Stevie and Pete Marry at Shady Wagon Farm!

These pictures show the sequence of what Marty and I saw as we arrived in New Hill at Shady Wagon Farm for Stevie and Pete's wedding on June 19, 2010 at 6:30. Never been to a "slow wedding" before! The day was hot as blue blazes though and I knew the guests would prefer that we speed it up rather than slow it down. Shady Wagon Farm is a beautiful pastoral setting with a lake and geese and a fountain and gazebo out of the water. This picture above is taken on the barn side of the lake.

This is what it looks like from the house side of the lake. Cindy Carroll, the owner, and her husband, created such a wonderful setting for a wedding. Cindy was not there today but her Lynn with Happily Ever After was handling things for her.

Marty went over to the barn and got a few shots of the interior to show how pretty it looks.

Cindy also bakes the beautiful wedding cakes for most weddings there. Xu Catering was providing the food for the wedding.

There was also a photo of our beautiful bride on display in the barn.

Back at the ranch, er, I mean, farm, our DJ, Tim Oxendine, of Diamond DJ Entertainment, was sweating it out setting up the sound system for the ceremony music. As I said, it was mighty hot with temps in the upper 90s. Tim was a trooper.

Thanks to Allison, our honorary wedding director, we started right on time--no slow wedding here! After the grandparents and parents were escorted in, the guys and I made our entrance. Can you tell that is a water bottle in my right pocket? The guys are dressed in good looking chocolate brown suits with hot pink vests to coordinate with the bridesmaids dresses. Every little detail had been thought out by Stevie and Pete.

This is Asia, one of the bridesmaids, with her daughter, Amaya, our flower girl. It was a really long walk from the house to the lake but she made it!

Here comes the bride. She was escorted in by her grandfather, Ronnie. He was so thrilled to have the honor. Stevie did not want to choose between her father and her stepfather so she chose her grandfather. Good solution.

We are all assembled now and the ceremony began. Stevie and Pete were matched up on line and found that they were extremely compatible. What attracted Stevie to Pete was that he was a high school soccer coach, which meant that they had soccer in common since she had played soccer since age 4. When he first saw her, she smiled at him and he was smitten. They love being with each other all the time they can squeeze in and enjoy spending time with their dogs. They are looking forward to starting a family some day and going to their children's soccer games.

They had a couple of readings in the ceremony and one was read by Carl, Stevie's stepfather. You can also see our photographer, Ron Cribbs, in this photo too. He is from Sanford and is a friend of Stevie's father, Scottie.

The big moment of the pronouncement of marriage. It was followed by the kiss but I did not get a photo of their kiss, too bad!

They are married! The two red cars in the background are parked on the other side of the lake. It is amazing to me how large they showed up in this photo. I edited them out in the photo above this one.

The new Mr. and Mrs. headed for the cool of the house while their guests went over to the barn for refreshments and cooling down while we took some photos.

See all these color-coordinated good looking men standing around waiting to be in the photos? I really don't know how you guys tolerate the heat in jackets which are probably made of wool or a wool blend. My hat is off to you!

I am so happy that sweat does not show up in photos because we are all dripping! Stevie and Pete are so happy to be married they probably don't even feel the temperature! Congratulations and all the best to you both, Stevie and Pete. You are a cool couple and I know you will love being married and finding out what the future holds for you both!

 On our way to my car to leave, Mr. Puddy, resident Persian cat greeted us. I love seeing this very friendly cat when I do weddings here. He is more like a dog than a cat and loves to run out and greet visitors. He's apparently had a hair cut and has lost a lot of fur on his back but I bet that feels good to him! Such a sweet kitty.

The Carolina Inn Hosts Wedding of Melissa and Aaron!

Melissa and Aaron met with me in December to officiate their wedding on April 3, 2010 at the wonderful Carolina Inn in the Bryan Courtyard. They are a determined young couple who know what they want. Aaron is in business for himself. His residential cleaning business is Neuse Natural Cleaning and they use all healthy green products and have the latest cleaning technology. I must say I was impressed with his knowledge and his care and respect for his customers and staff. Melissa moved to the US from China at age 13. She is a very intelligent, detailed oriented young woman who planned her wedding down to every detail.  I was delighted that they chose me as their officiant and we set about creating the perfect ceremony for them.

Preceding the entrance of the bride, these two pretty little girls strode forth in their pretty dresses with hems filled with rose petals. They seemed to have forgotten what they practiced at our rehearsal because they got confused and started going down the side of the guests. Finally with some direction they came down the aisle to the front then circled around to sit with their mommies. I think they were having a really good time together and just got distracted! 

Melissa was escorted down the aisle by her proud father, Michael. Note the chic veil and the stunning wedding dress Melissa is wearing!

The Bryan Courtyard is a wonderful setting for a wedding. The aisle was covered with graduated shades of pink rose petals ending with a pop of bright pink at the end of the aisle. In the tree branches were streamers of beautiful petals just swinging in the breeze. It was a perfect day for the wedding with the sky just slightly overcast making it perfect for photos. The bridesmaids wore soft petal pink and the groomsmen's vests and ties matched. 

Note Aaron's spiffy spats! He was dressed to the nines to match Melissa! I am glad I had a pink prayer stole that fit into the color scheme.

A Chinese wedding tradition of respect is to serve tea to the elders of the family and to honor her Chinese heritage, Melissa wanted to incorporate the tea ceremony into her wedding ceremony. The elders are called up one by one or in couples, are seated, then they are served tea by the couple as they kneel before them. Melissa's sister and maid of honor, Stephanie, poured the tea and Gabe, the best man, put the used teacups away. I got to sit on the side and call each person forth.

After the tea ceremony we resumed our positions and the ceremony continued with a reading by Melissa's cousin, Benjamin. Then during the wedding address I recounted for the guests the couple's story of meeting, falling in love, what they love doing together and how much they are looking forward to being married. The vows and rings followed and we then had the lighting of the unity candle. 

Melissa found some oil candles on line which we used. They really did stay lit in spite of the breeze we had that afternoon. I was impressed!

I made the pronouncement of marriage and then presented the new Mr. and Mrs. to their guests.

So, now they are married and so happy to be. The guests adjourned to the Old Well Gallery for cocktails while the wedding party and their families stayed behind for photos.

We got some good ones too! Melissa and Aaron, with your determination and persistence, I know you will go far in life and I wish you all the best life can offer!

Our Vendors: 

I want to thank Tracy Adams of Adams and Events for her usual fantastic job of helping Melissa and Aaron handle all the details of this wedding, being on hand to direct the rehearsal and wedding, and keeping everything flowing along smoothly. Another successful wedding, Tracy!

Megan Kime was our photographer. Thank you, Megan, for being everywhere at once with your assistant! I know you got some great photos!

Fara Ashiru with SLM TV was our videographer. She had a stationary camera and a portable one so she could get all the angles. She was one busy lady.

Ashley Cakes made the beautiful wedding cake.

Tim Oxendine of Diamond DJ Entertainment provided the ceremony and reception music. Good to work with you two weekends in a row, Tim!

Laura Greene of Greenehouse Designs was the amazing florist. The bouquets, the boutonnieres, the streamers of petals in the trees, and the centerpieces on the tables at the reception that also had streamers were exquisite!

 These were the floral arrangements on the head table. They are just stunning!

Nicole and Steven's Lovely Wedding at Caffe Luna!

Nicole and Steven are such a sweet couple and I was so happy to officiate their wedding. They are both quite mature and a good match for each other. When they put together the ceremony they wanted for their wedding day, I thought it needed some personalization about the two of them so I sent them some questions to answer and from that we created their "story" for the ceremony.  Their parents and guests just loved that and the humor we slipped in. Their wedding was Sunday March 7, 2010 at Caffe Luna, one of the most fun places around to have a wedding and reception.

Their wedding party consisted of two attendants each. We had our rehearsal on the Friday before and practiced everything so the wedding would go smoothly. I thank their friend, Peter, for being our wedding director. Peter, you did a great job. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of him. Nicole was escorted in by her proud father, Michael. The parents are sitting on the front row and got the best seats in the house.

In the ceremony we told how they met and what they were looking forward to in marriage. I told the guests that Steve told me he was looking forward to never hearing the question “so when are you two getting married?” again. Well, that ended right then, right there. We also related their greatest adventure so far: adopting their beagle, Ben, from Tribeagles Rescue. It was a fun ceremony and the guests surely enjoyed it. The parents also enjoyed the tribute their children made to them during the ceremony.

I made the pronouncement, they kissed (too briefly!) and I presented them to their guests.

And out they went to enjoy the rest of their wedding day!

While the guests went to the other rooms for the reception, the wedding party and parents gathered outside for photos and well wishes.

Nicole told me how much she enjoyed the ceremony and how wonderful it was to be married! Steve looks pretty happy too!

The deed is done and it was time to have some fun! Nicole and Steven, I wish you all the best in life!

Many thanks to Tim Oxendine, our wonderful DJ of Diamond DJ Entertainment, for providing our ceremony music and hosting the reception. Here we are clowning around before the ceremony. Thanks also to Jennifer Kidd who was our photographer. Jennifer is always great to work with and does super work. Thanks to the staff of Caffe Luna, especially Ryan Hill, catering manager. She is always a delight to work with.