book a free consultation

available worldwide

December 7, 2023

Elizabeth and Neal’s October tented private propery wedding in Poquoson, Virginia, featuring blues and one big dance party.

Private Property October Wedding in Coastal Virginia

Real Weddings

Private Property Poquoson Wedding Virginia

As we head into 2024, we’re continuing onward in sharing some long overdue 2022 to 2023 weddings, including this stunning private property wedding in Poquoson, Virginia, from October 2022. This one is special to us for numerous reasons! Read on to find out why, but also watch their incredible wedding video from Savannah Tilghman Photography below. Have some tissues ready!

First, private property weddings are arguably the most challenging – there is no venue coordinator that knows the property inside out nor has there (typically) been numerous large-scale events hosted to know best practices. Add in planning for bad weather, electricity, restrooms, parking, and a thousand other little details, and we’ve stretched the net of coordinator/planner well beyond a typical scope of wedding day responsibilities. That being said, pulling off a perfectly executed private property wedding is a feat to be celebrated, and this one certainly was a celebration. Our team at Amber Justine Events has honed our skillset to excel at private property weddings, and we’re mighty proud of that!

Second, and perhaps most importantly, was how much we adored (and still adore) the couple and their families. This particular family is one of our legacy families; we had the incredible opportunity to do this bride’s brother’s wedding in October 2021 before diving into their October 2022 private property wedding. One of our favorite things is working with the same families and/or friend groups that we know and love, so getting to plan and coordinate siblings’ weddings is always a special treat.

From the jump, we were over the moon to dive into the specifics of this private property wedding. At AJE, we’re big into taking (well-calculated) risks and figuring out how to make unique pieces of a puzzle work. In the world of private property weddings, this meant starting with our peninsula tent professionals at Big Top Entertainment and breaking out the measuring wheel to map out all the wedding day “zones” – ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception.

Speaking of the ceremony zone, we’d like to take a moment to chat about the beauty of this couple’s ceremony. Remember this bride’s brother’s 2021 wedding that we mentioned earlier? Well, that 2021 couple wasn’t able to rehearse their ceremony at their wedding day venue, so the mother of the groom (this bride’s mom!) built a replica of that venue’s pergola in her yard so that they could practice under something that felt like the real thing. Fast forward a year to 2022, and that same mother of the groom (now mother of the bride) was able to walk her daughter down the aisle so that she could get married in her family’s yard under that same practice pergola with her brother presiding as the officiant.

After an emotional ceremony, we were onward to a stellar cocktail hour and reception. During cocktail hour, one of those totally freak, unplannable *things* happened: a power line was brought down and existinguished power for the entire neighborhood. At that point, we were still able to pull power for the band to play an acoustic set with working speakers and the caterer to keep food cooking, but in reality the full power didn’t come back on until one hour before the reception ended.

So, what did we do? Well, your planner becomes the venue manager at that point. We made an emergency call to Big Top Entertainment and got a generator of the correct size to pull power for catering, the band’s full setup, and the tent lighting. Additionally, we pulled as many candles as we could and lit a path to and inside of the restrooms as well as on the outdoor bars. We had full power back on for the tent, band, and catering via a jumbo generator while guests ate dinner – well in advance of sunset.

The rest of the night was an incredible time. The BrassWind put on quite the concert, the surprise ice cream bar was a hit, and guests had one of the best nights of their lives. It was a beautiful sight to witness from our end!

Thanks for joining us on this trip down memory lane! Our best wishes continue onward to this sweet couple and their families.

Looking to host your own private property wedding? Our first suggestion is to hire a planner. They will help you to determine feasibility and give realistic budgets for the rentals. Can you get away with a month-of or a likewise coordinator for a private property wedding? Perhaps, but we strongly advise against it for all the reasons listed at the beginning. Instead, we recommend a minimum of a partial planning package for anything where you are “building a venue from the ground up”.