April and George are such a fun couple. They knew what they wanted and made it happen. When they first contacted me, they had not chosen a venue but when they contacted me again later they were so excited that they had found
Lake Wheeler for their wedding. And it was perfect for them. Their wedding day was November 28th, 2016 and the day was perfect!
Dave and I arrived at 3:00 for the 4:00 wedding. The sun was beginning to make it's way to the horizon and the views all around were beautiful.
In the meantime April was inside the reception area having her stepdaughter-to-be, Susan, lace up her dress.
While the DJ was setting up, the couple's friend
Abby Korfmann played beautiful music for the guests as they mingled around.
Their friend was doing some photographs of the couple and family before the ceremony. Here are George and April with George's children, Susan and Jonathan.
We took this opportunity to get a photo of me with the couple. April has her eyes closed and George is on hyper-alert for the wedding details!
The bridesmaids, Susan and Heather, sprinkle some petals before the entrance of the wedding party. You can see that the guests are sitting in rows of concentric circles. George loved the idea when I suggested it. And, he took the idea and ran with it. Let me tell you--this was the most intricately planned processional! George had planned it down to the last detail. We rehearsed the day before so everyone would know how to enter and where to stand.
Mother of the Bride, Jenny, is escorted in by Thi, April's good friend and attendant. George's parents, Buzz and JoAnne, had already entered and taken their designated seats.
Then George and I entered from the opposite direction.
Special music was played for each set of people entering. The music included sound tracks from Star Wars, The Hobbit Movie, The Matrix and Jurassic Park!
April and her father, Neil, walked in to the music from Jurassic Park. George had it all timed to the minute!
Her father answered my question, transferred her hand into George's and they turned and faced each other. You can see that each of the attendants stood in an aisle for the ceremony.
They had me open with the words from The Princess Bride:
“Mawwiage.
Mawwiage is what bwings us togethew today. Mawwiage, that
bwessed awwangement, that dweam within a dweam.”
We had a prayer to the Great Spirit in the Native American tradition then thanked their parents.
They also included memorable and humorous words for their siblings, Mari-Jayne, Amy, and Mandy.
Then it was time to pay tribute to George's kids, Susan and Jon. They had written endearing and humorous words for them.
We rotated 180 degrees. Then it was time to tell the story of April and George and we had the guests laughing throughout the wedding address! They first met at DragonCon, a science fiction convention in Atlanta, back in 2008. Both of them are science fiction fans and board game fanatics. Two years later they saw each other in Raleigh at That Board Game Thing gathering. But the timing was not right for them to connect in any way other than being just fellow avid gamers.
Fast forward four years to 2013 when George decided to stop being a stuck at home divorcee and get out and have some fun which meant playing board games. He looked up his old friend April to discover she had moved to Raleigh and was hosting a game night at her house for friends to gather for gaming, wine and dinner.
Ironically, and as destiny would have it, George was the only one who showed up for the game night.
They had such a good time together they made plans for the next week and the dating began. On July 22, 2013 George asked April to be the "Lea" to his "Han," the "Amy" to his "Rory," and they have been a couple ever since.
George moved in with April the following Thanksgiving to help her recover from some surgery and they decided to just continue the arrangement since they fit so well together. Plus, April loves George's cooking!
After being together for 2 years, George could not think of any reason why getting married again would be a bad idea and lots of reasons why it would be a good idea. So after checking with his parents, her parents and his kids, he shopped around for a ring and found one he knew April would like. Then he decided that it would be most fitting to propose during the That Board Game Thing gathering. He mentioned it to the organizer who expanded on the idea and George ended up proposing on September 19th, 2015 in front of 200+ cheering gamers as he asked April "Would you be my Player One forever?" Of course she was so overwhelmed she could barely nod as he placed the ring on her finger!
After the story I had the fun of sharing with each of them what the other had told me secretly what he/she loved about the other. Everyone enjoyed more laughter!
They read their vows to each other and exchanged rings.
I was delighted to pronounce them married!
George got in a good kiss amidst the cheering of their family and friends!
Presenting them to their guests!
And off they go into the sunset--to change clothes and join their guests for barbecue by
Old Time BBQ!
Fitting cake and cupcakes! The cake was made by a friend.
Dave and I stayed after the wedding to enjoy some good barbecue. Daniel had turned on the uplights on the deck for dancing and celebrating.
And this was the beautiful sunset on this wonderful wedding day! George and April, congratulations again. I so enjoyed working with you and co-creating your very personalized wedding. Thanks for the Low Country Boil dinner at the rehearsal and the barbecue at the reception. So happy for both of you that you found each other. I know your life together will be a grand adventure!
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919-345-4608
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