Blog

Elegant Summer Open House

While it's always great to have an event on a beautiful sunny day, realistically that doesn't always happen. September 1st we proved that not even a dreary rainy day will keep us from celebrating another great open house at Sundara!

We cannot thank the amazing team of vendors enough for hosting this event with us:

Catering: Blue Ridge Catering

Floral: Creative Occasions Floral

Photography: Kemper Mills Fant Photography

Cake: Fresh Baked VA

Music: Tim Martin 

Linens: BBJ Linens

Read More

Spring Open House at Sundara

April 14th was a beautiful day at Sundara. Surrounded by great friends, exquisite floral, delicious food we celebrated the beginning of our 2017 wedding season.

We cannot thank the amazing team of vendors for hosting this event with us:

Catering: Blue Ridge Catering

Floral: Creative Occasions Floral

Photography: Pat Cori Photography

Cake: Fresh Baked VA

Linens: BBJ Linens

Continue reading “Spring Open House at Sundara”

The History of Sundara

written by Patricia Trostle, edited by Cari Dones Reichl

It all began in 1984 when my husband Tom and I purchased a home in Franklin County. Although the home was built in the late 1800’s, we would become only the third owners. We chose this house because our eight-year-old daughter, Amanda, had been longing for a horse. Our new home had a small barn and plenty of room for grazing, it was perfect! We quickly settled into country living.

After seeing our children, Amanda and Emily, off to college we began to seek new adventures for ourselves. In 2003, Tom accepted a job in Louisville so we packed up the house and started another chapter in our life. We, however, kept our family home hoping to return here in our retirement years.

Soon after our move, Amanda announced her engagement and her desire to be married at our Roanoke home. After we settled on a July wedding date we began to plan their wedding from a distance.

Amanda and John’s wedding was a beautiful southern garden party. Starting with cocktails under the large magnolia trees continuing with fun and laughter well into the night as we celebrated the lovely couple.

Several months later, we learned that the photographer, Jeff Greenough, had submitted Amanda and John’s wedding to The Knot. Soon after the wedding was published we were contacted by couples interested in hosting their own weddings on our property.

Read the first Knot article about Sundara here:

https://www.theknot.com/real-weddings/amanda-john-in-boones-mill-va-photo

We agreed to try a few events to just see how everything went. As a former high school teacher, I loved the idea of being involved with young people again. So, for three years I travelled from Louisville for each wedding. With business quickly taking off we made the decision to return home and settle back into country living.

One day I began reading a book, to this day I can’t remember the name of the book, however one thing stuck out to me. The book referred to a Hindi word “sundara” meaning ‘beautiful’ and in that context, specifically, ‘a beautiful place in life’. When it came time to name our new business, Sundara was my most obvious choice as it was a beautiful place in my life and many others.

Since we opened our doors in 2003, we have had numerous weddings published in local and national magazines. And have been honored by The Knot, Virginia Living Magazine, The Roanoker, and nominated for the Small Business of the Year Award.

Along our journey we have learned the value of supporting our community and neighbors; by participating and hosting many events for The Roanoke Symphony, Healing Strides, March of Dimes, and the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy we have found a way to give back for all that has been given to us.

Now entering our 14th year in business, and already looking ahead to a promising 2018 we must thank our wonderful clients and staff for supporting our dream and helping us create such a successful and meaningful business.

Cheers to many more wonderful years at Sundara,

Patricia Trostle

Best of 2014- Details part 3

Our Best of 2014 series ends today! It’s been so great to look back at our weddings from 2014 and we look forward to what 2015 will bring. Enjoy our last post!

1
Cricket Powell Photography
2
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

3
Clockwise: Cricket Powell Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Lindsay Schaffer Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Jen Fariello Photography

 

4
Clockwise: Jen Fariello Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography

 

5
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Jen Fariello Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

6
Clockwise: Cricket Powell Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

7
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography

 

8
Clockwise: Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Lindsay Schaffer Photography |Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

Best of 2014- Hair

I can’t emphasize enough how much our girls WORKED IT last year. Gorgeous hairstyles. Unique hair pieces.

So here’s one last montage of our pretty girls.

1
Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography
2
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | n/a
3
Clockwise: Sam Dean Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography
4
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Sam Dean Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Jen Fariello Photography 
5
Clockwise: Sam Dean Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Cricket Powell Photography
6
Clockwise: Chelsa Yoder Photography | Sam Dean Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography
7
Clockwise: Brett Winter Lemon Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Marissa Joy Photography | Laura’s Focus Photography

Best of 2014- Food

Do not read this next post hungry. You will be sorry.

Blue Ridge Catering is our fabulous in-house caterer. They love putting together custom menus for each wedding and the end result is scrumptious. Enjoy their lovely creations!

1
Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

2
Clockwise: Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Chelsa Yoder Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography

 

3
Clockwise: n/a | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

4
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | n/a | Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

5
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Sam Dean Photography| Lindsay Schaffer Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

6
Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

Best of 2014- Details part 2

Today we are continuing with more details!

1
Lori Hedrick Photography
2
Clockwise: Lori Hedrick Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography

 

3
Clockwise: Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

4
Clockwise: Sam Stroud Photography | Chelsa Yoder Photography | Marissa Joy Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | Brett Winter Lemon Photography

 

5
Clockwise: Lori Hedrick Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Marissa Joy Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

6
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Marissa Joy Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Marissa Joy Photography

 

7
Clockwise: Sam Stroud Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Marissa Joy Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography

 

8
Clockwise: Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Marissa Joy Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | Sam Stroud Photography

 

Best of 2014- Bouquets

Bouquets are like the icing on the wedding cake. They look beautiful, smell scrumptious and can be yielded as a weapon, if needed. Let these bouquets inspire you!

1
Chelsa Yoder Photography

 

2
Clockwise: Sam Dean Photography | Lindsay Schaffer Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | n/a

 

 

3
Clockwise: Sam Stroud Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Jen Fariello Photography | Sam Dean Photography

 

4
Clockwise: Brett Winter Lemon Photography | Sam Dean Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Cricket Powell Photography

 

5
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | n/a | Sam Dean Photography | Laura’s Focus Photography | Chelsa Yoder Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography

 

6
Clockwise: Sam Stroud Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Sam Stroud Photography

 

7
Clockwise: Marissa Joy Photography | Brett Winter Lemon Photography | Cricket Powell Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Sam Dean Photography

 

Best of 2014- Details

There were so many great details that our girls sent in, we had to split them into three parts! Enjoy all the unique and special details.

1
Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography
2
Clockwise: Sam Dean Photography | Sam Stroud Photography

 

3
Clockwise: Sam Stroud Photography | n/a | Brett Winter Lemon Photography | Sam Dean Photography| Chelsa Yoder Photography

 

4
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Chelsa Yoder Photography | Brett Winter Lemon Photography | Sam Dean Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

5
Clockwise: Sam Dean Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Chelsa Yoder Photography | Sam Dean Photography

 

6
Clockwise: n/a | Sam Stroud Photography | Sam Dean Photography

 

7
Sam Dean Photography

 

8
Clockwise: Sam Dean Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Marissa Joy Photography

 

Best of 2014- Bridal Party Fashion

As we continue to charge forward in this series, we are going to take a look at the supporting cast, the Bridal Party. Let’s all take a moment to thank those men, women and yes, pets who support our couples on their wedding day. And boy they look fashionable doing it!

1
Sam Stroud Photography

 

2
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | n/a | Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

3
Clockwise: Brett Winter Lemon Photography | n/a | Sam Dean Photography

 

4
Clockwise: Sam Dean Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Sam Dean Photography

 

5
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | n/a | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography

 

6
Clockwise: Marissa Joy Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Brett Winter Lemon Photography | Sam Dean Photography

 

7
Clockwise: Chelsa Yoder Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | Sam Stroud Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Cricket Powell Photography

 

8
Clockwise: Sam Dean Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Sam Stroud Photography

 

9
Clockwise: Marissa Joy Photography | Laura’s Focus Photography

 

1
Clockwise: Lori Hedrick Photography | Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography

 

2
Clockwise: Kemper Mills Fant Photography | Jen Fariello Photography | Lindsay Schaffer Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography | Brinn Wills Photography

 

3
Clockwise: Lori Hedrick Photography | Jen Fariello Photography | Lori Hedrick Photography | Rabiah Khwaja Gohar Photography