Made with love

After graduating from Appalachian State University with a BFA in graphic design, Emily Wool was searching for her next step.  “Towards the end of the program, I had become pretty disenchanted with what I saw as the rigid world of graphic design and wanted to explore a more expressive way of art-making,” she says. She […]

Modern romance

Phaedra Bradley & Paige Lucas July 2, 2021, at The Refinery at 120 When they set out to envision the tone and theme of their July wedding, Phaedra—who has a background in wedding planning—and Paige decided to veer from traditional summer wedding vibes, opting instead to utilize pops of darker colors. Black candles sat atop flowy […]

The beauty of love

Melanie Woods & Keith Bonds II July 18, 2021, at Keswick Vineyards The couple knew they wanted what they were calling “rustic glam” as the theme of their wedding, but after touring a bunch of different vineyards, nothing felt quite right (“They were too rustic—more barn-like,” Melanie says). But then they found Keswick Vineyards, with its stately […]

Like a dream

Linnea White & Reo Revak September 18, 2021, at Eastwood Winery It’s hardly a surprise that custom and DIY details would factor prominently in the wedding of Linnea, the owner of downtown consignment shop Darling, and Reo, a woodworker at Gaston & Wyatt—at least not to anyone who knows them.  “My parents said that [the wedding] was […]

Somewhere close to me

Jennifer Rose & Rob Valentine October 16, 2021, at Farmington Country Club  It would take Jennifer and Rob 15 years of dating off and on (plus a global pandemic!)—from the start of high school to after Jennifer finished her MBA—for the stars to finally align for them. In 2019, Jennifer had accepted a consulting job in Atlanta, […]

Near and far

Charlotte Baird & William Crandall September 25, 2021, at Boxwood Villa For about 90 percent of their engagement, Charlotte says, she and her future husband were deployed overseas, adding a layer of complication to an already stressful process. They found their venue—Boxwood Villa—online, ordered silk flowers on Etsy, and hired a caterer they both already knew […]

Table talk

It may seem fussy to worry so much about your wedding’s tabletop décor, but it’s a great way to carry out the vibe of your big day,from floral centerpieces to charger plates. Here are three ideas worth a second look.—Caite Hamilton Colorful tapers The days of romantic pastels and rustic details may never be behind […]

Follow the reader

Former librarian Flannery Buchanan had always dreamed of openingher own bookstore, but financial limitations forced her to get inventive: She bought a 1966 Banner camper and turned it into Bluebird Bookstop, a bookstore on wheels. The curated collection includes a little something for everyone—by design. “Right now times are hard and stressful and I’ve found […]

Reduce, re-use…

Back in the spring of 2020, while a student at UVA, Alec Brewer noticed something outside of his apartment complex that didn’t sit quite right: mattresses stacked 20-high, ready to be sent to the landfill. Around the same time, he was learning about the concept of customer discovery in one of his classes. He put […]

Consummate culinarian

Becky Calvert loves to cook. She’s held cooking and canning classes around town—places like the Charlottesville Cooking School, Market Central, The Happy Cook, The Spice Diva, and PVCC—for more than a decade, and always with a secret weapon: her cookbook collection. Numbering in the hundreds, it spans centuries and genres.  “Cookbooks fascinate me because they […]