That First Look

A private moment saves the groom’s composure for a perfect wedding.

Alexis Victoria Brooke Weaver & Jason McWhorter Wells
Berryville, VA | 8.14.21

photographed by: Sarah Houston Photography

Not long after Alexis Weaver started an interior design internship at Wells Home Furnishings in Morgantown in July 2018, magic sparked between her and store manager Jason Wells.

“It was probably six weeks,” Alexis says. Jason didn’t get the channel for the West Virginia University football game and, by chance, they lived in the same building, so she invited him down. “I expected a bunch of people there, but it was just the two of us,” Jason says. He soon asked her out to Pies & Pints. 

Alexis is a traditionalist. So when they felt ready to marry, the next move was on Jason.

Her best friend helped him find the right ring. And he had a perfect opportunity for the big ask: a June 2020 weekend with Alexis’s parents at The Greenbrier. But the timing and setting eluded him. “Outside the restaurant, I was about to drop to one knee, and someone was like, ‘Hi!’ I was nervous. Every time I found a spot, it didn’t work out.” So he drove her up to The Summit. 

“We were driving around, and we finally parked and got out,” Alexis says, charmed by the memory. He called her to an overlook. “And then he got down on one knee.”

She happily accepted.

Planning Makes Perfect

August 2021 nuptials would give them more than a year to plan and, they hoped, would find COVID-19 in retreat. For venue, Alexis wanted the feel of a stately old home. Unable to find quite the right combination of amenities in West Virginia, they toured Historic Rosemont Manor in Berryville, Virginia, an 1811 mansion with a magnificent two-story, 12-column portico. “It was beautiful, and we liked that the wedding party and family could all stay there all weekend and we would have the property to ourselves,” she says. It would be a five-hour drive for Jason’s Charleston family and six for Alexis’s in Williamson, making it a destination wedding. 

Alexis found her gown at Sorelle Bridal Salon in Washington, Pennsylvania. “I wanted it to be more romantic, with some lace and a train and a long veil. And I wanted a fuller skirt—I’m not somebody that wears a form-fitting dress.” She chose a sleeveless ivory V-neck Elsira gown from Pronovias with a cathedral-length veil. Matching ivory for the bridesmaids’ gowns would allow the bouquets to pop, and Jason and his groomsmen, in dark navy tuxedos with black bow ties, would complement them perfectly.

Alexis’s mother, Jamie Weaver, conducted most of the planning. She is by all accounts a detail-oriented and gracious woman who, through her role at the family’s Weaver Mortuary in Williamson, has become a skilled event planner. “The wedding was beautiful because of the work she put into it,” Jason says. COVID-19 restrictions eased as August approached, so everything fell into place. That includes the RSVPs: 140 confirmed, nearly everyone who was invited. 

Several wedding-eve events gathered the participants. Jason’s grandmother welcomed family and the wedding party at a Friday afternoon champagne reception. His parents hosted the rehearsal dinner. And a Friday night cocktail party outside the estate’s Carriage House welcomed all guests, with entertainment by the groom’s uncle.

The 6 p.m. Saturday ceremony left time to socialize and prepare. Jason hadn’t wanted a first look, but the women in his life thought better of that. “He’s a softie—we didn’t want him overwhelmed,” Alexis says. So when they’d both dressed, they met at the side of the manor. 

“I was completely just taken aback,” Jason says. 

“I hadn’t known what her dress looked like, I didn’t know she was wearing a veil—she was more beautiful than I’d even thought she’d be. I just lost it.” He ended up glad they had the private moment.

Once guests were seated on the lawn, Jason entered from the portico to Pachelbel’s “Canon in D,” followed by the attendants: Jason’s two brothers and uncle, with his dad as best man, and two of Alexis’s childhood friends, plus her cousin and best friend as maid and matron of honor. Then, just as Alexis walked out on her father’s arm to “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5, it started sprinkling. “Barely—but big drops,” Jason says. Alexis worried. “I was thinking, ‘It’s going to downpour any second.’” But they exchanged traditional vows and took communion together and, with their first kiss as newlyweds, the rain cleared and left the evening cool and comfortable. 

Better Than Sparklers

After cocktails on the portico, guests moved to the Carriage House for the reception. “I wanted a lot of flowers—flowers everywhere,” Alexis says. She’d chosen warm peaches, pinks, and corals. “There were higher centerpieces and lower ones. We had greenery and roses draped around the columns, with greenery hanging from the rafters and a ton of roses above this old bar.” Gold vases and charger plates unified the room with a glow.

Guests were ready to party. Halfway through Alexis and Jason’s first dance, Washington, D.C., band Sound Nation opened the floor. “And people got up!” Jason says. After the formal buffet dinner, the party picked right back up. “It wasn’t like her side over there and mine over here,” he says. “It was like one family.”

Alexis especially loved the cake—planned over email due to COVID. “She nailed down what I wanted: stenciled lace on four of the tiers and, on the middle tier, our initials in the gold fondant that was also used for the scallops. The handmade gum paste flowers were remarkable. We had four flavors, and it tasted really good!”

The newlyweds had planned the spectacle of a sparkler send-off even though they were staying over but, when the time came, they preferred to let the celebration play out naturally. They enjoyed Sunday brunch with everyone, then left for a romantic honeymoon road trip down the Pacific Coast.

Back in Morgantown, Jason and Alexis couldn’t be happier with their day of union. “It was so much fun,” Alexis says. “The whole weekend was perfect,” Jason adds. “I wish we could replay it all again.”

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