A Hurricane Florence Wedding

Alexandra and Ryan were married on September 15th, 2018 and had to switch up their plans several times! After having to make the decision to take the original idea of having the wedding on Alex’s family land, and change it to having the ceremony at Brookneal Baptist Church and the reception at the Brookneal Community Center.

You read the title right. A HURRICANE wedding and that’s exactly what happened on their wedding day. HOWEVER, that most definitely did not define their wedding day itself. After getting to meet these two for the first time during their engagement session (you can find that here), I learned so much about them as a couple. They love looking at each other, smiling, and all while also being able to totally crack a joke on each other too. Alexandra’s bridal portraits (you can find that here), was only more confirmation about her calm spirit and want to just be MARRIED to the love of her life! I can see why her and Ryan make the perfect match!

Moving on to the wedding day, while I know it was a whirlwind of a week for Alexandra and Ryan, but I swear you guys…you literally would NEVER know there was a hurricane happening to begin with. THANKFULLY we here in Virginia didn’t get nearly the amount of rain, and hurricane craziness they were originally calling for. It honestly only POURED rain between 4-5ish which had us move all portraits to after the ceremony, but the BEST thing happened and we were able to accomplish doing portraits on Alex’s family farm. Which everyone that knows her, knows exactly how meaningful it was to have that happen!

Congratulations you two!!! Seriously over the moon for you both!!!

Their Love Story

When and where did you both meet?

We have known each other since pre-school, we grew up together and our moms work together, so we have known each other our whole lives. It all started out in Kindergarten, when we were “boyfriend & girlfriend.” We were each other’s first kiss, first boyfriend/girlfriend.

When did you know he was the one and vice versa? 

Alexandra: Around my senior year of college, I was coming home on the weekends to see my family and hang out with friends and slowly but surely we started hanging out again and rekindling (what I thought would just be) our friendship. After graduating college, I moved back home and started working in Brookneal, and soon after that we found our selves hanging out practically every weekend. Through his friends and my friends, I heard that Ryan liked me more than a friend and that he had for sometime now. I had been accepted into the PTA program in Roanoke and moved up there…well after about being there for a year or so… I realized (finally!) that I did have feelings for Ryan. So I told him, and the rest just kind of fell into place. It was so easy being with him and everyone we saw would say, “I knew y’all two would end up together!”

Ryan: “When she was in college and was traveling back and fourth from school and home we would hangout and I realized how much I missed  from prior years and the feelings just got stronger and I realized I really loved her and it just all fell in place.

What is the one thing you both love each other the most for?

Alexandra: The thing that I love most about Ryan is his passion. He has such a huge heart and is willing to do whatever he needs to do for the things he loves and cares about. He is constantly doing things to help people out and going above and beyond for the fire department.

Ryan: The thing I love the most about Alex is her love… her love for the people she cares about and the love she puts towards her work and her love for strangers she is always willing to help anyone out. She works hard everyday, and continues when she gets home she loves keeping people happy and always puts a smile on your face.

How did he propose?