Roanoke Wedding

Roanoke (The Star City of the South) is an independent city located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The City of Roanoke is adjacent to, but politically separate from, Roanoke County. The name Roanoke is said to have originated from a Native American word for shell "money".

The town of Big Lick was chartered in 1874. It became the town of Roanoke in 1882 and the independent city of Roanoke two years later. Its location in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains, in the middle of the Roanoke Valley between Maryland and Tennessee, made it the transportation hub of western Virginia and contributed to its rapid growth. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 94,911.

The United States Census Bureau includes in Roanoke's metropolitan area the counties of Botetourt, Franklin, Craig and Roanoke, and the cities of Salem and Roanoke. The metropolitan area's population in the past three censuses has been reported to be:

Please note that the figures through 2000 do not include Franklin County (50,345 est. 2005 population) and Craig County (5,154 est. 2005 population) which were recently added to the Roanoke MSA.