Raleigh Wedding Blog: July 2014

I'm back! Some of you may have been wondering where I have been the past few weeks. This is my first wedding since undergoing surgery on June 30th and I am feeling almost 100%. Natalia and Rett's wedding was a great one for me to do to test myself since it was a small intimate ceremony in their home with 13 guests. Marty and I arrived there on Sunday July 27th at 5:45 for the 6 PM wedding. It took place out on their small deck but they had measured carefully and got 13 chairs out there!

They wanted to include the Family Unity Sand Ceremony so a small table with the containers and sand was positioned in the corner of the deck.

Rett's boutonniere was not quite in the right place so I moved it up a bit for him.

And so it was time to begin. Rett and his son Ryan joined me on the deck, then Rett's daughters Lauren and Lila joined us. Lila sprinkled lots of pretty petals.

Then it was time for Natalia and her mother, Elena, to enter.

There was not enough room for all of us to stand up front so the kids took seats.

And we began the ceremony.

I liked that there was room for me to stand beside the couple instead of behind them the whole time!

They hired Iron Glass Jack with Bridal Spectrum Photography to photograph their wedding and you can see that there is a small aisle created just for him to get around. Because of the space limitations, Marty, my assistant, was just inside the sliding glass doors. She got some amazing photos from there--many more than I thought she would be able to get. And, all these photos were taken with my iPhone!

There was the sweetest blessing for the children and Natalia had written special words for them.

We also recognized Natalia's mother who had traveled all the way from Mexico to be with us. Rett's dad and his wife were there as well. Sitting behind Elena is Amelia, Natalia's chosen sister and best friend, and her husband Daniel who traveled to be here today too.

Lauren's turn to pour her sand into the container.

Then after everyone had added their sand, Natalia and Rett topped it off by blending theirs together.

A closing blessing....

The pronouncement of marriage......

Finally, the KISS!

And here they are--husband and wife!

So happy!

Their beloved Charlie wisely hid out inside the house during the ceremony but we coaxed him out afterwards for a photo!

What a good looking couple, so much in love! Congratulations, Natalia and Rett! I am so happy you found each other and I wish you the best of everything forever!

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Toki and Mamadouba's wedding was a lovely DIY backyard wedding planned only a few days before. Our gracious hostess and "wedding director/planner" was Sako with whom I made all the arrangements to come officiate the wedding. Originally the wedding date was planned for Saturday June 28th but the forecast called for rain all day (although in reality it never rained a drop) so Sako called me anxious to postpone to Sunday June 29, 2014 and that was fine with me.

Marty and I arrived in the neighborhood, found the prepared backyard and I ventured inside to meet the bride, groom and Sako. There were lots of people already there waiting for the wedding.

As often happens with weddings planned quickly, the timeline was not perfect and the ceremony started 45 minutes late. Sako had gotten everyone in the wedding party ready then needed time to get herself dressed and ready. Toki and Mamadouba were dressed and ready to do this!

You can see that Sako had a lot of people to get ready! She told me that she expects to have weddings for all these beautiful young ladies someday and will need an officiant!

The guests are ready!

The wedding party now awaits the bride's entrance.

Toki is escorted in by her brother David.

Two more flower girls!

And so the ceremony began.

It was short and sweet they way they wanted and here I am making the pronouncement of marriage.

Sako was standing nearby to help with the translation. Although Mamadouba is recently from Guinea and not fluent in English, he did understand "You may kiss the bride!"