If there’s one type of wedding I don’t see a lot of, it’s one with a medieval theme. So when Ben & Victoria’s wedding – set in a castle and featuring owls, hawks and a castle shaped wedding cake – landed in my inbox I was thrilled to be able to feature it.
The wedding was held at Castle Ladyhawke in Tuckasegee, North Carolina in November. “Ben proposed on a camping trip to the mountains in North Carolina”, began the bride. “He conspired with my bridesmaid and photographer best friend to surprise me by proposing on top of a mountain with her taking photos. He also planned two surprises for me for our wedding that were really special. The castle had a tower with a flag pole on top and with the help of his best man he came up with a coat of arms flag for us as a new family together. He used our wedding colors and an owl sigil, to tie in with the bird that brought us our rings, our love for Harry Potter and the mascot of the university where we both met and graduated. It looked really cool at the castle and is something I’m happy to keep always.”
“For my wedding present, Ben contacted a cartographer to create a custom map for us. Considering my adoration for maps and especially ancient or fantasy maps like those of Middle Earth, Westeros, etc, they worked together to create a similar map that had fictional places that represent people, places and events that are meaningful to us. He had it framed and it’s so beautiful and unique. I couldn’t have asked for a better gift.”
“I really didn’t care about a lot of the more traditional or classic things many people do for weddings”, Victoria continued “I didn’t want anything to feel too formal or stuffy. I just wanted us to make the commitment to each other in a way that was meaningful for us. Neither of us like being the center of attention, so we just wanted to make sure everyone had fun.”
“Ben and I were talking about the castle venue and how it would be cool if we would add some slight medieval elements to make it even more fairy tale-esque. We joked about having a hawk fly our wedding bands in during the ceremony and left it at that. Later I did some serious googling and sent some emails to different falconer’s guilds, just to see if something like that would even be possible. That’s how I found Chip Gentry of Hawk Manor Falconry who was totally into the idea. He brought not only the hawk that was so be our ring bearer but several other birds that he set up on perches around the venue during cocktail hour so guests could hold and take pictures with them.”
“We skipped the garter toss (a strange tradition if you think about it) and chose a cake that was personal and cool instead of pretty and white. It was made by Debi of Just Simply Delicious who was awesome to work with. I told her my vision of a tiered cake in the shape of a castle with Lego knights and little Lego princess bride and my knight in shining armor on top. We mailed her all the Lego pieces (we even gathered different pieces from several mini figures to create ones that looked like us) and Debi totally delivered. Ben is a huge Lego fan and we are both into fantasy, so it really felt like us. She had it on a gorgeous wooden cake stand and the inside was a delicious autumn-appropriate pumpkin spice with cream cheese frosting.”
“We chose to serve ‘gourmet kid food’, including some of our favorite things like pecan-encrusted chicken tenders, tomato soup shots with grilled cheese croutons and macaroni and cheese. Instead of champagne we toasted with toasted with our favorite cream soda. I walked down the aisle to ‘Saeglopur’ by Sigur Ros and we were announced to the reception to the Game of Thrones theme song and had dinner to the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings soundtracks. Ben even got to DJ at our own reception and we were sent off with a crowd of people wielding light sabers and glow sticks.”
“Our wedding may not have been described as classy or formal, but many of our friends and family told us it was the best wedding they’ve ever attended”, Victoria concluded. “It was certainly the best one I’ve ever been to, so that’s enough for me!”
So totally cool. Thank you to Ben & Victoria for sharing with us today!
The Gallery
Suppliers
- Photography: Melissa Tuck Photography
- Venue: Castle Ladyhawk
- Bride's Dress: Jim Hjelm
- Bride's Shoes: RSVP
- Bride's Headpiece & Jeweller : Daughter’s Vintage
- Hair & Make Up: Face of Makeup
- Bridesmaid's Dresses: Light in the Box
- Cake: Just Simply Delicious
- Flowers: Flora
- Stationery: DIY
- Catering: Colorful Palate
- Photo Booth: ShutterBooth