Sophia and Brian's Fabulous Wedding at The NC Museum of Art!

I met with Sophia and Brian in December to talk about my officiating their wedding on June 24th, 2017 at the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh. They really liked that they could be in control of the ceremony content and make it very personalized. And so we signed a contract, got their wedding date on my calendar and started working on the ceremony. 

The day of their wedding was lovely in the early hours leading up to the ceremony time and when Dave and I arrived, their photographer, Richard Barlow, had the bride and bridesmaids out in the Rodan courtyard taking some photos. I joined them briefly and was thrilled that my dress matched the bridesmaids dresses perfectly! Then went to find Mark with BunnDJ to interface with his system and do a sound check.

This is the set up for the wedding however, a huge storm was heading for us, due to hit right at 6 PM when the ceremony was to start. Morgan Greer, the event coordinator for the venue, called CE Rental and asked them to deliver another 150 chairs to go inside the museum. There was no time to move these chairs inside nor was there staff to do it. 

This is the arbor that Sophia and Brian built to get married under. However it could not be moved inside. So it was placed at the entry for the guests to walk through on their way to the wedding. It is really pretty and will go in the garden of their first home.

Inside the museum the groomsmen were hanging out with this guy who was hanging out all over! And wielding a bat!

A few words with Sophia before she went into hiding! 

A Watered Garden was their florist and provided this arch for the indoor ceremony as well as the bouquets and boutonnieres. 

The table with the Anniversary Box and bottle of wine was strategically placed to block the guests' view of this statue!

Mark McNally, our DJ, is testing the handheld mic for Miranda, our maid of honor and sister of the bride, who will read the Irish Wedding Blessing at the close of the ceremony.

Back over in front of the Iris Cafe area, Cinda with Cinda's Creative Cakes, is putting the finishing touches on this beautiful wedding cake. I so rarely see the cake makers. They are usually done and gone before I get there. So it was a treat to see Cinda and her husband who is in the background.

The Iris Cafe is getting readied for the reception after the cocktail hours. 

Chris Liotta, our videographer is hooking Brian up with a mic for the video recording. 

Then I tracked down Jake, Best Man, and got his signature on the license as the witness.

Chris has settled on this angle for the video. 

The bride and bridesmaids were hidden away in another wing of the gallery.  I am getting Miranda's signature on the license as the other witness.

The bridesmaids are straightening the many layers of tulle of Sophia's lovely princess gown! 

I love working with Morgan Greer with the museum. He is totally organized and on top of everything. He is really good at what he does. And his own wedding was in this museum. He was telling me that it rained on his wedding day and the ceremony had to be moved indoors. Not too bad though to be married in a world-class museum!

The finished cake. "Brophia" is a contraction of Brian and Sophia's names and their friends tagged them "Team Brophia" early on. They also had "Team Brophia" engraved inside their rings.

Taking a rest before the ceremony watching all the guests trickle in. 

Brian is working on setting up the projector for a slideshow that will play during the cocktail hour. 

We had two ring bearers and one flower girl. Here they are with the other children attending the wedding.

One of the ring bearer's moms is holding securely onto the pillow with the real rings on them!

Mark is getting Brian all wired up.

Then he turned on my mic about ten minutes before start time. 

The chairs are filling up. The rain has also begun! Good call! 

Chatting with Russ, father of the bride, while the guys are getting together to start lining up.

Morgan has us all in order to go.

The children are ready too! Our flower girl's shoes were too big so the decision for her to go barefoot was made. She was happy! 

Kevin, Brian's brother, escorts their grandmother, Louise, in first then circles back. 

Brian escorts his mother Jeannie in next and circles back.

My turn! 

Then the bridesmaids and groomsmen entered. We lost a groomsman the morning of the wedding due to a family emergency so I believe that is Kyle who gets to escort Caitlin and Staci.

Laura and Scott.

Jen and Matt.

Becky and Kevin.

Jake and Miranda.

Time for the flower girl, Kylie, followed by the ring bearers to travel down the aisle. 

Kylie dropped one petal at a time! The boys, Peyton and Cole, delivered the rings to Jake who took the rings off the pillows and the kids were seated.

Time for the groom! I like the way they were creative with the processional.

Brian and his dad, David, then made their walk down the aisle. Brian dropped his dad off in his seat and then stepped up and joined me and the groomsmen.

Sophia's parents, Maggie and Russ, escorted Sophia down the aisle as all the guests stood in her honor. 

And the ceremony begins! 

The kids were so well behaved! 

A tribute to their parents--a surprise they did not know about!

Now for their story! It is really a good one. They are such a team and have a great story. They met while in college at VA Tech in 2011. The attraction was instant and mutual and they have been together ever since even when Sophia was in grad school at NCSU and Brian working in Maryland.

The guests were really laughing at all the wonderful humor in the story. They laughed in places I did not know would be funny! The best part was the story of Brian's elaborate proposal on the beach as part of the Tuna Run and all their friends present at the proposal were also at the wedding. Sweet!

Now for the first time, they each get to hear what the other told me in confidence about what they love about each other and look forward to in marriage. Sophia first.

Then Brian! 

They each read their vows from my book as they placed the rings on each other's finger. 

Then they placed love letters they had written for each other and sealed with out sharing in a box with a bottle of wine and locked it. On their first anniversary they will unlock the box, pour each other a glass of wine, and read their letters, have a conversation about their wedding day and the year that has passed. Write another love letter to each other, seal without sharing, place in the box with the first letters and repeat on each anniversary. What a legacy for their children and grandchildren.

Miranda read The Irish Wedding Blessing to the couple.

See my hand on theirs? I am making the pronouncement of marriage! They are pretty happy!

Sealed with their first kiss as husband and wife! 

I presented them to their guests and they triumphantly recessed down the aisle amidst cheers and applause! 

They scoot out of sight for photos while the guests are enjoying cocktail hour.

Good looking wedding party ready to celebrate! 

Brian and Sophia, congratulations on your marriage and a wedding well done! So happy for you. You are a great couple and I thank you for giving me the honor of joining you in marriage! My best for you always!

UPDATE!

I cannot resist publishing their review of my services here: 

We knew immediately after our meeting with Kayelily that we wanted her as our wedding minister. She has a lovely calm voice and a way about her that just helps you and your fiancé to get comfortable telling her information about yourselves. She is kind, helpful and also extremely organized, which my fiancé and I loved! She made the ceremony planning so much fun and personal for us. She provides a wealth of excellent material that she has compiled for her couples to assist in planning your procession, ceremony, vows, and more. She responds very quickly to emails and is on top of everything, and goes above and beyond. I knew that putting her in the hands of our ceremony was the best choice we could make and I completely trusted her to do an amazing job and she did. Everyone loved Kayelily and her ceremony. She made our guests smile, cry, and laugh heartily. During the ceremony, while I was holding the hands of my fiancé as Kayelily read our story, I felt transported by her words, our story, but compiled in a way that is so much more magical by Kayelily telling it. She paused at all the right moments, had all the right inflections at each part, and connected with our guests very well. Kayelily made sure that each moment of the ceremony went flawlessly. In my personal opinion, her presence is necessary at your wedding, you don’t want to miss out on Kayelily Middleton! The video that my husband and I have of our ceremony is so special to us, and we have Kayelily to thank for all the perfect little details and the beautiful compilation of our story and wedding ceremony. Additionally, Kayelily even had a dress that matched the color of my bridesmaids dresses which was so special and a lovely personal touch. Our ceremony was beyond perfect in every way, thank you, Kayelily!