Author: sundara

Best of 2013: Cakes

This is one of two food related features and I’m super excited about it. I. love. cake. Anything that comes in the form of a sweet, I am all about it. But sometimes it hurts chopping into something that looks so beautiful!

Secret: if there are cake slices left over after your wedding, sometimes we eat it. Or always eat it. Hey, we have to have something to keep us going at the end of the night!

Wedding cakes in Virginia
Top: Photography- Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Cake- Piece of Cake
Bottom Left: Photography- Laura’s Focus Photography | Cake- Cassie’s Cake
Bottom Right: Photography- Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Cake- Wildflour Bakery

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Top: Photography- Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Cake- Wildflour
Middle: Photography- Chad Bowles Photography | Cake- Terri Webster
Bottom: Photography- Josh Lopez Photography | Cake- Wildflour

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Top Left: Photography- Laura’s Focus Photography | Cake- Kelly’s Cakes, Cookies- brought by family
Top Right: Photography- Sam Dean Photography | Cake and Cupcakes- Diane’s Cake Creations
Middle: Photography- Sam Stroud Photography | Cupcakes- Linda Coyle
Bottom Left: Photography- Lori Hedrick Photography | Cupcakes- n/a
Bottom Right: Photography- Lori Hedrick Photography | Cupcakes- n/a

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Top: Photography- Chelsa Yoder Photography | Cake- Wildflour
Bottom Left: Photography- Logan Wallace Photography | Cake- Kelly’s Cakes
Bottom Right: Photography- Carly Arnwine Photography | Cake- Mary Ogilvie

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Top: Photography- Sam Dean Photography | Cake- Wildflour
Bottom Left: Photography- Laura’s Focus Photography | Cake- Wildflour
Bottom Right: Photography- Sam Dean Photography| Cake- Diane’s Cake Creations

Best of 2013: Wedding Bouquets

Today we’re showing off the wonderful creativity of our florists who came through last year! I love flowers and sometimes I even get the pleasure to take home your wedding flowers at the end of the night. And sometimes eat your cake. But that’s another post.


Top: Photography- Lori Hedrick Photography | Florist- n/a
Bottom: Photography- Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Florist- Creative Occasions and Tinsel and Twine


Top Left: Photography- Logan Wallace Photography | Florist: Gloriosa
Top Right: Photography- Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Florist: Gloriosa
Middle: Photography- Laura’s Focus Photography | Florist: George’s Flowers
Bottom Left: Photography- Stephanie Klein-Davis | Florist: Creative Occasions
Bottom Right: Photography- n/a | Florist- by the bride


Top: Photography- Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Florist- Creative Occasions and Tinsel and Twine
Top Left: Photography: Laura’s Focus Photography | Flowers- George’s Flowers
Bottom Right: Photography- Lori Hedrick Photography | Flowers- n/a
Right: Photography- Josh Lopez Photography | Flowers- Gloriosa


Top Left: Photography- Logan Wallace Photography | Flowers: Gloriosa
Top Right: Photography- Laura’s Focus Photography | Flowers: Creative Occasions
Bottom Left: Photography- Carly Arnwine Photography | Florist- Petal Pushers
Bottom Right: Photography- Sam Dean Photography | Florist- The Flower Shoppe on Main


Top: Photography- Sam Dean Photography | Florist- George’s Flowers
Left: Photography- Sam Stroud Photography | Florist- Crystal Orchid
Top Right: Photography- Laura’s Focus Photography | Florist- Gloriosa
Bottom Right: Photography- Chad Bowles Photography | Florist- Bryant-Everett

And we can’t forget about our Grooms!


Top: Photography- Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Florist- Creative Occasions
Left: Photography- Sam Dean Photography | Florist- George’s Flowers
Top Right: Photography- Sam Stroud Photography | Florist- Crystal Orchid
Bottom Right: Photography- Logan Wallace Photography | Florist- Gloriosa

Best of 2013: Wedding Dresses

We are so excited to start this new series! I have had the most fun looking through all of the pictures that our brides sent us.

Let’s kick this series off with wedding dresses. Let me tell you, we had some fabulous dresses this year. Girls, you looked gorgeous!


Top: Photography- Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Dress- Vintage Wedding Dress Company
Bottom: Photography- Carly Arnwine Photography | Dress- Elegance by Roya


Top Left: Photography- Logan Wallace Photography | Dress- David’s Bridal
Top Right: Photography- Lori Hedrick Photography | Dress- n/a
Bottom Left: Photography- Sam Stroud Photography | Dress- David’s Bridal
Bottom Right: Photography- Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Dress- Vera Wang


Top: Photography- Sam Dean Photography | Dress- n/a
Bottom Left: Photography- Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Dress- Winnie Couture
Top Right: Photography- Chelsa Yoder Photography | Dress- AmRheins
Bottom Right: Photography- Laura’s Focus Photography | Dress- Maggie Sottero


Top Left: Photography- Sam Dean Photography | Dress- Casablanca by Enzoani
Top Right: Photography- Stephanie Klein-Davis | Dress- n/a
Bottom Left: Photography- Laura’s Focus Photography | Dress- Vera Wang
Bottom Right: Photography- Laura’s Focus Photography | Dress- Bella Rosa

Best of Weddings 2013

We are so excited to start a new series beginning next Friday! Each Friday, we will be featuring our favorite wedding details, food and much much more from our 2013 wedding season. Valentine’s Day seems like an appropriate day to kick this off, don’t you think?

This will all build up to the start of our 2014 season. So come celebrate with us every Friday!

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Top Left: Lori Hedrick Photography | Top Right: Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography
Bottom Left: Josh Lopez Photography | Bottom Right: Chelsa Yoder Photography
Header: Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography

Sundara Chosen As A Top Wedding Venue By Virginia Living Magazine

Virginia Living Weddings 2014Sundara is a top wedding venue in Virginia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Erin Parkhurst, Editor
ErinParkhurst@CapeFear.com
RICHMOND, Va. (January 2, 2014) — Virginia Living Weddings and Top Wedding Vendors 2014.

Virginia Living Weddings 2014 is a special bound-in supplement to Virginia Living’s February 2014 issue that celebrates the unique style and tradition of weddings done in grand Virginia fashion. Sundara has been selected as a Top Wedding Venue for 2014.

Featuring real weddings from around the state, and celebrating the very-Virginia traditions that make a wedding in the commonwealth an event to remember, Virginia Living Weddings also includes Virginia Living’s Top Wedding Vendors 2014, a comprehensive editorial list of over 600 of the highest quality wedding professionals throughout Virginia.

With the assistance of an advisory board of some of the state’s top wedding planners, Virginia Living’s editors reviewed thousands of vendors in over 30 categories, and selected only those who are recognized for consistently delivering the highest quality products and customer service. From gowns, cakes and flowers to music, stationery and jewelry, Virginia Living’s Top Wedding Vendors 2014 is the resource for anyone planning a wedding in Virginia.

Virginia Living Weddings will be on newsstands beginning Friday, January 10.

About Virginia Living

Virginia Living celebrates all things Virginia—from its people and places, to its deep history and traditions. The highest quality, most widely-read lifestyle magazine in the state, Virginia Living’s combination of smart, engaging stories and stunning photography and art makes it a must-read for anyone interested in the Commonwealth.

Virginia Living is available by subscription and at quality newsstands, including select Target, Barnes & Noble, Kroger and Martin’s stores.

Sundara Wedding Venue Featured In Brides and Weddings Magazine

Marry in the Mountains – Historic Sundara

View original article here: Brides And Weddings Magazine

If you ‘re thinking about a destination wedding – but don’t want to get on a plane, consider a wedding weekend at historic Sundara, located just outside of Roanoke in Southwest VA. Sundara recently hosted a vendor open house and I thought it would be nice to show you some images (courtesy of Kemper Mills Fant) of this beautiful property and give a few reasons why this gorgeous venue makes a great destination wedding.

Affordable costs for you and your guests – You can have a destination wedding without the big cost. A wedding in the Blue Ridge Mountains is more affordable than flying to Europe or the Caribbean. And it’s better for your guests. It’s an easy drive from DC to Southwest Virginia and accommodations are less expensive.

Working with a coordinator in the area – Sundara’s on-site venue coordinator will help with planning your wedding and refer you to trusted vendors. This will relieve so much stress for you and make it feel much more like a destination wedding. You won’t have to travel far when it comes to meeting with your vendors and apps like Skype and Facetime make it easy to connect.

Beauty and activities in the area – There is so much beauty in the Blue Ridge Mountains. If time permits, get on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Front Royal and head south to your wedding destination. There’s blooming dogwoods, redbuds and mountain laurel in the spring and gorgeous colors in the fall. In the Blue Ridge, there are miles of hiking and walking trails so you can enjoy the scenery. The City of Roanoke is a fun stopping point in Southwest Virginia with museums, as well as the farmer’s market where you can find fresh produce, fun shops, and some great food. If you’re a fan of music, be sure to check out Downtown Roanoke or Floyd Country Store, where live performances are featured every Friday and Saturday night. Add history, wineries and golf and you have a great wedding weekend.

Sundara offers romantic seclusion, adventure, beautiful location, local food – and everything else a destination wedding provides for you. To learn more about wedding weekends at Sundara, call 540.334.9911 and be sure to visit their profile on our website.

 

Southern Hospitality & The Ideal Wedding Venue

I woke up this morning thinking about SOUTHERN hospitality. What is it?

Growing up with very modest means in a small bungalow in the country there were certain unspoken lessons that remain with me today.

There was no money for opulence or as we called it then “putting on the dog”.

Hours were spent cleaning, scrubbing, polishing, weeding, putting our best foot forward. Most importantly, you knew someone was coming to visit and you wanted them to feel that you were excited about their arrival and yes, maybe even bake a cake! What ever you had, however meager, was to be shared to make guests feel welcome.

Think about visiting someone for the weekend. The lawn is not mowed, the house in disarray, no food prepared, the television blaring as you sit to talk. Do you feel that anyone is excited or at the least happy for you to be there?

As we are working on gift bags for an upcoming nuptial to be placed in the hotel rooms for out of town guests, I’m thinking about how we can make these reflect our southern hospitality here at Sundara. To be sure, the items placed must be meaningful – don’t think we’ll be just throwing in stuff just to fill the bag!

The small details of your wedding, (whether you decide to do gift bags or not) deserve careful thought. And it is very important to work with vendors who share your vision of how you would like your special day to unfold.

The wedding is all about the bride AND the groom AND also the guests.

If the bride and groom stay true to themselves and host a wedding that reflects who they are, that is a step in the right direction of making guests feel comfortable.

It takes more than money to make guests feel welcome and that’s where Sundara’s southern hospitality comes in!

Sundara Wedding Venue’s Hobbit Themed Wedding Featured On BurnettsBoards.com

Hobbit Themed Wedding

As Seen On BurnettsBoards.com

Tolkien fans – hold on to your rings because today’s Hobbit themed wedding inspiration shoot from Kemper Mills Fant Photography has all the trappings of a Shire wedding!

I nearly fell out of my office chair when this shoot landed in my inbox. I’m that nerd who is front and center at the movie theatre dressed like Galadriel and can quote the books. So in my LOTR fan girl opinion – Amy McArthur of Amy Kristina Weddings did an absolutely fabulous job bringing the lighthearted side of Middle Earth to life!

From Amy – “I’ve wanted to design a Hobbit inspired wedding for years now. Growing up, I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series, by J.R.R. Tolkien, and fell in love with Hobbits. My love for them and the world they live in was only amplified exponentially when the movies by Peter Jackson came out. Even though it is a Hobbit inspired wedding, we wanted it to feel like an old, English garden wedding, which is very much what The Shire embodies.”

Sundara Wedding Venue's Hobbit Themed Wedding Featured in BurnettsBoards.com

More from Amy – “We had four different set-ups. The first was the sweetheart table. I wanted it to look very organic and as if you could find all of these items around your house. I loved the idea of stitching together different doilies and using them as a tablecloth so that you could see the amazing table underneath. I also love bunting so I made a string of it to go around the front of the table and the colors tied into our overall feel. Since Hobbits love to smoke and drink, it was important to me to represent that by including tobacco tins filled with flowers, tobacco pipes at each place setting and a horn-shaped beer mug.

The second set-up was like the entrance to the wedding. We had a small washstand with a marble top that we filled with different plants like mums, ivy, kale and cabbage. I loved how it looked like plants that were picked from a garden. I also made the quintessential ‘No admittance except on party business’ sign to go on the table.”

Hobbit Themed wedding at Sundara Wedding Venue in Virginia

From Amy – “I wanted our bride to look very natural. The overall feel of the shoot was homemade, organic, natural, simple yet beautiful so I wanted our bride to look the same. She was also barefoot, like any good Hobbit would be!

The flowers were probably my favorite part of this whole shoot. There were so many different flowers, herbs, vegetables, etc. used in this shoot that made it really unique. When Mark (of Creative Occasions) and I were collaborating about the flowers, I told him I wanted the flowers to look as if they picked them fresh from the garden the morning of the wedding. I didn’t want anything to look too contrived or planned out. And I let Mark be as creative as he wanted to be and that he did!”

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Photography: Kemper Mills Fant // Design & Coordination: Amy McArthur of Amy Kristina Weddings, LLC // Floral Design: Creative Occasions Events Flowers and Gifts // Model: Abby Broughton // Dress: AmRhein’s Brides and Formals // Hair & Makeup: Les Cheveux Salon and Day Spa // Venue & Props: Sundara, Virginia // Props: Charlotte’s Web Antique Mall and Primitive Gatherings // Pony: Warrior from Healing Strides of Virginia.

Why So Many Brides From Washington, New York, Boston & London Are Coming To Sundara

Destination weddings have been a huge trend for a few years now but what if you can’t afford to jet-set off to Italy or Paris for a week? (If you can, can I tag along?) Well, you can have it all. You can have the seclusion, the adventure, the beautiful locations, local food and everything else a destination wedding provides for you. And the best news is you don’t even have to leave the country! Heck, you don’t even have to leave the state!

I like to think of Southwest Virginia as the real Virginia. Yes, Northern Virginia is chock full of history and culture but it’s also chock full of traffic and highways. More and more brides and grooms are looking for an escape for their wedding. They want that feel of running away to an exotic location without the price tag. Why not get married in Southwest Virginia? Here are some reasons why you should consider it.

Luxury hotels available near SundaraAffordable costs for you and your guests – You can have a destination wedding without the cost of having one. The cost of having a wedding in the Blue Ridge Mountains is more affordable than flying to Europe for a wedding or even having a wedding in the D.C. area. And it’s affordable for your guests. They won’t have to fly or fly as far, it’s an easy drive from D.C. to Southwest Virginia and accommodations are less expensive.

In-house wedding coordinator at SundaraWorking with a coordinator in the area – This is a big one. When considering a venue, ask if they have an on-site coordinator like Amy McArthur who can help with planning your wedding as well as refer you to vendors whom they trust. This is going to relieve so much stress from you and make it feel much more like a destination wedding. And, being in the Blue Ridge Mountains, you won’t have to travel far when it comes to meeting with your vendors. Plus, apps like Skype and Facetime make it easier to meet with your coordinator as needed.

Outdoor activities at SundaraBeauty and activities in the area – There is so much beauty in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are a lot of hiking and walking trails so you can enjoy the scenery. Roanoke is a fun stopping point in Southwest Virginia. There are museums there as well as the market where you can find fresh produce, fun shops and some great food. If you’re a fan of music, there are a lot of great places to hear music like Downtown Roanoke or the Floyd Country Store, where they have live music every Friday and Saturday night.

Below are photos from our most recent London bride… married in Roanoke with reception at Sundara.
(photos by: Kemper Mills Fant Photography)

Lindsey & Caley

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