Today we are sharing Sydney and Matt’s Monroe Park Downtown Richmond wedding day.  They just got married here in Richmond at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart right on Monroe Park. Then their reception was at the Omni downtown, so we also got to take portraits right on the cobblestones in front of the Tobacco Company in Shockoe Bottom.

I know it was an absolutely wonderful day but certainly not more wonderful than Sydney about themselves. This couple is absolutely amazing and we love them so much.

The only thing that I can say bad about them if they didn’t do an engagement session with us. Matt is in the Navy. He is a pilot. So he is traveling all the time and it was just too hard to be able to make that happen so we were able to spend an extra hour with them on the wedding day which was wonderful. Maybe we can swindle them into doing an anniversary session with us. 

We already knew that they were amazing because we actually photographed Sydney’s brothers wedding a little over a year ago. Taylor and Bradley were there in the wedding and this family is just incredible. 

We are going to have to rapid fire through some of my favorite things because they were just so many things throughout the day that I loved. Matt again is in the Navy, so he wore his dress whites which I love. But then also he has a bunch of navy friends that did a sword arch for them at the end of the ceremony which was so beautiful and I just love this tradition.

It was even more spectacular because they let their guests exit the ceremony and then they exited the church through this sword arch so that everyone could really see it rather than turning around at the end of the ceremony. Also the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart has a beautiful entrance so it made for a really stunning pictures.

Also we skipped over that Matt had the most adorable reaction to Sydney’s entrance at the ceremony. He was just absolutely bawling. It has to be one of the cutest reactions that we have ever had a wedding. He’s such a sweet guy and I feel like I could have guessed ahead of time that he would’ve reacted like this – it was adorable. 

OK let’s go even further back in the day. Matt’s one photo request is that he wanted to do like a “game day entrance” with all of his groomsmen. So as they walked into the hotel to get ready like they football players walking into the locker rooms. I’m sure you’ve seen this trend on TikTok or whatever. But it was so much fun they really got into it. So it made for some really fun pictures.

Then after the ceremony we did portraits at Monroe Park, followed by going back to the Omni for the reception.  So got more portraits with them on that cobblestone street which was so much fun.

Also love that because they had a big cat between their Catholic ceremony and the reception they got a ton of portraits but then also got time to just chill and eat and hang out with their bridal party. I know they had such a great time and I think that’s so nice that they built it into their day.

For the reception they kicked it off so strong. All of the bridal party had like an involved entrance. When we were taking portraits at Monroe Park, the bridal party went to the side and practiced it and you could tell. They were elaborate entrances. But then Sydney and Matt walked into the song Staying Alive and it turned into a choreographed dance and they were an absolute hit. It was so much fun.

They brought out a cereal bar. We’ve been in a ton of weddings and haven’t seen a late night snack of a cereal bar. I think it’s such a good idea. Who doesn’t love a bowl of cereal at the end of the night and also it was so cute, simple, and unique.

We love y’all so much – it was impossible to narrow down our favorites.  Enjoy a few of our many, many favorites from your Monroe Park downtown Richmond wedding! 

Congratulations you guys!