About Us

Who is Riverwood Designs?

As the owner-operators of Riverwood Designs?, Joseph and Rob work together to form a creative, dynamic, and efficient team, bringing vibrant energy and a unique perspective to your event. Joseph is a Certified Wedding and Event Planner and floral designer. His inherent obsession with wedding day timelines, floor plans, logistics, organization, and time management ensures that the wedding couple and their family and friends can truly enjoy the wedding day. On the opposite end of logistics is his enthusiasm for creating beautiful ceremony and reception floral wedding designs. Rob is a Signature Wedding and Event Designer and floral designer. Rob has been interested in interior, floral, and fashion design for as long as he can remember. He loves tempering classic garden-inspired designs with a dash of current trends.

Rob is a native Virginian with deep roots in the Valley of Virginia and the Tidewater region. Joseph moved to Virginia from Texas in 1990 and has lived in Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, and now Gloucester. Rob and Joseph's journey officially began on July 20, 2012, with a simple wedding ceremony near Dupont Circle in Washington D.C. For the past 12 glorious years, they have delightfully endeavored to make their house on the banks of the York River a home-Riverwood Cottage. The "gents" enjoy tackling DIY house and garden projects and feel that a party is ALWAYS the best reason to finish those projects. Rob and Joseph try to host at least two major parties a year at home-casual summer and formal holiday-with an average guest count of 90 friends and family. These parties help projects get finished but also remind them of an event's ephemeral and fleeting nature: so much planning and preparation, and they are over in a flash. They host dear friends weekly for "Thursdays at the Cottage" and family at every major holiday. When they find a spare moment, Rob and Joseph love traveling, which provides tremendous inspiration (who wouldn't be inspired by Madrid, Florence, The Amalfi Coast, Paris, London, and Charleston?). Some spare moments are spent relaxing at home with their two rescue cats, Gus (named for Gus in Cinderella) and Mac (named for Mr. Macavity from T.S. Eliot), while enjoying a delicious cocktail and a plate of nachos (Joseph's favorite).

Community involvement is integral to Riverwood Designs' mission. Rob and Joseph dedicate involvement with Arts on Main, a local non-profit that helps the arts flourish in Gloucester and surrounding communities. Joseph is proud to serve on the board of the wonderful organization. Joseph and Rob are privileged to work with the Garden Club of Gloucester and Mathews on the Historic Garden Week Tour, and Rob is one of the newest members of the Garden Club of Virgina-Gloucester Mathews chapter. They have also been involved with the Gloucester Arts Festival, Flat Iron Crossroads (a local music non-profit), The Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society, and Hospice House of Williamsburg. In a less formal vein, they commit to donating leftover floral designs to local rehabilitation and convalescent centers.

What happens in our first meeting?

Designing your wedding should be thoughtful and fun. If logistically possible, we enjoy meeting couples in person, but we understand that meeting virtually or via email is often essential and just as productive in today's busy world. We carefully listen to your ideas during our first meeting, look at your inspiration pictures, and get to know you-your likes and dislikes. Rest assured, we create beautiful designs whether we meet with you in person, virtually, or via email.

Where do we design?

We have been fortunate to have designed and coordinated/planned at venues in Danville, Eastern Shore, Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News, Yorktown, Gloucester, Mathews, Northern Neck, New Kent, Richmond, Orange, Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Manassas, Vienna, Washington D.C., Kent Island, and at any other place a wedding will take us along the East Coast.

When do we offer designs?

To ensure you receive high-quality designs and the personalized attention you deserve, we typically limit ourselves to designing or managing only one or two weddings per day and less than 50 weddings per year.

What sets us apart?

Our approach relies on relationship building. On the day that celebrates your most important relationship, we feel that you should feel at ease and genuinely enjoy working with all your vendors. From our initial contact, we strive to make our clients comfortable and fully included in the design process. Taking an artistic approach to your designs, we pride ourselves on unique color and floral combinations. We research and match flower varieties to your tastes, style, vision, and budget. We choose not to offer floral design packages to our clients because we strive to make each client's experience with Riverwood Designs a boutique experience. We want a client's floral vision to be executed individually and feel that packages put restraints on both a client's creativity and ours. That being said, your inspiration photos and budget discussions are essential to the design process.

Would you like to get to know us?

Please text, email, DM, or call us on your way home to discuss your wedding day vision or schedule an in-person or virtual consultation. We genuinely look forward to understanding your vision and creating your dream.

Joseph Barragan and Robert Fraser IV