Sept. 22, 2018 • Dover Hall, Manakin-Sabot
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Photos by Kim Stockwell Photography
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You just never know when you’ll meet someone who will change your life. Alexis O’Shanick had been working as an event planner for five years when she met Will Milby in early June 2016. He was a guest at a debutante ball at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond. Alexis was working at the event when an acquaintance, Meg Milby, asked if she would mind taking a picture of her with her brother, Will. “He must have made an impression on me, because a few weeks later, thanks to a Bumble match, we went on our first date,” recalls Alexis.
Engaged less than 18 months later, the couple eagerly began planning for their wedding—something the bride-to-be was already pretty good at doing. “Having seen so many weddings, I had developed a strong sense of what I liked and wanted to incorporate in my own day,” says Alexis. “I had learned that adding details specific to the couple makes the wedding uniquely theirs. That was something I carried with me when envisioning our big day.”
To capture the intimacy and excitement of a destination wedding without actually leaving town, Alexis and Will chose Dover Hall estate in Goochland as their venue. A palette led by deep emerald green supported by accents of blush, burgundy, and ivory reflected the early fall hues of their late-September wedding weekend. While Alexis’s bridesmaids wore deep green tea-length gowns, Will and his groomsmen wore white dinner jackets as a nod to what Will was wearing the night they met. Floral arrangements throughout the celebration spaces featured roses, dahlias, and snapdragons against a backdrop of varying shades of greenery. “Flowers are important to me and my mother,” says Alexis. “And my favorite flower is a peony. Unfortunately, peonies are not in season in early fall, so our florist used dahlias to get that texture and pop of color.”
Weaving family traditions and memories into the wedding weekend allowed them to achieve that unique quality Alexis had envisioned. Just as he had at her sister’s wedding, Alexis’ brother played the violin for her walk down the aisle, selecting music from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, which the siblings had all been part of as children with the Richmond Ballet. The couple’s favorite and final personal touch was their departure at the end of the night in Will’s father’s vintage convertible Mercedes.
Details
Photographer: Kim Stockwell Photography, Richmond, KimStockwellPhotography.com | Planner: LK Events & Design, Richmond, LKEventsAndDesign.com | Floral Design: Petals & Twigs, Richmond, PetalsAndTwigsRVA.com | Gown: Oscar de la Renta, OscarDeLaRenta.com | Hair & Makeup: Avenue 42 Style Studio, Richmond, Ave42.com | Caterer: Dover Hall, Manakin-Sabot, DoverHall.com | Cake: Pearl’s Bake Shoppe, Richmond, PearlsBakeShoppe.com | Music, Reception: Kustom Made, Richmond, BookECE.com/Artists/Kustom-Made | Rentals: Paisley & Jade, Richmond, PaisleyAndJade.com; Dominion Fireworks, Petersburg, DominionFireworks.com | Lighting: Event Technologies, Inc., Ashland, Facebook.com/EventTechnologiesInc
This article originally appeared in our February 2020 issue.
