Andrea and Brian's Wedding at The Umstead!

Early this year I received a referral request from a wedding website on behalf of a bride (Andrea) and groom (Brian) wanting a Rabbi to officiate their interfaith wedding on 10/18/08 at The Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary. Brian is Christian and Andrea is Jewish. Although I am not a Rabbi, I followed up on this lead and emailed Andrea to explain that the only Rabbi in the whole state of NC that I have found who will marry interfaith couples is Rabbi Ettin who lives in Winston-Salem and who fortunately is willing to travel to the Triangle to do weddings (I co-officiate these ceremonies often with him.) I sent her his contact information and suggested that she might consider having two officiants co-officiate their wedding--a rabbi and a minister (that would be me!). Well, Andrea jumped on the idea and contacted me right away. They contacted Rabbi Ettin and met with me and were thrilled to have an officiant representing each of their faiths. Then we set upon designing their ceremony. I was happy to share with them not only my special ceremony material from which they could construct their ceremony but also many ceremonies that I have co-officiated with Rabbi Ettin. They did not meet Rabbi Ettin until the wedding day but spoke with him by phone and we had a three-way email rotation on finalizing the ceremony. I handled their rehearsal for them since I was the local officiant. I was delighted to see Rabbi Ettin again and officiate the ceremony with him. He is a wonderful person and he has a wonderful voice for canting the Hebrew passages making the wedding ceremony very special.

Finally 10/18/08 arrived and it turned out to be a rather chilly day with the high only 62 degrees! I had 4 outdoor weddings prior to Andrea and Brian's wedding and was happy to stay inside as long as possible before going outside on the lovely grounds of The Umstead for the ceremony. Their Chuppah was beautiful and was created by Tre Bella Florists. The wedding was supposed to start at 6:00 and we were primed to start on time as it was getting cooler and darker and rain was expected. Unfortunately there was a 30 minute delay starting but the "show" went on and it did not rain! By the end of the ceremony both the Rabbi and I were struggling to see the words of the ceremony on our pages as it had become darker and darker but we finished without a glitch as I made the pronouncement and introduced Andrea and Brian, now husband and wife, to their guests who cheered and were happy to recess inside to the warm reception! Ami, the catering/wedding director at The Umstead, was very patient with us and we thank her and Gary, the sound man, and all the staff at The Umstead for their professionalism and thoughtfulness. They had hors d'oeuvres ready for the wedding party the minute we got inside! We thank Ryan Pflumm of Island Sounds for the ceremony music, Donna Ford of Sweet Memories for the beautiful wedding cake that fit their fall theme, and lacey+john Photography for the photographic coverage which became a challenge for outdoor photos after the wedding due to nightfall! Andrea and Brian, I wish you all the best--it was a wonderful wedding--and your wedding programs are gorgeous!