Rachel and Justin’s Crowne Plaza Hotel wedding began with a small, intimate wedding ceremony at Shepherd Gate Church in Chantilly.
Rachel was so nervous about the early ceremony time that she slept at the church to ensure that she would be up in time to get ready 🙂
Vendors:
Photography: Mollie Tobias Photography
Ceremony: Shepherd Gate Church
DJ/Entertainment: Donnell Robinson
Florist: Twinbrook Floral Design
Reception: Crowne Plaza Hotel Dulles Airport
Cake: Simply Desserts
Hair/Makeup: Kreative Beauty Services
Dress: Amy’s Bridal Boutique
Dress Designer: Stella York
I’m pretty sure that Rachel and Justin were meant to be together.
As soon as Rachel walked into high school geometry class Justin thought she was beautiful (awwww) and wanted to get to know her better.
That they did, but they took their time about it and it wasn’t until two years later that they decided to make the leap from best friends to being a couple.
Their first date was at a county fair.
Justin says, “We rode rides, ate fair food, and at the end of the night I asked Rachel to be my official girlfriend.”
When it came time to propose, Justin took Rachel back to that same fair where they had their first date.
“I took her to the exact spot I asked her to be my girlfriend four years before.” said Justin. “I asked my brother to meet us there with a suit to change into and also asked my sister to meet us there to take a video.”
“But,” Rachel said “He kind of cheated because he had told me about two weeks before that he had planned on proposing soon. It was a wonderful proposal and I thought that taking me to the exact same spot as he asked me to be his girlfriend was very special.”
After the wedding ceremont at Shepherd Gate Church we moved to the Crowne Plaza Hotel for the wedding reception.
Earlier in the day you could tell that Justin was nervous, but all of that melted away while they had their first dance.
You could just see how happy and in love they both were spinning around that dance floor.
The mother-son dance and father-daughter dance were especially beautiful and emotional.
There is something so special and symbolic about sharing this moment with your parents on your wedding day.
When I asked Rachel what her favorite thing about Justin is she said that it is how funny he is and his sense of humor.
“Whether that’s at home, or in the car, or wherever, when we are making each other laugh, I feel like I am right where I am supposed to be.”
Their church and God play a big part in their lives and it was important to them to be able to include that in their wedding day.
The first time that they spent time together outside of school was when Rachel brought Justin to her church with her. Â Her family loved him right away.
Rachel did a great job of choosing a simple color scheme and sticking to a few simple details.
I love this cake by Simply Desserts.
The wedding cake is so simple and yet so stunning at the same time.
If you would like to sign up to automatically receive updates about Rachel and Justin’s Crowne Plaza hotel wedding you can do so by entering your email at this page:
You will be automatically notified when the full gallery of images is ready for viewing!
