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Danielle & Chris

It may sound like the least romantic situation possible, but for Danielle and Chris Pope, their first meeting in the Fayette County Jail was love at first sight. It’s important to note that Chris is a member of the Lexington Police officer and Danielle was certainly not there to be booked! Danielle had gone along with her brother-in-law, Bryan Jared, on a ride-along. Bryan introduced them, and it took Chris a while to work up the courage to ask Danielle out.

While visiting Chris’ brother in Maryland, Danielle wanted to tour Washington D.C. for the first time since she was a little girl. Chris and Danielle got caught in the rain on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and she suspected that he might propose there. As the rain let up, however, there was still no proposal. They started walking to their car, and Chris stopped as they passed the White House for one last picture. To Danielle’s surprise—that’s when he got down on one knee to propose.

On August 22nd, Chris and Danielle’s wedding ceremony was held in the Lexington Center’s Pre-function Room. The floor to ceiling windows of the space set their nuptials on a backdrop of a panoramic view of downtown Lexington. As the first wedding held in that location, the ceremony was both traditional and unique.

The bride happily admits that there are two things in her life that are incredibly important to her - the Lexington Police Department and her nephew, Colton Jared. Incorporating both into the wedding was absolutely essential. Since Colton was only 20 months old at the time, many members of her family doubted that he would be able to participate as the ring bearer. Danielle, Chris, Bryan and Kristen (Danielle’s sister/Matron of Honor) all sat down to figure out how to include him.

As the processional was set to begin, sirens rang out in the Pre-function Room. To the delight and surprise to virtually all of the guests, including the bride and groom’s mothers, Colton drove down the aisle in a mock Police cruiser, covered in Lexington Police decals. Chris’ father rigged the car with a remote control to steer the car down the aisle at Motoman robotics shop in Dayton, Ohio. Danielle’s father printed the decals in Indianapolis.

The bridesmaids wore BCBG floor length gowns in a fuschia-coral hue with charcoal feather detail at the top. The groomsmen and groom wore black tuxes with black shirts and lime green ties. The bride’s gown featured a two-tier bubble skirt with a beaded lace underskirt and beaded lace bodice with an asymmetrically ruched midriff, all in ivory silk taffeta.

The reception was held in the Bluegrass Ballroom. Each guest table had an individual 8-inch round cake with the bride and groom’s monogram while the wedding party and their parents enjoyed individual oversized cupcakes, all provided by BabyCakes Cupcakes. The groom’s cake was a stack of 12-dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Danielle and Chris danced their first dance to “Then� by Brad Paisley. For each special dance, a photo slideshow played on a projector with photos from Chris and Danielle’s childhoods. DJ Tony the Tiger (who helped plan several details of the wedding) played music for dancing and fun all night.

The night had special meaning for the bride and groom’s parents, as well. August 22nd was Danielle’s parents’ 29th wedding anniversary and Chris’ parents had just celebrated their anniversary a few nights before.

Since most of the guests were from out of town and many had never really experienced Kentucky, the overnight packages arranged for guests’ hotel rooms included many essentially Lexington items. Each contained an Ale-8-One, a map of Lexington, a small bottle of Woodford Reserve, snacks, a copy of TOPS in Lex magazine and a specially-created flip book with details of the wedding weekend.

The bride and groom spent their honeymoon in the Bahamas.

Photography by Bill Cain Photography and Karli Moore