Suzanne and Justin Wed at Campbell Lodge!

Suzanne and Justin chose to have their wedding at the Campbell Lodge at Durant Nature Preserve on October 27, 2018. They did all of the wedding planning themselves with the help of family and friends. It is a daunting task but they were up to it and pulled off a fabulous wedding! 

The day was chilly but nice and everything was going according to plan. 

At the rehearsal I was thrilled to see that the old beige and green tiles had been removed revealing this beautiful wooden floor. It completely transformed the room with warmth. The  mantle has been decorated with greenery and candles and white flowers.

Suzanne and Justin had thought out all the little areas to display photos on the gift table. 

They had their guests sign in on Jenga blocks which they will use later to stack and play the balance game. 

Many scrumptious cakes--the "wedding cake" was by Capital Cakes and the others were homemade by family.

Daniel with Complete Weddings was all set up to provide the music for the ceremony and reception. 

Kristine Tew, good friend of the couple, was our wedding director and all around in-charge person. Great job, Kristine!

It's is time to begin. The guests were invited to take their seats so the ceremony could commence. (You can see that the other end of the lodge has an identical fireplace where the reception tables are confined to until after the ceremony when the chairs will be placed on the tables spread out in this space.)

I entered first then Justin followed from the side door. 

Justin's dad and best man escorts in Justin's Mother and Grandmother then joined Justin and me up front.

Mother of the bride is escorted in by her son and grandson. 

The bridesmaids and groomsmen entered as couples. 

After this couple our Maid of Honor entered. Not pictured.

Then Blaine, nephew of bride, entered with the sign "Here She Comes!"

Everyone turned to watch for the bride. 

Suzanne and her father entered and I invited all the guests to stand in their honor!

Father and Mother of the bride answered my question to them then all were seated. 

A warm welcome to all their guests with thanks from the couple for making the journey to be with them. 

An opening prayer.

Then remembrance of the people who were no longer with us. 

I stepped out to the side to address their parents and then to tell Suzanne and Justin's love story. They met back in 2015 and the attraction was instantaneous. It wasn't long before they were a couple enjoying traveling, introducing each other to their favorite restaurants, and discovering how great their compatibility is. Justin proposed in February of 2018 and they began planning their wedding together.

Then I revealed to each of them what their partner had told me they love about them, why they want to marry and what they are looking forward to in marriage. Suzanne first as Justin watches her receive his sweet words. Then it was Justin's turn.

They made their vows and then sealed them with their rings. 

Suzanne gets that ring on Justin's finger securely!

Following a closing blessing, I pronounced them married and invited Justin to kiss his bride!

He wasted no time kissing his beautiful wife as we all cheered him on! 

While the guests were placing their chairs around the tables, the wedding party slipped outside and down to the lower level for photos. Their professional photographer was Haley Colley. Their florist was Gina with Designer Buds. The caterer was City BBQ.

Suzanne and Justin! Congratulations! What a great job you did in putting together a great wedding day. And I enjoyed getting to know you and working with you so much. I wish you all the best forever!!

Jesse and Richard Wed at Rollingview Community Center!

Richard and Jesse originally thought they would like to have their wedding in my wedding garden. But as they told their friends and family about their upcoming wedding on September 22nd, 2018, they decided they would like a  place where they could combine the ceremony and reception space. So the venue changed to Rollingview Community Center that is part of Falls Lake Recreation area.

When Dave and I arrived, the guests were there and the place was all decorated in the bright colors of red and orange. I wore my coral prayer stole to color-coordinate.

Jeff then Jody (not pictured) entered carrying the components of the Covenant of Salt ceremony. 

Jesse was escorted in by his parents, Lynn and Craig. 

Richard's sister, Sharon, escorted Richard into the ceremony space. 

Jesse and Richard wrote a masterpiece of a wedding ceremony. A lot of it was original material as opposed to using material I shared with them. I was so impressed--and so were their guests. It was so heart-felt and authentic.

We started with an invocation and welcome to all. 

Then Jeff shared a reading from "The Book of Love" by Magnetic Fields. 

Then we remembered those no longer with us followed by a tribute to their families.

Then I got to tell the story of how they met and fell in love. It was full of humor. 

What they love about each other heard for the first time! 

After a short ready by Jody, we moved on to the rings and vows.

The vows consisted of 6 deep questions for both of them to which they said "I do" to each question. 

At that point I pulled out my hankie and wiped away some tears of the grooms!

I explained the meaning of the Covenant of Salt to the guests.

Then the pouring of the salt together. A very meaningful adaptation of this ritual by Jesse. 

Following a closing blessing, I pronounced them husbands for life!

Hugs and kisses as the guests cheered and applauded! 

Presentation of the Newlywed Couple!

Jesse and Richard, Congratulations and thank you so much for your reviews: She was nothing but the best that the universe could give us for our ceremony! From the first meeting, until the ceremony ended, Kayelily delivered professionally and was very flexible to work with. Everyone in our wedding loved her, the reading, and delivery.

A Fun Fabulous Wedding for April and George at Lake Wheeler!

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!

Our DJ, Daniel Kelly with Perfect Event Entertainment, has gotten set up and changed into his suit. 

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!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To contact me:

Email me

919-345-4608

My Website

Pinterest

Facebook

Or leave a comment below!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~