Elizabeth and Scott had a beautiful September wedding; we just loved sharing their day with them. Elizabeth shared a few of her favorite moments and details about her wedding, check them out below.

If I had to use one word to describe our wedding it would be, Amazing!  Everything went so smoothly and without a hitch (except us of course).  When we first toured the mansion, I was in love and did not want to look anywhere else for a wedding venue.  The mansion was beautiful, elegant, and classy.  It also provided a more relaxed environment.  It combined the vision that Scott and I had for what our wedding day should be.

The mansion staff was great to work with. They were able to make recommendations and guide us through the planning process.  We were very lucky to have such great vendors.  I can’t say one bad thing about any of them.  The flowers were by Mona Ray and were absolutely beautiful.  The arrangements were even better than I had expected.  In fact, I dried my bouquet and made an ornament out of the dried petals this Christmas. We loved our photographer, Mike Topham.  He and his assistants did a great job and managed to always get the shot without being “in the way”.  I used White House catering and they provided us with delicious food.  Our signature ‘pomegranate martini’ was a huge hit!  We are so lucky to have such amazing and talented friends.  A friend of ours made our gorgeous cake and another friend offered to make us a quilt guest book.  What a great idea!  My childhood friend Nicole McConnell did the bridal party’s hair and makeup. She made us look fabulous!! Thank You Nicole!  

One of the fun things we did was to have a flip flop bin on the dance floor. We also had a display with lots of old pictures of our families for guests to see when they entered the mansion.  A friend had made some great decorations that helped personalize the space for us. But most of all, the beauty of the venue comes from the mansion and grounds itself.

Thank You for helping us to have the wedding of our dreams!! 

So do you just adore this wedding and want their wedding to win? Simply comment on this blog post and let us know why you love this wedding so much. If you’d like to score an extra point for the couple, visit our Facebook page and comment under the Facebook post in which we share this fabulous feature.  The top three finalists will get one more feature and then the one with the most votes will win a $250 gift certificate to Zeus Gallery while our second place winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to Zeus Gallery.

~Paula & Martin Ramirez

Paula and Martin Ramirez are the proprietors of Historic Mankin Mansion, a wedding resort just minutes from Downtown Richmond. They enjoy new restaurant finds, Virginia wines and discovering fun events and activities throughout the area for their guests.

Photo Credit: Mike Topham Photography

We wanted to take a moment from our Best of 2012 series to share the great news that Historic Mankin Mansion has been selected by Virginia Living Magazine as one of the top Wedding Vendors of 2013!
You can find us in the latest issue under the Central Virginia category of “Venues: Weekend Destinations.” A special congratulations to our fellow wedding professionals who were also included in this honor.

We’d also like to extend our thanks to not only Virginia Living, but to our friends, colleagues and brides who support us every day. We sincerely could not do it without you.

See you soon,
~Paula & Martin Ramirez

Paula and Martin Ramirez are the proprietors of Historic Mankin Mansion, a wedding resort just minutes from Downtown Richmond. They enjoy new restaurant finds, Virginia wines and discovering fun events and activities throughout the area for their guests.

We are kicking of the New Year with our Best of 2012 series Marisse and Jeff’s is our first wedding and we are excited to share it with you!

The color palette with lavender, white and touches of black fit perfectly along with the April wedding. Check out all of the lovely details below!

So do you just adore this wedding and want their wedding to win? Simply comment on this blog post and let us know why you love this wedding so much. If you’d like to score an extra point for the couple, visit our Facebook page and comment under the Facebook post in which we share this fabulous feature.  The top three finalists will get one more feature and then the one with the most votes will win a $250 gift certificate to Zeus Gallery while our second place winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to Zeus Gallery.

Thank you to Daniel Min Photography for sharing these lovely photos will us.

~Paula & Martin Ramirez

Paula and Martin Ramirez are the proprietors of Historic Mankin Mansion, a wedding resort just minutes from Downtown Richmond. They enjoy new restaurant finds, Virginia wines and discovering fun events and activities throughout the area for their guests.

It’s that time of year again we are ready to take a look back on all of our weddings over the past year with our 3rd Annual Best of Weddings Series and we need your help!

That’s right, if you’re a 2012 Historic Mankin Mansion Bride or the wedding photographer who shot the wedding, we’d love to showcase your wedding loveliness!

Each wedding will be featured right here on our blog early next year and the top three posts with the most blog and Facebook comments will be selected as finalists.  Each finalist will then receive one more feature and the one with the most Facebook and blog comments by the deadline will be declared the winner!

This year, we are taking it up a notch by having amazing prizes for the wedding that is decided to be the best. The winner will receive a $250 gift certificate to Zeus Gallery while our second place winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to Zeus Gallery.

We are looking for brides, grooms or photographers to send us photos and details from their weddings to feature in the contest. Here is what we need from you:

• 15-20 of your favorite wedding photos. Please note that images must be web ready (no more than 10 MB total) and can include watermarks. Please send the images via zip file on email  (or) send as a folder with your last name on it, via Dropbox.com.
• The Photographer’s name and web site so we may properly credit.
• Permission from your Photographer to showcase the images.
• A paragraph or two (up to 250 words) about your Big Day. Tell us about your favorite details and memories-or anything else you’d like to share about your wedding day.

Submission will be taken now through Friday, December 28 and should be sent to director@historicmankinmansion.com.

We look forward to featuring your wedding!

See you soon,

~Paula & Martin Ramirez

Paula and Martin Ramirez are the proprietors of Historic Mankin Mansion, a wedding resort just minutes from Downtown Richmond. They enjoy new restaurant finds, Virginia wines and discovering fun events and activities throughout the area for their guests.

Amberly and Erick had a fun movie themed wedding that was definitely a blockbuster. The color palette of grey and red really popped with the grey bridesmaid dresses and fun ruffled red shoes!

Their fun theme was carried throughout the event, and we particularly loved their favors: popcorn in traditional theater style containers!

Check out all of the beautiful images below captured by Jason Collins Photography.

See you soon,

~Paula & Martin Ramirez

Paula and Martin Ramirez are the proprietors of Historic Mankin Mansion, a wedding resort just minutes from Downtown Richmond. They enjoy new restaurant finds, Virginia wines and discovering fun events and activities throughout the area for their guests.

Bridal Market might be one of the most exciting times for everyone in the wedding business. Imagine tons of ruffles, tulle, sparkle and seeing all the trends before they hit the stores! We knew we had you at ruffles! It took us awhile to narrow down our favorites to just a few given the many amazing designers and swoon worthy gowns!

One trend that is sweeping the runways is color from pink (a la Jessica Timberlake), crimson and shades of grey. This Watters gown with a beautiful mermaid silhouette and sweet heart neckline is a trendy take on a classic style. Oh, did we mention the wedding veil decked out with floating rhinestones?

Photo Via: Project Wedding Blog

Elaborate backs to gowns are also a big hit and are beautiful for guests to admire while you say your vows. This ReemAcra is donned with crystals placed on a light tulle fabric to give the illusion that they have been placed on your skin. With the mermaid silhouette and bright white adornments it is the perfect gown for a winter wedding.

Photo Via: Brides.com

Full sleeves were all the rage in the past season and we can thank the lovely Kate Middleton for that. This season, you can achieve the same look with the more modern feel of a cap sleeve. Amsale got the look just right with this fitted gown in lace with a tulle train, which has a modern but timeless feel.

Photo Via: Belle Magazine

Vera Wang brought back the two R’s (ruffles and romance!) and we couldn’t be more in love!  The fitted top, ruffled bottom and cream color is perfection but we didn’t expect anything less from Mrs. Vera Wang.

Photo Via: Vera Wang Blog

See you soon,

~Paula & Martin Ramirez

Paula and Martin Ramirez are the proprietors of Historic Mankin Mansion, a wedding resort just minutes from Downtown Richmond. They enjoy new restaurant finds, Virginia wines and discovering fun events and activities throughout the area for their guests.

We are feeling really lucky here at the Mansion these days and our brides are too!

Last week we announced that one of our very own Historic Mankin Mansion couple Sara and David won Richmond Wedding’s Best Proposal Story! This week we are happy to announce that Holly won The Most Beautiful Bride Contest by Virginia Living!

Holly and Phillip got married at the Mansion earlier this year and we loved sharing in their wedding day.

A big thank you to everyone who participated voting for all of our Mansion brides as well as to our friends at Twilight Images for sharing this lovely image with us!

And of course- congratulations Holly!

See you soon,

~Paula & Martin Ramirez

Paula and Martin Ramirez are the proprietors of Historic Mankin Mansion, a wedding resort and bed and breakfast just minutes from Downtown Richmond. They enjoy new restaurant finds, Virginia wines and discovering fun events and activities throughout the area for their guests.

A guest book is a wonderful keepsake for you and your husband to have for years to come! There are so many fun ways to make your guest book a little more exciting and up to date, and here are a few of our favorites!

We have been seeing everyone on Pinterest writing on everything from coffee mugs to plates and we love this idea for a guest book. You can purchase several different shapes and sizes of plates for your guests to sign with Sharpie markers that coordinate with your wedding colors. When you get home from the wedding, bake the plates in the oven at 350 degrees and they are ready to be used or displayed.

We all remember Mad Libs from when we were kids; you know those funny stories you would make by adding a few nouns and verbs here and there. Well they are making a comeback for weddings and they are still full of laughs. You can create your own or you can find customizable ones on Etsy!

These adorable little books give your guests a chance to share memories, advice and their future wishes for the happy couple! You can make several small books that are entitled with questions for the guests to answer, they can pick one or as many as they would like. You can display the books in your home and get them out every once in awhile when you are looking for some advice or to reminisce.

A scrapbook is a great way for your guests to get creative and involved in the wedding day. Photo booths are a fun addition to any party and your guests can take their photos and place them into a book and decorate a page with words of wisdom or just congratulations to the bride and groom. Be sure on the table to have plenty of colorful markers, stamps, tape and anything else your crafty heart desires!

Are you using Pinterest to inspire your wedding? If not join in on the fun HERE!

See you soon,

~Paula & Martin Ramirez

Paula and Martin Ramirez are the proprietors of Historic Mankin Mansion, a wedding resort and bed and breakfast just minutes from Downtown Richmond. They enjoy new restaurant finds, Virginia wines and discovering fun events and activities throughout the area for their guests.

Photo Credit: Pinterest

We’ll admit- we just did a bit of a happy dance in our office when we got the good news- our very own Historic Mankin Mansion couple Sara and David won Richmond Wedding’s Best Proposal Story!

Can’t say we’re surprised- who doesn’t love an underwater engagement story??

Click here to check out their fun story- and our thanks to everyone who supported the couple with their votes!

See you soon,

~Paula & Martin Ramirez

Paula and Martin Ramirez are the proprietors of Historic Mankin Mansion, a wedding resort and bed and breakfast just minutes from Downtown Richmond. They enjoy new restaurant finds, Virginia wines and discovering fun events and activities throughout the area for their guests.

Richmond Weddings Best Proposal Story Contest is in full swing and one of our Mankin couples is in the running!

Sara and David have a wonderful story including a beautiful vacation spot and a great photo op of the proposal! They need your help to win!

Please visit RichmondWeddings.com and read their proposal story here and cast your vote in this survey. Don’t put it off because voting will be over before you know it on October 1.

Good luck Sara and David! We can’t wait to share your wedding day with you!

See you soon,

~Paula & Martin Ramirez

Paula and Martin Ramirez are the proprietors of Historic Mankin Mansion, a wedding resort and bed and breakfast just minutes from Downtown Richmond. They enjoy new restaurant finds, Virginia wines and discovering fun events and activities throughout the area for their guests.