Recreating the Wedding of a Yankee to a Southern Belle

Ulysses S. Grant sought to marry Julia Dent from the moment they met. The pair became engaged only three months later! However, Ulysses then had to wait four years before finally wedding the southern belle due to his services in the army.

For years, our producer and historian, Patricia Cameron, longed to re-create the wedding of Julia Dent and Ulysses S. Grant. There were so many charming details from the recollections of Julia and her little sister Emmy which Patricia dreamed of bringing to life.

On July 25, 2019, the wedding of Julia and Ulysses S. Grant was lovingly re-created for our film, thanks to the help of so many people in the romantic state of Virginia: Lori Russell of the Virginia Film Board helped us find the perfect location; the Ben Lomand House in Manassas, Virginia. Built in 1837, the Ben Lomand House is a historical site which used to be a Confederate Hospital. Its architecture was historically authentic and the location couldn’t have been better. The fact that our re-creation of General Grant's wedding took place in a Confederate Hospital had a meaningful vibration to it. Kevin Pawlak, manager of the Ben Lomand House, cleared the authentic Civil War hospital equipment aside and we redecorated the front to look like the parlor of the Dents' townhouse.

Julia described both her wedding bouquet and her veil as being filled with fresh jasmine, and that's no surprise because jasmine was Julia's favorite flower. To compose a historically accurate wedding bouquet, we turned to "The Enchanted Florist" in Alexandria, Virginia. They had an ethereal style which fulfilled the old-fashioned, romantic mood that we had envisioned.

Julia Dent was portrayed by Alana Grogan, who hails from Virginia. Julia's cantankerous father, Colonel Frederick Dent, was Virginia's own Terry Lacny. The wedding guests were Virginian, all!

Thank you to the Ben Lomand House, the Enchanted Florist, the Virginia Film Board and all of the Virginian friends who helped create our dream wedding.

It's true: Virginia Is For Lovers!