Mary inquired of my wedding officiant services last August. She and Jason were planning a wedding in her family's neighbor's garden with the reception at the
NC Museum of Art on April 20, 2013. She and Jason were both raised Catholic but did not want a church wedding and preferred a non-denominational type ceremony with the focus on love and marriage. We met in September and got started on their ceremony. Jason and Mary were a delight to work with and we had a lot of fun crafting the perfect ceremony for them. And, their love story was a good one! When I went to their rehearsal, I was delighted with the beauty of the neighbor's garden which backed up to a lake with a fountain. It was gorgeous. Morgan Greer with the Museum stepped up to the plate and volunteered to be their wedding director and did a super job. I loved working with Morgan and the wedding went so very well. Here are the highlights!
Such a lovely spot and Mary must have seen this sign on Pinterest!
Setting up my sound system and doing a sound check. That's Morgan on the right.
As we were getting ready, the Saturday afternoon sounds of leaf blowers and weed eaters in the neighborhood were quite distracting so the parents of the bride sent someone to ask them to suspend their work for an hour while we had the wedding. They were very cooperative for which we were all grateful!
I love this picture that Marty snapped just after the "First Look" that their photographer, Kate Pope with
Craven Creative Photography, had set up in the garden. Always a pleasure to work with Kate again!
So now the couple was free to pose with their wedding party for some excellent photos. This is Jason's niece, Maddie, our sweet Junior Bridesmaid.
The whole gang! Love the black with purple.
Guests kept trickling in but finally it was time to start. I entered from a back deck.
Jason and his men entered from the garden behind them.
Ann, mother of the bride, was escorted in by her two sons, Matthew and Andrew, who then stepped up and joined the groomsmen.
The bridesmaids enter.....
Maid of Honor, Laura, sister of the bride makes her entrance!
The bride and her father, Bob, come in as Kate gets some good shots of them.
The parents' blessing honoring the bride's mother and father and Jason's father, Peter. We remembered his mother in the memorial section.
There were definitely some funny moments in the ceremony as I told their story!
Mary and Jason chose the tree planting ceremony for their unity ceremony. They planted two different species of Japanese maple saplings.
And off they go into their future!
The wedding party gathered next door at the bride's parents home while the guests went to the museum for the reception. Jason's aunt, sister of his mother, was saying how unique and touching the ceremony was.
Marty and I headed over to the Museum afterwards to check out the beautiful cake which was made by Cinda's Creative Cakes.
The reception was in full swing......
A great space for a wedding reception!
Lenny Fritts, DJ, was there handling the music. I had just done a wedding with him the weekend before. That lavender vest of his fit right into the color scheme!
Jason and Mary, what a delightful couple you are. I enjoyed getting to know you and co-creating your wedding ceremony with you. May you find happiness making each other happy and love loving each other!
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