Rainy Day Wedding for Shelley and Eric and their Children!

Well, I am way overdue on blogging this week! It is almost the weekend again and I have a small wedding this afternoon so I want to get this done now. So, here goes. Last Saturday March 14th was cold and rainy all day long. But the weddings were wonderful. None of the 3 weddings that day were impeded by the weather. We all gathered at St. Mark's Chapel in downtown Raleigh and were cozy, dry and warm for the wedding of Shelley and Eric who are so much in love. It was heartwarming to work with them. They are both talented writers and wrote their own secret vows to each other to be heard for the first time at the wedding. Well, they were a little bit too prolific and although their words to each other were so sweet, I had to ask both of them to edit them down into a more doable length, and they did. The fewer words were no less sweet though. Their wedding program was quite unique too. Instead of having the standard order of the service and the wedding party names, Shelley chose to write an essay of sorts that gave their backgrounds from childhood to the present, how they felt about each other, their children and their closest friends. It was fun to read. This was a second marriage for both Shelley and Eric and they each had three children from previous marriages. The 6 kids were all present and participating although Shelley's youngest (age 3), Joshua, was pretty overwhelmed and clinging to mom during the photo shoot after the ceremony.We started the wedding by cuing Molly Olah, our talented violinist, to begin the processional music and the wedding party processed in, sans the bride, who was hiding in a corner of the foyer out of the rain so Eric could not see her. (The original plan was for her to wait outside the closed doors of the chapel then fling the doors open and make her grand entrance--but with the pouring rain, waiting outside was definitely not an optioin!) Then with the music change and the guests standing for her entrance, Shelley stepped into the doorway and paused in her beautiful wedding gown. Eric started walking toward her and she toward him. They met in the middle of the aisle and stepped up onto the altar to join me. Nice symbolism, don't you think? They were beaming and glowing with love. We began the ceremony with a welcome to our guests, a reading of First Corinthians, wedding address, the secret vows, ring exchange and then the family unity sand ceremony followed by the pronouncement and THREE kisses! The guests were cheering as I introduced the couple!

I invited the guests to proceed to the reception at the couple's home in Wake Forest while the wedding party stayed behind to get some photos. It was a great wedding, Shelley and Eric. All the best to both of you and your kids who are so lucky to have you for parents!