Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians play Lockn' Festival Friday, August 23. Publicity photo by Todd Crusham
Starry nights: Edie Brickell rejoins her band the New Bohemians for a string of festival dates, including a slot at Lockn.’ Though Brickell and the band have been on-and-off since rising to fame in 1988 with the album Shooting Rubberbands At The Stars and it’s inescapable hit “What I Am,” they’ve maintained a fanbase so rabid it’d put “a smile on a dog.” Brickell’s spent her off-tour years raising children with hubby Paul Simon, and collaborating with Steve Martin on the Tony-nominated Broadway musical Bright Star.
Americana singer and songwriter Will Overman is one of the local artists playing at Camp Corduroy this weekend. Publicity photo
Camp songs: Local performers come together at Camp Corduroy for a two-day festival created to celebrate Charlottesville artists and raise awareness for nonprofits such as The Front Porch, The Nature Conservancy, and Fight Like a Grrrl. Dropping Julia, The Hackensaw Boys, and former “The Voice” contestant Will Overman are included in the lineup, and farm tours, nature walks, and mountain biking add to the outdoor experience. Original electro-pop opera group The Near Misses will close out the weekend.
Saturday, August 24 and Sunday, August 25. Free, times vary. Corduroy Farm, 14103 Louisa Rd., Louisa.
Leslie Scott-Jones, Ray Smith, and David Vaughn Straughn star in Hambone, the Charlottesville Players Guild’s Afro-futurist adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Photo by Cara Walton
Let’s pretend for a minute. It’s sometime in the not-too-distant future. Charlottesville is a thriving black kingdom, free of the white gaze and white corruption, and comprised of various hamlets, including Vinegar Hill, Starr Hill, and between them, Gospel Hill, the kingdom’s seat and center of spirituality.
Such is the premise of Hambone, an original, Afro-futurist telling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet by local all-black theater troupe the Charlottesville Players Guild.
You know how Hamlet goes: King Hamlet has died. His son, Prince Hamlet, returns home to mourn, only to find that Queen Gertrude has taken up with the dead king’s brother, Claudius. The king’s ghost visits Hamlet with a message: Claudius killed him, and young Hamlet must avenge his death. In the process, young Hamlet goes mad (or does he?).
And while the play is technically fiction, much of what Hambone delves into in the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center auditorium is real.
The Charlottesville Players Guild’s desire to rework Hamlet came about during the troupe’s summer 2018 Macbeth adaptation, Black Mac. The cast became particularly interested in familial relationships among those characters, and Hamlet came up as another play rife with family drama.
The troupe decided to make Hamlet into “the ultimate black family drama,” one that showcases “the spectrum of black family,” says Leslie Scott-Jones, CPG’s creative director who adapted the script and also plays Queen Gertrude. Director Shelby Marie Edwards chose to focus the production on grief, specifically “the way grief is looked at from the African continuum.”
“One of the ways we incorporate an African aesthetic is how the characters deal with death, how we frame death within the show,” says Edwards. “I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s not like they die and that’s it,” she says, because in the African diaspora, one’s ancestors are always present. It’s not life and death, Edwards explains, but rather “life, death, and transformation.” Take King Hamlet’s ghost—whose message for his son drives much of the plot—as just one example.
When Hamlet/Hambone (played by David Vaughn Straughn) so famously asks in his soliloquy, “To be, or not to be?,” he contemplates life and death. But in Hambone, it’s less a question of physicality and more one of spirituality: Will he accept grief as a part of life and continue on, not just breathing but actually living? Or will he allow grief to consume his soul and render him essentially lifeless?
What’s in a name?
Why call this adaptation Hambone? Some folks might know “hambone” as an African American style of dance that involves slapping one’s own body to create a rhythm (it’s also called the Juba dance, or, originally, the Pattin’ Juba). But it was also used as a derogatory term for black performers. “So, that’s the perfect name for this [production], because [Hamlet] performs madness for certain people to elicit a response,” says Leslie Scott-Jones, who adapted the script. “It’s also a commentary on code-switching.”
Many of the CPG’s creative choices for Hambone add new and interesting layers. They meld African American vernacular English with Shakespeare’s early modern English. Ivan Orr has composed an original soundtrack —which he describes as hip-hop as it might sound in the future —that helps establish the mood and propel the story forward.
Horatio, Hamlet’s best friend, typically staged as a man, is a woman, and Hamlet is in love with her, despite the fact that he’s betrothed to Ophelia. His friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are also women. That could explain Hamlet/Hambone’s intuition, and why he can communicate with his father’s spirit, says Scott-Jones. And what does all that say about Hamlet/Hambone’s relationship with his mother, Gertrude?
King Hamlet and Claudius are twins (both played by Ray Smith)—which raises new questions (and probably a few eyebrows) about Gertrude’s hasty marriage to Claudius, itself complicated by the fact that in this production, Gertrude is pregnant. And that raises all sorts of questions about heirs and future kings.
David Vaughn Straughn plays the title role in Hambone. Photo by Cara Walton
The CPG has also added a griot, “an African storyteller who holds wisdom,” explains Edwards, a role played by Brenda Brown-Grooms, a local pastor renowned for her sermons. Brown-Grooms grew up in Charlottesville, and her family attended one of the black churches located on Gospel Hill.
This is yet another way in which the substance of Hambone is quite real, particularly for Charlottesville’s African American communities. Gospel Hill and Vinegar Hill are physically gone from present-day Charlottesville, majority black neighborhoods razed by the city in the mid-20th century in the name of “urban renewal.” And Starr Hill, another such neighborhood, is starting to disappear, too, thanks to gentrification (and, it can be said, the whiteness that the Charlottesville imagined in Hambone has managed to escape).
While these neighborhoods are physically gone, their presence remains—in people, stories, photographs, in Hambone, and in grief. Black Charlottesvillians still mourn these losses. These neighborhoods lived, they died, and now they are transformed.
“I want to have a real, cathartic moment on stage,” says Edwards, one that can work in service of transformation for actors and audience alike. “I always want the audience to leave a little bit more healed than when they began,” she says. “I want the audience to un-learn any conceptions, consciously or unconsciously, they might have about what people in black bodies can do.”
See Hambone, the Charlottesville Players Guild’s Afro-futurist adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center August 22 through September 1.
Pearl Outlaw competed in the Paralympic World Rowing Championships just five years after she got in a boat for the first time. (Photos courtesy of Ruth Ellen Outlaw)
Pearl Outlaw was 9 years old when she found out she was going blind.
One of the brightest students in her class, Outlaw shone during discussions but baffled her teachers with surprisingly low test scores. Looking for answers, her parents decided to have her eyes checked—perhaps she needed glasses. And it was true, her eyesight was failing her. But the diagnosis was far more shocking than her family expected.
The Charlottesville native had retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic disorder that causes a gradual loss of peripheral and night vision. While Outlaw was already struggling to differentiate plus signs from division symbols, her vision would only get worse.
Eyesight is a luxury often taken for granted, and no one would’ve blamed her for being terrified at the thought of going blind.
But fear isn’t what drives Outlaw.
Twelve years after her diagnosis, she isn’t absorbed in self-pity. Outlaw doesn’t see her disability as a roadblock to living a successful and happy life—it’s just an opportunity to find another way to even the playing field.
That drive for success has fueled her rise from a half-blind teenager who was falling down the stairs at Tandem Friends School to a world-class Paralympic athlete representing her country in the 2019 World Rowing Championships, which will be held in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria, beginning August 25.
“The feeling of getting in a boat and being able to use your legs and really push yourself…It really makes you feel really strong and powerful and just like a badass,” Outlaw says. “And that’s so hard to find when you have a disability. We rarely have moments where we feel in control and like we’re accomplishing something that not everybody can accomplish.”
Outlaw picked up rowing on a whim, attending a clinic the summer following her sophomore year at Tandem after hearing about it at an end-of-the-year assembly. Despite having to be on the water by 5:45am twice a week, she fell in love with it almost instantly.
Cathy Coffman, her coach at the Rivanna Rowing Club, saw her potential and—after some pleading on the part of Outlaw—offered her a spot on the Albemarle High School team the following school year. Outlaw couldn’t participate in races since she still attended Tandem, but she trained hard enough to earn a place on the Ithaca College rowing team by the time she graduated.
“She was just so positive when she was training with us that we decided that we really just wanted to have her a part of our team,” says Coffman, who’s coached rowing in Charlottesville since 1996. “She just worked extremely hard…and she got stronger and she decided she wanted to go to college and row and so she went to Ithaca and the rest is history.”
So far, Outlaw is still working on writing that history. Now a senior at Ithaca, she’s competed in several national races and last year placed fifth in the PR3 mixed double sculls alongside her partner, Josh Boissoneau, for the U.S. Paralympic national team.
The PR3 category of para-rowing is for athletes with full mobility and is therefore the most challenging to compete in. Outlaw and Boissoneau will be paired up once again later this month, and the duo has its sights set on a much better finish than 2018: At the national trials in July, they topped their personal record by 20 seconds, despite Outlaw fighting a fever.
Boissoneau is a former international hockey player whose career on the ice was cut short when he contracted a neurological auto-immune disease that initially left him confined to a wheelchair. Now a fully dedicated para-rower, Boissoneau is in charge of steering of the boat and must yell commands to Outlaw so that they can “move as one” during races.
“The chemistry, a lot of it has to do with just being comfortable with one another and being open to listen and take constructive criticism,” Boissoneau says.
After Austria, Outlaw will finish up her final year at Ithaca. She plans to have a long career in rowing, and hopes this year’s world championships won’t be the last that she attends. Although her eye condition worsened last September, and she’s no longer able to discern people’s faces, she’s learned how to adapt to her disability and not allow it to define who she is.
“Don’t feel sorry for her, she doesn’t want that,” says Ruth Ellen Outlaw, Outlaw’s mother. “She wants to be a part of this community and just be somebody who’s capable and smart and doesn’t want any special favors done for her.” Being independent “really is something that’s part of her identity,” she says.
Pearl Outlaw is a competitor. Despite knowing that she’ll probably be completely blind, rowing has given her a reason to get up and work hard every single day.
“It’s so easy to fall into, ‘I can’t do the things I used to be able to do’ or ‘I can’t stay active’ or ‘I can’t go out and be social,’” Outlaw says. But in a world stocked full of “I can’ts,” rowing has “really given me something that makes me feel strong.”
Former Charlottesville police chief Al Thomas is named in several lawsuits stemming from the events of August 12, 2017.
Eze Amos
Who’s suing whom
In advance of the two-year statute of limitations, a flurry of lawsuits have been filed stemming from the events of August 12, 2017, adding to several that are ongoing. Having a hard time keeping up with who’s a defendant and who’s a plaintiff?Here’s a primer:
Sines v. Kessler
Ten victims of the Unite the Right rally, including Seth Wispelwey, Tyler Magill and Marcus Martin, filed suit against 24 UTR organizers, including Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, James Fields, Elliott Kline, Chris Cantwell, Matthew Heimbach, David Parrott, and Andrew Anglin. It’s the oldest lawsuit filed, filed October 11, 2017.
In addition to filing another federal lawsuit against the city, Jason Kessler is also a defendant in other suits filed by Unite the Right victims. Eze Amos
Kessler v. City of Charlottesville
Kessler and David Parrott are suing City Manager Tarron Richardson, former police chief Al Thomas, Virginia State Police Lieutenant Becky Crannis-Curl, and former city manager Maurice Jones, claiming their First Amendment rights were violated. kessler v. charlottesville
Tanesha Hudson v. City of Charlottesville
The community activist claims Maurice Jones, Al Thomas, Detective James Mooney, Sergeant Ronnie Stayments, and Sergeant Lee Gibson violated her First, Fifth, and 14th amendment rights and seeks $400,000. Filed pro se, which means she’s representing herself, in Charlottesville Circuit Court.
DeAndre Harris v. Jason Kessler et. al.
The 35 defendants include Richard Spencer, six attackers, Elliott Kline, David Parrott, and John Doe 1 and 2 (aka Sunglasses and Redbeard). Harris, who was severely beaten in the Market Street Parking Garage, is allegingconspiracy to discriminate and attack on the basis of race. DeAndre Harris v. Kessler, Spencer et.al
Greg Conte v. Commonwealth of Virginia
Richard Spencer pal Conte and UTR attendee Warren Balogh named the VSP, former governor Terry McAuliffe, VSP Lieutenant Becky Crannis-Curl, Al Thomas, Mike Signer, Wes Bellamy, Emily Gorcenski, Seth Wispelwey, and Dwayne Dixon among the 16 defendants, and alleged First and 14th amendment violations. Also filed pro se. conte, balogh v. VA
Bill Burke v. James Fields et. al.
Bill Burke waits for the jury’s verdict at the James Fields trial. staff photo
The 19 named defendants include Jason Kessler, Richard Spencer, Matthew Heimbach, David Duke, Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin, plus John Doe and Jane Doe 1-1,000. Burke traveled from Ohio to protest the white supremacists who came to Charlottesville. He was injured when Fields drove into a crowd, and Heather Heyer died beside him. Claims RICO violations and conspiracy, and seeks $3 million on each count. burke v. fields
Karen Cullen and Amanda Bates v. Commonwealth of Virginia
The widows of Virginia State Police’s Berke Bates and Jay Cullen, who died in a helicopter crash August 12, both filed wrongful death lawsuits seeking $50 million each.
Quote of the week
“The temperature at the floor when they entered was 500 degrees.”—Charlottesville Fire Chief Andrew Baxter describes the August 18 Pet Paradise fire
In brief
$4-million sale
Hawes Spencer, former editor of C-VILLE and the Hook, sold the Downtown Mall building that houses Bizou for $4 million to Bizou owner Vincent Derquenne and developer Oliver Kuttner, who purchased the property as Walters Building LLC. Spencer bought the building, which housed the Hook offices, for $2.5 million in 2006.
Elliott Harding. publicity photo
Slimed by Kessler
Independent 25th District candidate Elliott Harding’s brief association with Jason Kessler came to light last week when Kessler posted messages from Harding, who reviewed Kessler’s petition to recall Wes Bellamy in 2017. Harding, a former chair of the Albemarle County Republican Committee, says he quickly saw what Kessler was about and has worked to prevent him from gaining a platform. “We’ve been at it ever since.”
Another statue suit
Norfolk, fighting to remove its own Confederate statue, filed a federal lawsuit arguing that Virginia’s law preventing a locality from removing a war memorial is unconstitutional and forces the city to perpetuate a message it no longer stands behind, violating its First and 14th amendment rights, the Virginian-Pilot reports. City councilors are also plaintiffs in the suit.
‘Hitler’s best friends’
Two weeks after city councilors were accused of aligning themselves with the Nazi dictator for rejecting a proposal to bring D.C. rapper Wale to Charlottesville, Kathy Galvin, Mike Signer, Heather Hill, and Wes Bellamy issued a joint statement condemning the “abusive environment” created by some attendees of council meetings. Bellamy also apologized for not initially defending his colleagues, saying “I genuinely don’t believe any of you are racist.”
Fatal infection
German shepherd Gunner died after a day of swimming in the Rivanna River, NBC29 reports. He contracted a bacterial disease called leptospirosis, which is transmitted in wet places where animals have urinated and can be deadly to humans as well.
More bad pet news
A fire broke out in Pet Paradise around 6:30pm August 18. Seventy-five animals were rescued from the Concord Avenue facility, but Pet Paradise is asking for help in locating two cats and a dog that were missing after the fire.
Beauregard splits
Interim Deputy City Manager Leslie Beauregard is leaving after 16 years working in city government and will take a position as assistant city manager in Staunton October 7, the DP reports. Beauregard was best known for her budget work. She was put in an interim position under new City Manager Tarron Richardson’s reorganization of city hall.
Bev Catlin hopes changes to Charlottesville City Schools’ gifted program will better serve all students. (Photo: Eze Amos)
Less than a year after Charlottesville City Schools were called out in the national press for longstanding racial disparities, the city is paying nearly $500,000 to help remake its gifted education program.
City Council approved the appropriation of $468,000 on August 5 to pay the salaries of six new gifted education teachers for the 2019-20 school year. It’s part of an overhaul of Quest—Charlottesville’s gifted program—that’s centered around establishing a more inclusive approach to both instruction and selection.
“For us to be able to be in classrooms with the frequency and regularity that we want [in order to] really have an impact for all children, the decision by the superintendent…was that we needed to add more gifted resource teachers,” says Bev Catlin, coordinator of gifted instruction.
Prior to this year, each of the city’s six elementary schools had one full-time gifted education teacher on staff; the new hires will now split duties with the existing instructors in an effort to provide more hands-on learning and attention to individual students.
As part of Quest’s new approach, students identified as gifted will no longer be pulled from their classroom for separate instruction. Instead, lessons traditionally given to these students will be extended to the rest of the class as well.
In October, The New York Times and ProPublica co-authored an article that highlighted the city schools’ racial achievement gap (one of the highest in the nation), and pointed out that white children made up more than 70 percent of Quest despite representing only 43 percent of the student population. The story linked these disparities to Charlottesville’s history of school segregation, and declared that the current system “segregates students from the time they start, and steers them into separate and unequal tracks.”
CCS became the target of heavy criticism, prompting Superintendent Rosa Atkins to admit in a press conference that the school district still had work to do in order to make “consistent or satisfactory progress for all our students.” She said at an ensuing community forum that while CCS didn’t believe the divide to be rooted in racism, “we have not fully lined up with the values that we have communicated.”
“We were very sensitive to the reaction of that article, and it has never been our intention as a program to not serve a group of students or to hurt a group of students,” Catlin says. “So what I think has happened—and we are very excited about it—is the agenda has moved very quickly…because we could’ve talked about this for a while and we had been talking about making changes [but now] we’re making them. We’re ready to go.”
In addition to providing enrichment education to all children in their classrooms, the district is also changing how it identifies students as gifted. Before, students were identified in first grade as eligible for Quest, but that process will now extend into the third grade to create a more inclusive learning environment and avoid labeling specific kids in the eyes of their classmates.
“We are going to have even more collaboration with the classroom teachers than what we saw with the previous model, which I think is really exciting,” says Ashley Riley, a gifted education specialist at Clark Elementary. She says the schools will be able to serve students more “thoughtfully” and in “intentional ways.”
The school district also hired UVA education professor Catherine Brighton as a consultant to help guide its continued reconfiguration of Quest. Brighton, who’s worked in Charlottesville since 2001, says her role will involve acting as a “sounding board” and helping the district analyze the best practices for providing gifted education.
“I’m in terrific support of the work that they’re doing,” she says. “I think that the idea of serving all the students in the classroom and the geography of the services happening in the general education classroom is squarely in line with the research in the field.”
John Smith documented the Monacan capital Rassawek at the confluence of the
James and Rivanna rivers in 1612.
Library of Congress
In John Smith’s 1612 map of Virginia, at the point where the Rivanna River meets the James, he marked Rassawek, the capital of the Monacan Indians. Jump forward 400 years and the site is on another map, this one targeting it as a pump station to quench Zion Crossroads’ thirst.
Louisa and Fluvanna counties joined forces in 2009 to form the James River Water Authority to pump water from the James for a long-term water supply for growth-booming Zion Crossroads, which depends on wells for its water, says AquaLaw attorney Justin Curtis, who represents the water authority.
“There is a real and immediate need for water in the area,” says Curtis. “This is not a problem that’s getting better. It will only get worse.”
The water authority applied to the Army Corps of Engineers for a water intake and pump station permit at Point of Fork, the modern-day designation for Rassawek. That triggered Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires the Corps to consider adverse effects to the Monacan site and “avoid, minimize, or mitigate,” says Marion Werkheiser with Cultural Heritage Partners, which represents the Monacans.
The James River Water Authority knew the land was a significant historic site, says Werkheiser. “They ignored it and bought it anyway” in July 2016. “They didn’t reach out to the tribe until May 2017.”
Rassawek today is called Point of Fork. Carrie Pruitt
The Monacan Indian Nation received federal recognition in January 2018. “Archaeological testing shows artifacts that go back 200 generations,” says Werkheiser.
“Rassawek was the capital of the Monacan confederacy, and several other towns paid tribute to Rassawek,” says Monacan Chief Kenneth Branham. “It is where we conducted ceremonies, lived, and died, for thousands of years.” To build the pump station, a four-acre site will be excavated, says Werkheiser. “That is not acceptable to the Monacans,” who want the Army Corps of Engineers to deny the permit, and also want Virginia’s Department of Historic Resources to deny a permit for anticipatory burial, in the event human remains are found.
Curtis acknowledges that possibility is a “sensitive” issue. “We’re all hoping no human remains will be disturbed,” he says. “Historically people haven’t buried their dead at the confluence of two rivers. We’ve already done a number of archaeological digs and haven’t found any.”
If the project is approved, archaeologists will go into the site first “to learn as much as they can about the people who were there first,” says Curtis. Artifacts will be turned over to the Monacans, and the James River Water Authority has pledged $125,000 to the Monacan Ancestral Museum, he says.
The Monacan Nation has been asked to provide its protocol if remains are found, says Curtis. “They will be treated respectfully,” and the Monacans can re-inter them in Amherst, where many live in the 21st century.
“We have been through reburials before, and it is a traumatic experience for all involved,” says Branham. ”I can’t ask our tribal members to go through that again for a pump station that could be built elsewhere.”
He asks the Army Corps and Governor Ralph Northam “to respect our tribe and to work with the water authority to find a location for their project that does not disturb our ancestors.”
There’s always the possibility construction could disturb burial sites, whether African Americans or colonists, Curtis says.
In fact, the U.S. 29 Western Bypass was kiboshed in 2013 when a historic African American cemetery was discovered in its path.
Curtis says there are historically significant sites all along the James River. Point of Fork has been “occupied for thousands of years for the same reasons we need to be there now: It’s a source of water.” He adds, “No one disputes it’s a very important site.”
If the Rassawek site is not used, what would be a nearly mile-long pipeline would grow to 5 or 10 miles, says Curtis.
Not only does Louisa have a connection pipe waiting, it’s also built the Ferncliff water treatment plant, which has no water to treat at this point, says Curtis.
And that points to Louisa’s biggest problem: development without the water to support it.
Rae Ely has her own beef with Louisa County’s handling of water resources. “There is no groundwater at Zion Crossroads. They’ve tested and tested. That didn’t stop them and they did all that building.”
Ely lives in Louisa’s historic Green Springs district. In 2006, the county built a three-mile pipeline to Green Springs, and said, according to Ely, “We’ll pump out their groundwater.”
Green Springs residents have been tracking the depletion of their groundwater for 13 years, she says. “It’s dropping like a rock.”
She alleges that “the powers that be have been lying and claiming the James River water will be here any day now, while failing to say the Monacans opposed it.”
Ely, who has been an attorney for more than 30 years, says, “I know federal law favors the Monacans. They’re going to win. That’s a nonstarter.” And her neighbors are prepared to seek an injunction to stop Louisa from pumping out Green Springs’ groundwater, she says
“Louisa County got out over its skis and built all this commercial development,” says Ely.And it has 2,000 homes and apartments ready to be approved, “all looking for water and it’s not there,” she says.
Ely compares the development going on in Louisa, based on water from the James that isn’t coming any time soon, to a gold rush. She offers a one-word piece of advice to the county: “Moratorium.”
September 30, 2017, at Highland Orchard in Covesville, Virginia
Photography by Katie Stoops
Having lived and launched a business in Charlottesville, Elaine Butcher was aware of the city’s wealth of talented artisans. So when it came time to design her wedding to Brad Jaeger, she knew where to turn: everywhere.
The couple’s vendor list reads like a who’s who of wedding industry It Folk: Orpha Events, Nature Composed, A Pimento Catering, Honeycomb, Paradox Pastry, and Elaine herself. The Detroit-based jewelry designer put a personal stamp on her and Brad’s wedding rings (though he had another local artisan, Gabriel Ofiesh, design her engagement ring).
“The community in Charlottesville is super creative, and when I was there I collaborated with so many people in the wedding, design, and event industry,” Elaine says. “It was important to me to include all of my favorite businesses and let them do what they do best.”
As they were reciting their vows, it was revealed that the couple, unbeknownst to each other, had written the same phrase: “so happy to be super chill homies for life.”
“I used to say that we were super chill homies before we were dating,” Elaine says. “That definitely got a good laugh from our guests.”
Elaine sent a few photos for bouquet inspiration, but let her florist, Jenn Pineau, do the rest. “It turned out super magical, pretty natural, and insanely romantic,” she says. “A beautiful mix of burgundy, lavender, gray, and peach, along with foraged greenery and a variety of local blooms, all tied together with silk ribbons from local silk designer Willow Knows.”
Photo: Katie StoopsPhoto: Katie Stoops
On the menu
A Pimento Catering fulfilled the couple’s wish for Asian-inspired dishes that incorporated local ingredients. “There were summer rolls, fish, and tons of veggies,” Elaine says. “It was clean and colorful.”
Elaine and Brad wouldn’t have known about their wedding site without their planner, Marisa Vrooman of Orpha Events, who was friends with the property owner. “She orchestrated all of the infrastructure and built such a magical world for us to celebrate in, tucked right in between the Blue Ridge Mountains,” Elaine says.
Photo: Katie Stoops
Meet cute
In the summer of 2009, Brad’s new boss was taking him on a tour of his favorite restaurants when they finally made it to Elaine’s family’s Thai spot, Monsoon. “After meeting a few times [there] and some friendly banter, we ran into each on the Downtown Mall one day,” Elaine says. “The rest is history.”
Photo: Katie Stoops
Sweet deal
A longtime friend of Elaine’s, Arley Arrington of Arley Cakes made a three-tier champagne cake with buttercream frosting.
THE DETAILS
Event planner: Orpha Events Officiant: David Brown Catering: A Pimento, Paradox Pastry Flowers: Nature Composed Cake: Arley Cakes Music: Olivarez Trio (ceremony), Love Canon (reception), Thomas Dean (late-night) Bride’s attire: Carol Hannah (skirt), Dijana Bucalo (top) Shoes: Bogota, Colombia Groom’s attire: Romualdo’s Rings: Gabriel Ofiesh (engagement ring), Elaine B (wedding bands) Hair and makeup: Honeycomb Videographer: Orpha Events
October 13, 2018, at Septenary Winery at Seven Oaks Farm
Photography by Cramer Photo
The choice of venue can dictate a lot of other decisions about your big day—the flowers, the caterer, even your DIYed elements. It was no different for Kara and Taylor, whose Septenary Winery setting enhanced what they’d been envisioning.
“I’m a big nature lover, so accenting the natural beauty of one of my favorite places in the world was most important to me,” Taylor says. “We both wanted a rustic theme, which felt very at home in the setting.”
Hoping to create a “romantic garden party” vibe, the couple utilized lots of greenery, with aubergine, cream, and wood accents. Kara created moss-covered table numbers and her aunt and uncle fashioned wooden wedding signs, including one that read, “What a beautiful place to be with friends,” from Harry Potter. It currently hangs in their apartment.
Still, after choosing a date, the couple didn’t have to work too hard to add to the atmosphere.
“We both love fall and didn’t want to detract from the natural beauty of the property,” says Kara.
After their first look, the couple’s photographer, Sarah Cramer Shields, took them to a spot on the east lawn, where they read their private vows to each other. “It was wonderful to spend a few minutes laughing, crying, and making promises,” says Kara. And to top it off, a dragonfly landed on her shoulder (“to wish us good luck,” she says).
Kara admits that leaving two large baking projects until the week before the wedding was “a poor choice,” but her Smitten Kitchen rice crispy treats and Dining In shortbread cookies got rave reviews. “Apparently they were the perfect drunk brunch snack and hungover breakfast,” she says, “which is the best feedback I could have hoped for.”
Smoked local trout, sweet potato biscuits, roasted veggies, chicken with cider cream sauce—Roadside Chive created a menu that was very on-theme for the couple’s fall nuptials.
Photo: Cramer PhotoPhoto: Cramer Photo
Room for love
The couple met the summer before their fourth year at UVA, when Taylor rented a room in Kara’s house for a few months. “We hung out a lot that summer, going to survivor hours and trivia at Mellow Mushroom,” she says, “but didn’t start dating until school started and Taylor moved out.” They dated for a little under six years before getting married.
“The venue encapsulates so much of what makes Charlottesville special: great wine, beautiful views, and warm and welcoming owners,” says Taylor.
THE DETAILS
Event planner: Jennifer Hamlin from Events with Panache Officiant: Beth Pepper Catering: Roadside Chive Flowers: Carbon & Salt Cake: Paradox Pastry Music: Garland Studios Bride’s attire: Alexandra Grecco Shoes: Gianvito Rossi Groom’s attire: The Black Tux Groomsmen’s attire: The Black Tux Bridesmaids’ dresses: Watters Rings: Blue Nile Hair and makeup: Topknot Studios (hair), Brideface (makeup)
While Adria calls it “a jumble of bright details,” Amanda says their wedding had “a romantic vintage feel that mixed in personal touches of our cultures and past.” However it’s described, one thing is clear about the couple’s spring nuptials: They were truly personal.
“My family is Cuban and Adria’s is Italian-American, so we wanted to pay homage to both of our families’ heritages,” Amanda says. “We did that through the food offered and the music played—lots of Buena Vista Social Club and old-school big band music mixed in with our favorite bluegrass and indie tunes.”
The other elements—a mix of DIYed pieces from friends and family; bright, tropical-inspired floral arrangements; and romantic centerpieces—capitalized on the BHLDN-esque vibe the ladies wanted to achieve. Says Amanda, “Somehow it all worked together really well!”
Photo: What Em SeesPhoto: What Em SeesPhoto: What Em Sees
Hands-on
For some of the personal details, the couple turned to friends and family—Amanda’s sister designed the invitations, donation cards, and itinerary sign, while her dad cut wooden rounds for the centerpiece platforms. Adria wrote the table numbers on blue talavera tiles herself.
Photo: What Em SeesPhoto: What Em SeesPhoto: What Em Sees
Decisions, decisions
The couple was based in Washington, D.C., but knew that, come wedding time, they’d have family traveling from New Jersey and North Carolina. “Picking Charlottesville seemed like a great compromise,” says Amanda. And, since Amanda worked at WeddingWire, they were able to research venues in the area that supported same-sex weddings. “The second we drove up [to Keswick Vineyards],” says Amanda, “we knew it was where our big day would be.”
Photo: What Em SeesPhoto: What Em SeesPhoto: What Em Sees
On the menu
The couple wanted to incorporate both Adria’s Italian background and Amanda’s Cuban heritage into the food. That meant a menu where mojo pork shoulder and rice and beans mingled with lemon and rosemary roasted chicken and grilled broccolini with garlic butter on the buffet. “The most feedback we received from our guests after the wedding was how good the food was,” says Amanda. “And it truly was!”
Photo: What Em SeesPhoto: What Em Sees
Worth the wait
Amanda and Adria met via OkCupid in 2013—while Adria was in the middle of finishing up her doctoral dissertation (“she was extremely busy,” Amanda says). But Amanda “stuck it out long enough to get past that madness,” and they’ve been together ever since.
Photo: What Em Sees
Fancy fleet
“It was the coolest thing ever to get carried off from cheering guests in a pearl white 1940 Senior Packard Limousine,” says Adria.
THE DETAILS
Event planner: Angelica Laws of Angelica & Co. Officiant: Jeremy McClure Catering: Harvest Moon Catering Flowers: Ginger & Blooms Cake: Passionflower Cakes Music: Sound Enforcement DJ Services Brides’ attire: BHLDN Shoes: Jessica Simpson (Amanda), Michael Kohrs (Adria) Wedding party attire: Lulu’s Air of Romance (bridesmaids), The Black Tux (“manmaids”) Rings: Ken & Dana Designs (NYC) Hair and makeup: Glo-Out Glamour Bar (hair), Cindy Allwine (makeup) Transportation: Albemarle Limousine
