Seems like a bit of an odd day to get married - February 29th - but certainly unique! This wonderful couple, Chris & Bill, chose to rent a lovely house at Wintergreen Resort (about 25 miles SW of Charlottesville) for the weekend and have their ceremony in front of the fireplace with just their closest family in attendance.

This was a first for me but seems like a great idea... a relaxing way to get away for a few days and enjoy the company of your nearest and dearest with lots to do right nearby: skiing & snowboarding, spa services, swimming, hiking, great restaurants and more plus lovely views and time to relax together... sounds good to me!

Chris and Bill found their rental through the very nice folks at Rentals at Wintergreen They were so patient with me when I called for driving directions directions!

Just for fun, I looked up a few facts about Leap Day on Wikipedia... here's what I found:
February 29 is a date that occurs only every four years, in years evenly divisible by 4, such as 1988, 1996, 2008 or 2016 (with the exception of century years not divisible by 400, such as 1900) for the Gregorian calendar, which is most widely used in the world today. These are called leap years, and February 29 is the 60th day of the Gregorian calendar in such a year, with 306 days remaining until the end of that year. February 29 is also known as bissextile day or Leap Day.

Although the modern calendar counts a year as 365 days, a complete revolution around the sun takes approximately 365 days and 6 hours. Every four years, an extra twenty-four hours have accumulated, so one extra day is added to that calendar to keep the count coordinated with the sun's apparent position.

I wonder if Chris and Bill will celebrate their anniversaries on Feb. 29th or March 1st in the years to come.

Everyday I hear from the couples I work with what a daunting and time-consuming task wedding planning can be. The many details, choices and decisions can be overwhelming. If you are feeling this way you might consider getting some help and the first person that comes to mind for me is Jennifer Carroll.

I’ve had the privilege of working with Jennifer and her wonderful staff on several weddings and am looking forward to those we will be doing together in the coming season. Jenn is a complete professional with years of experience and a true gift for creating strikingly beautiful, unique and memorable wedding experiences for the couples she works with. In my capacity as Wedding Minister she unfailingly makes my job a complete joy, working closely with me so that the rehearsal and ceremony come off without a hitch. A real plus is that she has a wonderful sense of humor which is so important!

My words can not do justice to Jenn’s magic so please visit her website so that you can see the many wonderful photos of weddings that she has planned as well as detailed information about her services and products.

Jennifer offers many levels of service to couples… everything from her Complete Wedding Planning package (Peony) all the way to Day-Of (Hydrangea) and A la Carte services.

If you're just not sure that hiring a wedding planner is right for you her FAQ page may be helpful in deciding... but if you're considering this option at all my best recommendation is that you simply pick up the phone and give her a call, you'll be glad you did. You can reach Jennifer at 434-823-7607.

With Valentine's Day coming up tomorrow I thought I'd share some great articles and resources I've come across on how to make more conscious choices in your giving.

This year I received my Valentine's Day surprise a little early: On Monday an envelope arrived addressed to my husband. It said "Thank you for Adopting a Manatee"... it was a give-away and, of course, I couldn't wait 'til Thursday to open it. Sure enough my funny and thoughtful honey had adopted a Manatee for me for Valentine's Day. I guess he has finally figured out that I'm just not a flowers and chocolates kind of girl! If you want to know more about this wonderful Valentine's Day option visit the Save the Manatee website. In addition to info. and a photo of my new adoptee, "Howie", I got 2 very sweet little plush manatees to remind me of my new status as adoptive manatee mom.

So... back to the resources I have for you...

• Have a Heart: How to have a Valentine's Day with a Conscience
• Valentine's Day Gift Guide: giving greener love
• Have a Green Valentine's Day
• Red is Out, Go Green this Valentine' Day
• Love me, Love the Earth

I wish you a peaceful, loving and green day of love!

Although Stonefire Station in Barboursville (about 15 miles North of Charlottesville) has been holding events for a couple of years now this past Sunday was my first wedding there. Stonefire Station is a unique venue in the area as far as I know. It was built specifically for events of all kinds and was, obviously, designed taking into consideration what would be needed to accommodate every kind of gathering. In a way this venue is something of a blank slate that could probably be decorated to just about any imaginable style or taste from extremely formal to completely relaxed and informal. Their website provides all the details, floorplans and lots of photos of the venue.

Allison and Tim's wedding was held indoors at Stonefire Station although it is clear that a warmer-weather event would be able to take advantage of the lovely Southwestern-style outdoor patio areas all along one side of the building. Their wedding also was unique in that there was a complete power outage due to high winds so this made everything (music, food, etc.) an extra challenge for everyone. Nevertheless, everyone kept a very positive attitude and had a wonderful time in the candlelit ballroom.

Tim and Allison made their wedding extremely child-friendly as you can see from this photo of the tables they provided in the midst of the ballroom for their youngest friends and family.

Contact Stonefire Station at (540) 832-0089 for more information.

When I arrived at last Sunday's Bridal Faire I was happy to see one of my favorite photographers, Allegra, had a booth. Over the last couple of years I've had the privilege of finding myself at several weddings that Allegra was shooting and getting to know her a bit has been a joy.

I encourage you to visit Allegra's website to see her beautiful pictures and learn more about her interesting background and extensive experience.

These photos are from 2 weddings that I performed and Allegra photographed just this past fall, one at the Clifton Inn in October and the other at the UVA Chapel in December (see my post) Allegra was kind enough to send me most of these photos and there are one or two I snatched off of her blog (she said I could) to show you how incredibly talented she is. You can contact Allegra at 434-384-0138. Enjoy!