A winter wonderland...

Snow fell on the journey to Monticello, after a New Year's Day wedding in Williamsburg, and Tom and Martha Jefferson unhitched the horses from the carriage to ride up to their new home and uncork some of Tom's old wine. Henceforth, weddings in Charlottesville have mainly been held in the spring, summer and fall, on those crisp autumn days when there's no home football game at UVA.

Winter weddings at UVA are unique in their own right. The cold mountain air and threat of snow add a unique dimension to the already nervous brides and grooms while blanketing the otherwise energetic campus and its surroundings in silence. The short daylight hours add elegance and romance comes by candlelight. And if the day is just right, perhaps white snowflakes dancing outside the historic Chapel add to the lifelong memory.

So many couples choose to marry within a day's ride of the Jefferson's place that we all must wonder: does any municipality of 40,000 souls host more weddings? What makes a town in the Blue Ridge, distinguished by bricks and ivy, encircled by estates and foxes, so romantic, yet practical -- such a mecca for weddings and hope? Why do weddings say so much about couples, and speak volumes about the place where they plan to wed?

Every two hours, on Saturdays during "wedding season," couples walk into the Chapel on the grounds of Mr. Jefferson's University and say their vows. Nearly 150 couples win a lottery to marry there each year. If you can remember, up on the altar, the moment you held books and hands, gazed up at those ancient bells and vowed, "We're getting married here," well, that's priceless.

Weddings in Charlottesville are like weddings everywhere. Friends and family gather, photographers snap the wedding dress on the hanger, best men practice toasts, ushers usher, bridesmaids titter and get teary-eyed and parents stoically hold roses, scraps of welcome speeches (and the checkbook) while their children’s lives flash past everyone’s eyes. And a couple at the altar, the vows all written, the plans all finalized, gaze into each other's eyes and hope to God this works. We have been wondering that ourselves lately.

You must make choices to get to your wedding day. And all those choices, from the loved ones on your guest list to the rice, birdseed, bubbles or sparklers they hold at the doorway to your new life, tell the story of one couple, one place, one day, and reverberate forever.

Perhaps we will have snow at our wedding. It seems appropriate now, doesn’t it? For isn’t that also what makes winter weddings white?

* Portions of the above passage we borrowed from a “Virginia Unveiled” essay written by Ran Henry, a UVA writing professor who also enjoys recounting a bit of wedding history every now and then. We did some tweaking and added a few thoughts of our own, too. Hope you enjoyed reading it and we look forward to seeing you soon.