Wedding of Andrea and Michael at Caffe Luna!

Andrea and Michael chose to have their wedding and reception at Caffe Luna on Sunday April 18, 2010. Caffe Luna is a great place for a fun wedding. The restaurant is closed to the public on Sundays for weddings. Andrea and Michael chose to have only Michael's children, Autumn (age 12) and Andrew (10), for their attendants. 

 We did not have a formal rehearsal for the wedding so after Marty and I arrived and got my microphone plugged into the DJ's sound system, the DJ (Kevin Judicki, far right), Lee (friend of the bride acting as director, far left), Michael (groom) and I huddled together to get our signals straight. Andrew was listening in too.

So, when it was time to begin, Andrew escorted in his grandmother, Linda, then joined Michael and me up front.

Then it was time for Autumn to walk down the aisle. She looked so pretty but I think she must have been nervous because I could not get her to smile!

Here comes the bride! Andrea's father is beaming as he and the bride enter. (By the way, those empty chairs were extras that were already set up and not expected to be filled by guests!)

And, the ceremony began with a warm welcome to all the guests and a Blessing for the Parents and Michael's children, Autumn and Andrew. 

 

The ceremony included the story of how Andrea and Michael met and fell in love which guests are always eager to hear about. They exchanged their vows and rings.

 

The couple and the children poured their sand together as a symbol of family unity.

What pretty layers of sand combining the lives of this blended family.

Then followed the pronouncement and the first kiss as husband and wife! 

And out they go, husband and wife, now married! 

Andrea and Michael are just beaming! It was a great wedding. Thank you, Andrea and Michael for allowing me to be part of your special day! I wish you many years of love, peace and happiness!

Kevin Judicki DJ provided the music for the ceremony and reception.  Strother Floral Gallery provided the beautiful flowers. This beautiful cake was created by Ashley of Ashley's Cakes. The make-up artist was Unforgettable Beauty. The photographer was a friend of the family, Jon Sutphin.

Andrea and Michael creatively made the table top signs by taking different photographs of themselves as children and teenagers, labeling the numbers and cleverly standing them up on corks. Cool!

Megan and Dave Wed at Campbell Lodge at Durant Park!

Megan and Dave started working on their wedding day of April 10, 2010 more than a year in advance and the lovely details of the ceremony and reception reflected their hard work. They met with me in May 2009 and hired me to officiate for them. They assembled quite a team of wedding vendors to make their special day spectacular! 

 

Megan was escorted in part of the way by her stepfather, James.

Then her father, Clarence, escorted her the rest of the way down the aisle up to the altar.

 

I have done several weddings through the years at Campbell Lodge in Durant Park in Raleigh and all of them have been inside the lodge except for one that was down at the small old amphitheater in the woods. Dave and Megan figured  out a way to stage their ceremony outdoors on the side of the building underneath the deck and it worked out beautifully.

The altar area was beautifully appointed and underneath the shade of a flowering tree that shed small white petals on us during the ceremony. A nice effect thanks to Mother Nature!  We paid tribute to the couple's parents including remembering Dave's father who had passed on some time ago.

The couple's "story" was incorporated into the ceremony which everyone enjoyed hearing, some for the first time. Then Megan and Dave said their vows to each other and exchanged rings. 

They each poured their sand together symbolizing their coming together in marriage, never to be separated from each other.

I always place my right hand over the couple's joined hands to make the pronouncement of marriage after which Dave broke the glass in honor of his Jewish heritage and we all shouted Mazel Tov!

Dave moves in for the kiss! I love this part of the ceremony!

The bride retrieves her bouquet and out they go...married at last! Oh happy days!

I joined the newlyweds for a quick photo before I left for the next wedding. Megan and Dave, I know you are so glad you worked so hard planning your wedding--it sure paid off with a beautiful wedding day. With your determination and your love and devotion to each other, I know you will have a great marriage! I wish you all the best life has to offer. 

Our Vendors:

Lisa Jacobs was our Event Director & Wedding Planner from A Step To Gold Ballroom. She and her assistant did a fantastic job making this wedding flow smoothly. Here she is motioning the next person to come in for the processional. 

Demetris, the talented 19 year old young man who heads up Creative Touch Designs is an amazing floral designer. The decorations for the ceremony and the reception were gorgeous as were the bridal bouquets and boutonnieres. I watched him as he was putting the final touches on the beautiful arch of branches and flowers flanked by huge ferns studded with flowers. The aisle was created with the purple satin runner, pedestals, flowing fabric, glass vases with twig balls, and rose petals scattered all over. The wedding colors were predominantly purple and he used a lovely purple satin runner which stayed in place quite nicely as it clung to the concrete patio floor and over the railing to block out the view of some unsightly picnic grills. Marty got a shot of him working on the table decorations inside later.

Catering was provided by Urbana Catering Concepts.

This lovely wedding cake was made by Lynn Loomis of Lynn's Traditions, one of my favorites. Too bad I could not hang around and enjoy a piece of it! 

I did not get a photo of our DJ, Steve Scheidig, owner of Rotation Entertainment, Professional DJ Service. Steve was kind enough to plug my microphone into his sound system and all the guests could hear all the words of the couples custom ceremony. Thanks, Steve.

Robert of Robert F. Filcsik Photography was on hand to take the pictures to document this special day for Megan and Dave. Thanks, Robert!