Last Saturday was the most beautiful Summer day for Doug + Melissa’s Wedding! These two are so kind and sweet…and were able to plan this entire Wedding within 3 months WHILE Melissa was finishing grad school.

This day was nothing short of perfect. They infused very intentional and personal aspects into so many parts that made their Wedding special.

We joked with them about how WILD these past 3 months must have been for them!! We said one day they’ll look back at the chaos of engaged life and remember the beautiful day that came from it…and they’ll say to each other, “we did it.”

Melissa spent the early afternoon hanging out in New Kent’s Bridal Suite with her 4 best friends and her Mom drinking mimosas and passing around Oreo snack packs!!

The girls told me they had all been each other’s Bridesmaids over recent years, and that it was bittersweet that Melissa was one of the last in their crew to end this era of Bridesmaid-ing for each other!

You could tell this wasn’t their first rodeo. They had clearly perfected the art of a “wedding morning’ each setting to work. One Bridesmaid did Melissa’s makeup, another poured probiotic orange juice into the mimosas, while the other two steamed all the dresses, all while quietly and expertly managing a few fires behind the scenes when the ribbon couldn’t be found!

Along with the amazing venue coordinator, Lindsay, these girls were AMAZING at making sure Melissa had a stress-free morning.

Melissa received two very thoughtful gifts! The first was a bracelet from her Mom that matched her own and the other was a custom veil that her sister-in-law made by hand!! It was absolutely beautiful!

Doug and his Groomsmen got ready in the neighboring building.

The two were all smiles during their First Look with each other!!

Love this group of friends!!

They were so easy-going and so much fun to photograph!!

How They Met:

It’s through their wonderful friends that they first met.

Doug was a deacon at his church and unknowingly already shared mutual friends with his future wife. He ended up seeing a picture of Melissa online with the girls he knew from church and reached out to Melissa starting up a convo about their mutual friends!

“For one of our first dates, we met up to go on a run since we are both very active and loved being outdoors. So we planned to meet, in the middle of the day…in July…when it was 90-something degrees outside…and on a hilly course. Needless to say, it was a little rough! Doug played soccer in college so running is his m.o. And I thought I was fit enough to keep up, but he was breezily having a conversation the whole time as we were running and I was struggling to spill a word out between gasps! But still a great time! … I think it was easy for us to bond since we are both laissez faire people who don’t sweat the small things. And we love being active and doing things outdoors! A lot of our dates were spent rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking or just going on a run with his dog!

These two are also huge EPL (English Premier League) fans! One of their favorite things is to catch those games on Saturday or Sunday mornings by either making breakfast at home or having brunch dates at their favorite local dive bar.

“Our faith is also very important to both of us, so it was such an easy and natural fit since we both share similar convictions and pursue similar goals in our faith life. We talk about all the time how cleverly God orchestrated us meeting and at the perfect time in each other’s lives. We are so thankful to have had our lives intercept the way it did.”

Another super impressive thing about their Wedding is that Melissa did ALL the flowers herself!!!

Ceremony time!!

How he Asked:

Melissa had just started PT school out of state. One weekend when she was visiting, Doug invited her to go for a bike ride through Richmond (which is something they often did!) but it wasn’t until she walked down the steps with her bike that she realized this bike ride was going to be special.

A few months ago at Christmas time, Doug gave Melissa a photo album. He had it in his hands and asked Melissa to sit down with him and look through it together stating that he added 5 new pictures.

“The 1st one was of a record store that we would wander through pretty often. He had something sweet written on the back of the photo about how much he has loved how our relationship has grown and how getting to share these little moments in life together meant a great deal to him. Then we rode over to the record store about a block away. When we got there, he pulled out the photo album and asked me to look at the next photo, which was of the church we both went to. I read out loud his sweet message on the back, and then we rode to the church, this time a mile away. I started picking up on the theme at this point, but trying my hardest to not get ahead of myself. I told myself that Doug just wanted to do something sweet since I was in town, nothing more!”

When it came time to see the 5th and last photo, Doug suggested they head back and freshen up for dinner. The whole time Melissa wondered what the final photo could be!

“Then we wound up just going back to my old apartment. I thought to myself, “well this is kind of anti-climatic.” But I was very wrong, because when we walked in, he had the whole place covered in flowers and lit candles, leading us out onto the balcony. There was a bottle of wine waiting for us and our little photo album with the last photo on top. He asked me to read what was written first: more sweet things about our relationship and how much we loved each other. Then turning the photo over, it was a picture of him proposing, and after seeing it, I look up and he is proposing!! It was such a surreal experience and I loved how thoughtfully he orchestrated every detail to make it unique to our relationship! We invited our friends over afterwards to celebrate with us and it was such a magical time that we will treasure forever!”

It’s always a kind gesture to ask the brides’ parents for their blessing, but Doug didn’t stop there. Melissa’s parents are Brazilian, and when he asked them for Melissa’s hand in Marriage, he made the effort to learn how to ask them in Portuguese!

Melissa’s Dad just beamed at his beautiful girl. I just love this image!!!

Two beautiful people, inside and out!! 🙂

One of our favorite parts of the whole day was the amazing Father-Daughter song. Instead of a traditional dance, the two (who I should mention are incredibly talented and classically trained musicians) chose to sing and play “Hey Jude” by the Beatles.

The crowd sang and clapped along, and it was a truly moving moment!!

The rest of the evening was spent catching up with friends and family, eating mini pecan pies, and dancing to the live band!

Doug + Melissa,

You two are absolutely wonderful!! Even only knowing you both for a short time, we can confidently say that the bond you two share is a special one. It’s one we easily recognize as one that is rooted in Jesus and his love. You two are already an incredible team – I mean just looking back at what you two managed to accomplish in THREE months is just amazing. We can’t wait to see all the ways Marriage knits you even closer together to do even bigger things, love even deeper, and live a life that is full of bike rides, soccer games, and moving life’s mountains only possible as a Married team. We adore you both and we’re cheering you on!! Have the BEST mini-moon!!!

Love,

The Tuckers

Vendors:

Venue | New Kent Winery

Catering | Butler’s Unique Catering

Band | Blue Tips Rhythm Revue

Veil | Made by sister in law, Brandi!

Makeup | Done by bridesmaid!

Cake | WPA

Invitations | Minted

Wedding Dress | Maggie Sottero

Bridal Shoes | BHLDN

Grooms Attire | Brooks Brothers

Bridesmaids’ Attire | Lulus