April 28, 2018 • Family Home, Fredericksburg
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Photos by Patricia Lyons Photography
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Jordan McDaniel and Chris Hinkebein have the sort of love story they make movies about. They don’t remember exactly when they met, but they shared so many connections that fate seemed to be working overtime to seal the deal.
Their relationship began in 2012 when they were seniors at the University of Virginia. Jordan’s brother joined a fraternity with Chris’s best friend, and the two remember meeting at a house party that spring. “We each thought the other was cute and so nice, but we were about to graduate and nothing came of it,” recalls Jordan.
The pair shared enough connections—Cavalier football and mutual school friends—that they had plenty of reasons to be in the same place at the same time over the next three years. But it wasn’t until Thanksgiving 2015, when Chris was living in Charleston, South Carolina, and Jordan was in Washington, D.C., that their friendship blossomed into something more. Jordan was spending the holiday with family in Charleston when the pair met for a quick drink that lasted four hours and marked the beginning of their relationship. They began dating in spite of the distance, and Chris proposed to Jordan in June 2017 at her grandparents’ home in Fredericksburg.
Getting married at the McDaniels’ Fredericksburg home on the Rappahannock River was an easy choice. “It is a special place,” says Jordan. “I had always wanted to get married in Fredericksburg, and it allowed me to mix personal touches with the more traditional wedding elements.”
The first of those custom elements was a commissioned watercolor painting of the setting for their wedding, which Jordan used for their stationery suite. From the couple’s signature drinks (an Old Fashioned, the drink they had on their first real date, and a Tequila Gimlet, a favorite of theirs at a Fredericksburg restaurant) to their sweet potato wedding cake from a bakery in Greenville, South Carolina, Jordan and Chris seized every opportunity to infuse their wedding with elements that spoke of their relationship. “I wanted a formal, grand wedding in one of the happiest places in the world for us. I also wanted to be relaxed and comfortable all weekend,” says Jordan.
Details
Photographer: Patricia Lyons Photography, Richmond, PatriciaLyonsPhotography.com | Gown: Hayley Paige, Lovely Bride, Washington, D.C., LovelyBride.com | Planner: Courtney Lunsford, Pineapple Productions, Washington, D.C., PineapplePro.com | Cake: Brick Street Café, Greenville, South Carolina, BrickStreetCafe.net | Floral Design: Amaryllis Floral & Event Design, Landover, Maryland, AmaryllisDesigns.com | Hair & Makeup: AmandaPerry, Lou Stevens Glam Squad, Richmond, LouStevens.com | Paper: Cheree Berry Paper, St. Louis, Missouri, ChereeBerryPaper.com | Watercolor Artist: Laura Craig, Fredericksburg, LauraCraigFineArt.com | Caterer: Design Cuisine, Arlington, DesignCuisine.com | Music, Ceremony: The St. George Brass, Fredericksburg, StGeorgeEpiscopal.net | Videographer: Caleb Lee, East West Production, Charlottesville, EastWestProduction.com
This article originally appeared in our Weddings 2019 issue.
