comfortable with more creative posing, so we took advantage of that ability for a couple of bridal portraits using one of the vineyard poles. It was something a little different that fit her naturally without taking over the session.

The light continued to get better as we worked, eventually giving us colorful skies near sunset. We finished our time in the vineyard with Andrew dipping Carrie against the sunset, creating one of my favorite dramatic portraits from their wedding day.

Two Engineers Getting Married in Virginia Wine Country

Carrie and Andrew are both engineers at NASA, which is one of those interesting details I enjoyed learning about them. Their wedding itself, though, was less about putting on a large event and more about spending the day with the people closest to them.

That continued into dinner. After leaving the Williamsburg Winery, everyone headed to Opus 9 Steakhouse in Williamsburg for a group dinner. Rather than a traditional wedding reception, Carrie and Andrew shared a large table with their guests. I photographed some of the conversations and candid moments around the table before we eventually headed back to Wedmore Place.

Ending the Night Back at Wedmore Place

We finished the evening where it had started, back in Carrie and Andrew’s suite at Wedmore Place.

By then, we had photographed quite a bit in a relatively short wedding day: getting ready, an outdoor ceremony, cake and toasts in the library, family portraits, Golden Hour in the vineyard, sunset, and dinner with their guests. We took a couple of final photographs in the suite before calling it a night.

Carrie and Andrew’s Williamsburg Winery wedding is a great example of how much you can do with a smaller celebration. Their schedule gave us time to create portraits without feeling rushed, while their intimate guest list kept the focus on enjoying the day with family and friends.

And having a vineyard and a colorful Williamsburg sunset to work with certainly didn’t hurt.