What happens when two history buffs take a chance and hold their wedding reception in a National Historic Park? A great time! We are so thankful to share such amazing memories and photos of our big day.
Photos will be posted regularly, so check back every week or so for more shots!
Photography: Tom Fuller and team (Fuller Photography)
Venue: Philander Chase Knox Estate (Robert Ryan Catering)
Music: Michael Kane (Silver Sound DJ)
Clothing: Men’s Warehouse - Wedding Party Suits
Kennedy Blue - Wedding Party Dresses
Sabrina Ann - Bridal Gown
Flowers: Sola Wood Flowers
Decor, Favors, and More: Etsy (Various Sellers) and the Valley Forge NHP Visitor’s Center
Easier Navigation
Getting Ready
Our day started rather early, with the wedding party preparing themselves at the hotel and then shuttling over to Philander Chase Knox Estate around 12:30. Clearly Tom and his team were ready to go and waiting for us, because the first photos show us arriving!
Notice how Grace is in a sweatsuit to start out (no dress yet!) but everyone else looks dapper. As Brian gets ready, Tom has him adjust his cufflinks - which are part of a Poppy set we bought at the FDR memorial in DC - and has family “help” him. Bill puts on Brian’s jacket and Dan adjusts some of the details (all for show since Brian was ready from the jump).
As we add some more detail shots, you may notice that Brian’s cuffs and Grace’s sneakers are both embroidered with their respective initials and both Brian’s tie bar and Grace’s hair pin are swords. These parallels were done entirely by accident, but just show how similar their tastes are.
Also, as we show more bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages (yes, the moms and Aunt Rita had corsages!), you may ask yourself “what are those cool flowers?!”. Grace decided for a longer-lasting, more eco-friendly, more on-theme choice for flowers. All flowers for the wedding party, family, and decor were ordered through Sola Wood Flowers, with custom color choices picked by Brian and Grace. The company even dyed and arranged the flowers for a nominal surcharge!
As the ladies are in the bridal suite, Alex and Meg help Grace get into her dress and button up (thank goodness for that crochet hook). Tom wanted some more “helping” shots, so Rita mimes finishing up the buttons and the bridesmaids smooth out Grace’s hair. Robin puts in the veil, but funnily enough for a hairdresser - put it in upside down first. Eagle-eyed viewers will see Kathy in the bridal suite, relaxing, watching, and waiting for Brian to need a pin and a flower.
After everyone is ready with flowers and accessories, we head outside to the back patio and reflecting pool for a private first look and some portraits of the wedding party. As far as the first look goes, it was really peaceful. Grace spent a lot of time thinking “don’t trip” as she headed down the stone steps in heels, and Brian spent a lot of time thinking “don’t turn your head, just look at Tom”. To answer some burning questions: no, we didn’t cry; yes, we’re joking with each other instead; no, we weren’t surprised how good we look; and yes, we’re quite confident with ourselves.
You may ask yourself “What’s with that guy at the end?!” and that’s okay. That’s Matt, one of the groomsmen, who came in just after our first look and before we did some formal portraits. He still needed his boutonniere, so his appearance still counts as a “getting ready” shot just before we’re all ready.
The Ceremony
We couldn’t have asked for better weather for our day, though the ceremony was a little sunny. The leaves were changing, but muted enough for our liking. The sky was clear. The temperature was just right.
As we move into the ceremony photos, you may see yourself in one (or more…) of the photos! If you don’t like how your picture came out, apologies, but you made that face and now you’ll just have to own it. This may also be the start of a fun challenge: every time you see a guest stare straight into the camera, do something. We don’t condone making this a drinking game, mostly because by the reception photos, you’ll be pretty toasted.
Now that all of the ceremony photos are up, we’ll give you some behind the scenes and secret lore:
Yes, it was incredibly sunny. No we did not account for it. We were expecting partly cloudy weather that day with much more shade - sort of akin to the first few photos of the waiting ceremony area. Unfortunately the late October sun had other plans. So sorry you had to watch the procession while glaring into the sun.
Did you notice the songs playing during the entrance? A medley of songs from Cowboy Mouth played while the men entered and while we waited, specifically “Crazy Bout Ya” and “Run to Me” - both are from a well-loved playlist of ours. While Alex and Meg entered, “A Thousand Years” played, partially because it’s beautiful and partially because both of us have read the Twilight series (yes, both of us) and it’s one of Grace’s guilty pleasures. Grace walked in to an instrumental of the Jurassic Park theme, partially because Brian loves it, but partially because she’s like a velociraptor (a clever girl).
The order of events had to be changed! We mentioned it at the beginning, but there were initially supposed to be three bridesmaids and three groomsmen. Things happened, but we adapted. The run-through that we had really barely practiced wasn’t exactly as we planned, but Alex really stepped up as a Maid of Honor and Gary did well pivoting as a Man of Honor. We love them both for it.
Even though we love her, Alex almost skipped our vows! She wasn’t initially doing one of the transitions, so she almost skipped straight to the hand fasting. That’s okay, since Grace went into work mode and got the ceremony back on track. Speaking of the vows though, Grace kind of tricked Brian into writing vows, which he did within the last three days before the ceremony. We had discussed writing personal vows, then never actually got around to talking about it again until the week before the ceremony. Grace wrote up something and hoped that it wouldn’t be too similar to what Brian said. It wasn’t, but in typical Tresnan fashion, both were full of references to favorite media and Brian’s was gratuitous to the vendors that made the whole day possible.
Grace lost her veil! At the very end of the ceremony we did a mid-aisle dip for a photo-op. Brian grabbed Grace’s veil in the process of of the dip and pulled it straight out of her hair. Thankfully, good old Uncle Mike (Bradley, on Grace’s side… There’s a lot of “Uncle Mike”s around) picked it up and Grace’s Aunt T delivered it after the recessional.
Speaking of that recessional - it was “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You”. Was it because we love the song or was it because we wanted you to watch us walk away? Who knows!
Portraits
So this is where things get a little out of order. Some portraits (like the ones you’ll see at the top of Brian) occurred at the very beginning of the day, while others were just before the ceremony and even more were during reception. But just like any good super hero movie, we’re here to mess with a perfectly decent timeline all in the name of looking good!
Brian’s first portraits in the library parlor were taken while Grace was getting ready - mostly since he showed up looking pretty spiffy already and she needed to manage over a dozen buttons on a dress. We affectionately call some of these shots Brian’s “author headshots” or “realtor business card” photos. I think you’ll understand why.
After Grace was ready, both moms, honorary mom Aunt Rita, the bridesmaids, and honorary bridesmaid Charissa watched the bridal suite photoshoot. Tom clearly had fun getting Grace to pose, and Grace was in her element following his lead. The pictures turned out rather nice despite the fact that the boning and corseting in the very snug wedding dress made things like bending and lounging difficult - being pretty is tough! A special shout-out to Alex for doing our make-up. It was perfect and we couldn’t have asked for more. Also, a very heartfelt thank you to Tom for capturing a great picture of Bill’s ring. For some context, Grace’s dad Bill (not Brian’s dad Bill - very confusing) passed nearly a year before the ceremony so he’s honored in a few special ways throughout the day. One of those ways was being Grace’s “something blue” in more ways than one. The first, seen here in Grace’s initial portraits, is through his sapphire and diamond pinky ring, which fits ever-so-slightly loosely on Grace’s ring finger. It was nice having a piece of her dad with her at all times throughout the day. The second, which can be seen in later portraits and through some of the interior decoration, is the “dad bear”. Gracie’s cousin Tricia made two dad bears out of Bill’s Bradley flannels, and Grace was firmly determined to get her dad in a suit at her wedding. She even bought him a flower! Tom made sure to capture both, and we’re forever grateful.
A note on the wedding party group photos: we either look like a mob family or an absolute band of hooligans. Tom and his crew did an absolutely awesome job posing and editing us to look awesome, but clearly we all have two facial modes: very serious and ready to brawl or very silly and ready to cause mischief. Tom started out by posing us all by the reflecting pool before moving us to the hill behind the house. The reflecting pool was very full of water, everywhere has huge, dry leaves, and the hill was rather steep. That may be why you can see Gary guarding how Grace’s dress lays in the reflecting pool shots, some leaves in the girls’ skirts, and the genuine blooper shots of the wedding party falling over each other. Long story short, when a bridesmaid leans on a groomsman, he might lean on the ground. When a bridesmaid leans on the bride, she’ll lean on the groom. When everyone is leaning on each other, someone is bound to fall forward. It’s like a bad rip-off of “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie” where everyone is wearing expensive outfits and people are trying not to rip fabric before the big ceremony.
