“I Love You This Day”

Whenever I meet with a new couple I make a point to ask how they met and fell in love. You see, the beauty of the job is all in the love, and the best way for me to get a glimpse of that love during a first meeting is when people lean back, crack a little smile and let the emotion peak through as they tell me their story. Brad and Frazier’s story had me captivated in a Nora-Ephron-romantic-comedy kind of way. They had known each other through Richmond circles for years and reconnected over a business lunch. Brad invited Frazier to a Super Bowl party, Frazier invited Brad to the ballet…the ballet won. The two met up for their first date and, as they were crossing the street to head into Richmond CenterStage theater, Frazier hooked her arm through Brad’s arm, and they both knew. Just like that. They both felt it. They both just knew. You’re thinking, how can it get more romantic than that? I’ll tell you how: the proposal. Brad didn’t choose just any old place to pop the question, he chose Paris. He chose the city of love and he proposed to Frazier at sunset, on the lovers’ bridge. The tradition is that couples lock love padlocks, called ‘cadenas d’amour’, onto a chain link fence on the bridge over the Seine and then throw the key into the river as a symbol of their eternal love. Well, Brad had their padlock and an iPod, he proposed, she said yes and they danced, on the lovers’ bridge in Paris. “I Love You This Day” is what Brad and Frazier say to each other and it is what they had engraved into their rings. And, their candlelight ceremony at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and their reception at the VMFA were full of romance, love and family. Thank you both for making me a part of your wedding day and I hope you continue to look at each other like you did on this day for many years to come!