Ben and Christianne Evans ride off in their horse-drawn carriage as husband and wife. (Photo by Shannon Hennessey Photography)
For Ben Evans and Christianne Smith, time was a major factor when they were planning their wedding. Ben was completing his final year at James Madison University in the Army ROTC program and following graduation, he would be stationed at Fort Stewart, just outside of Savannah, Georgia. Time was limited for the couple to have a Richmond wedding.
Christianne says the first venue she looked at was Fairview Farm and she knew she wanted to have a fall wedding there. They wanted to get married while Ben was on Thanksgiving break from JMU, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to book it. As it so happened, Fairview Farm was running a Facebook contest celebrating its one-year anniversary. The prize was a free wedding. Ben entered the contest, explaining why he and Christianne would love to have their wedding there.
To their surprise, they were not only chosen to receive the free wedding, but the date worked out perfectly. They were married on October 13, 2015 at the farm with catering for 100 people, the photographer, wedding planner, DJ and horse-drawn carriage provided. Christianne feels lucky to have scored her dream venue. “It was definitely my fairytale wedding that came true,” Christianne says. “I just can’t believe it all happened and came together … right when we needed to book it.”
