Small-town weddings are great! They are quaint and charming. Their surroundings are often gorgeous. (The farther you get from Washington DC, the more likely you are to tie the knot amid spectacular natural beauty.) And perhaps the best part? The venues often have a lot more personality than those in the big cities. Whether you pick a winery, a farm or some other small-town wedding site, your wedding won’t look like everyone else’s. And the even better part? Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland are full of cute little towns with awesome wedding venues! Sports like The Refinery in Culpeper VA. Yes, the town is a hike from the Nation’s Capital. But it’s so sweet and the venue is so special that it’s more than worth the trip if you want a unique wedding experience. Which is exactly why Anna and Stanley chose to get married at The Refinery in Culpeper.
Anna and Stanley: Two People Who Love Genuinely Goofy Wedding Photos
Before we talk about their wedding, we want to give some love to Anna and Stanley. Look, all our wedding photography clients are special to us. There isn’t a couple whose marriage celebrations we’ve photographed whom we haven’t come to care about. But the truth is that sometimes it takes time for that to happen. For us to get to know them and what makes them special. There are couples, though, with whom the connection is instantaneous! We just click immediately and know it’s going to be a great fit. And usually, that’s because we and they have similar senses of humor. That was the case with Anna and Stanley. Two minutes into our first conversation, we knew we found the same things funny. And that this was going to be a perfect match!
Because they shared our sense of humor, we weren’t surprised that Anna and Stanley liked goofy wedding photos as much as we do. Just about every posed portrait that we took of them turned into something hilarious thanks to something they did. They would try to touch tongues. Or try to suck on each other’s tongues. Or make faces at each other. As we’ve mentioned elsewhere, we love it when couples put their own spin on their portraits. So naturally, we couldn’t get enough of Anna and Stanley’s “poses.” (Which carried over to their wedding party portraits too, of course. Those shots are some of the goofiest wedding photos we’ve ever taken.)
Getting Ready for a Wedding at The Refinery in Culpeper VA
Anna and Stanely’s entire wedding took place in and around The Refinery. The bride and groom got ready in separate rooms on the venue’s second floor. The mood while Anna prepped herself for her wedding was fun and celebratory. You could see how happy all of her bridesmaids were to be there. Everyone was smiling and laughing and joking. Unsurprisingly, things got goofy from time to time as well. Anna couldn’t pose with either of her sisters without poking them or trying to stuff something down their dresses. Another bridesmaid used the lovely shawl that the bride gave her to whack her friend.
Stanley’s getting-ready process was much calmer, but his interactions with his groomsmen were no less meaningful. Thanks to some logistical issues and one groomsman getting COVID, the groom only got into his wedding clothes with one close friend. That was ok, though, because the pictures we took of the two of them fixing each other’s ties and cufflinks were very sweet. As were the shots of Stanley and his father greeting one another.
Anna and Stanley’s First Look and Couples Portraits in Culpeper
Once the bride and groom were ready, we brought them outside for their first look. Well, actually, we brought Stanley outside The Refinery and had him wait for Anna there. That allowed us to get great shots of the bride coming down the stairs behind her man. What we didn’t expect (but loved!) was for Anna to grab Stanley in a giant bear hug from behind. (Like we told you, they were a couple who loved a good goofy wedding photo!)
From there, we went straight into the couples portraits portion of their wedding day. With the helpful guidance of The Refinery’s owner, we took Anna and Stanley around Culpeper, stopping here and there to create portraits of the couple. We got pictures of the groom dipping his bride-to-be in the middle of Culpeper’s charming main street. We also used purple lights to craft a creative and striking portrait of them in a cute little alley. There were, of course, goofy pictures in which Anna was booping Stanley on the nose. And sweet images of the groom whispering things in the bride’s ear to make her laugh.
The Refinery Wedding Ceremony
Anna and Stanley then came back to The Refinery to do their final preparations for the wedding ceremony. It was during this time that the mother of the bride pinned the veil in her daughter’s hair – a moment that was every bit as sweet as you can imagine. Stanley also shared some meaningful interactions with those closest to him. With all of the groomsmen there, the father of the groom led all the gentlemen in a brief but touching prayer.
The ceremony was exactly the mix of sweet, heartfelt and a little silly you’d expect. It combined traditions from Anna’s Mexican heritage with moving readings and lots of laughter. We loved just about every image we captured of the proceedings.
Wild Wedding Reception at a Small-Town Wedding Venue
With the (sort of) serious business out of the way, the couple was free to get to partying. And their reception was quite the celebration! From the moment they, their parents and their wedding party danced their way into The Refinery’s dining area, we knew it was going to be a wild one.
But the real partying had to wait just a little bit. First, there were emotional speeches by the couple, the maid of honor and the best man (via video thanks to COVID). And then a quick cake-cutting ceremony that – naturally – got goofy quickly.
Once those formalities were out of the way, the dance floor opened up. And that’s when things got crazy. The couple kicked things off with a traditional Mexican dance that got all their invitees out on the floor. From there, things got wilder and wilder. The dancing kept on going all-out until the evening (and wedding concluded with the guests setting off confetti cannons.
A big thank-you to an awesome couple for making us a part of your wedding day!
Venue: The Refinery
Wedding dress: White Swan Bridal
Hair and Makeup: Makeup by Megan
Cake artist: Cakebee
Florals: Good Earth Flowers
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