Beautiful New Year's Eve Eve Wedding for Eileen and Andy!

Andy, Eileen and I met at the end of October to plan the ceremony for their wedding on December 30, 2011 at 5 PM at St. Marks Chapel in Raleigh, one of the sweetest spots in the Triangle for small weddings. We discussed what they had in mind and started co-creating their ceremony. The wedding day was simply unbelievably fabulous and unseasonal weather for December with a high of 63 degrees and lots of sunshine.

When we arrived, our photographer, Tom Edwards of New Image Studio, and his daughter, Amy, who was the second shooter, were taking some shots of Andy and two of his friends who were helping with the wedding.

The horse drawn carriage was maneuvered in place for the bride and groom to travel from St. Marks to the reception at Second Empire after the ceremony. I believe that J & L Carriages provided this beautiful one.

Lindsay Skipper of Elegant Violin was playing beautiful prelude music while the guests were being seated. Lindsay brings along her amplifier and iPod with pre-recorded piano accompaniment for her violin. It is simply beautiful. Lindsay and I did another wedding together last spring and I recommended her to Eileen and Andy. I did not know she had moved to Virginia though. She told me that her parents live in Raleigh so she is back frequently and was home for the holidays for this wedding so it all worked out! 

Our pretty bride was hanging out in the Post Office building until it was time to begin the ceremony. We shooed all the guests inside and seated the mothers. Eileen's daughters, Marissa and Alexis, processed in then the two flower girls. 

Eileen's son, Max, escorted his mother part of the way down the aisle then Andy met them and escorted her the rest of the aisle up onto the platform to join me for the ceremony.

 

Eileen and Andy wanted to remember those who have passed on front this earth, particularly Eileen's father and aunt and Andy's aunt so we had three white roses to symbolize their presence in spirit. 

They each placed their roses at the altar while Lindsay played "To Where You Are" by Josh Groban.

 

St. Marks is such a nice setting for an intimate wedding. The capacity is 55 people. There is a loft from where the photographer can get some really good photos.  Andy's mother and father, Dorothy and Andrew, are seated on first pew on the right. Dorothy took me aside before the ceremony and told me she had been waiting 50 years for this moment. Although Eileen had been married before, Andy had held out all these years! Eileen's mother, Caroline, and Eileen's children, Marissa, Alexis and Max, are sitting on the front row on left. In the ceremony we paid tribute to the two mothers and recognized Marissa, Alexis and Max.

Alexis read a passage from Colossians for us. 

 

The pronouncement of marriage was made, they kissed, and were introduced as husband and wife to the guests then recessed to the back of the chapel as I announced for the guests to remain in the chapel for a champagne toast.

They really enjoyed this kiss in the light of the beautiful sunset! 

The "champagne" was handed out but it was really non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice.

Andy made a great toast. Wish I had written down his words. Tom is capturing the moment!

Tom decided he needed to toast the couple as well as Amy handed him some "champagne," although in this photo it looks like he is taking it away from her and telling her she is too young to drink!!

 Eileen poses with the pretty flower girls, Nicole and Michelle, who loved sprinkling the petals!

Eileen and Andy, I am so happy for you that you found each other to share your love and your lives! May you have peace, love and joy all your days!

This photo was taken by Lindsay and she posted it on Facebook where I copied it for this blog post. Thanks, Lindsay!! BTW, she commented that St. Mark's has the best acoustics of any place she has ever played, maybe in her whole life! I agree with her. I do not have to use a sound system in the chapel because the acoustics are so great.

In the Midst of a Tornado, Heather and Nathan Create an Unforgettable Wedding Day!

I first met Heather and Nathan almost exactly a year ago. They were planning their wedding for April 16, 2011 at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh. They had been together for 4 years at that point and had been blessed with the birth of their son, Riley, in 2009 and wanted to celebrate their loving commitment to each other with a wedding ceremony and fun reception for their friends and family. So, we started planning. Little did we know that their wedding day would also be the day a tornado went through downtown Raleigh! We had our rehearsal the day before at the White Garden. It was a beautiful day but the forecast was ominous for the next day. At 10 AM Saturday morning Heather called to say that they had wisely decided to go with Plan B and have the wedding ceremony at their reception site of the Holiday Inn Brownstone on Hillsborough Street in downtown Raleigh. It was a very wise decision. The Holiday Inn staff got busy setting up the room next to the reception room for the wedding and were still putting up flowers when we arrived.

When Marty and I arrived about 2:15 that afternoon, it was starting to rain a little. Our ceremony musician, Lindsay Skipper with Elegant Violin had set up and was running through the music. She is very talented and very clever. She brought with her an amplifier into which she plugged her iPod with piano accompaniment. So when she played her violin with the recorded music, it sounded very rich and full. I set up my portable sound system on the other side of the room and did a sound check.

Then it was time to begin. The bridesmaids were lined up behind me, ready to go. Nathan and his groomsmen followed me down the aisle.

Behind the bridesmaids, Kim, friend of the couple, was in charge of getting the cute little flower girls down the aisle.

Time for our beautiful bride who was escorted in by her mother. Both fathers of the couple have passed away.

Judith lifted the veil from Heather's face then placed her hand into Nathan's as they turned to face each other.

I walked around to help pull the veil toward the back so that the guests (and our photographer) could see Heather's face during the ceremony.

And so we began. Heather and Nathan's ceremony was quite varied and filled with sweet moments, especially when they read a poem to their son, Riley.

Of course their story was fun and the guests enjoyed hearing about how they met and some of their adventures together. There was one part that I thought was clever. Since Nathan had not dated much when they met at the school where he was a first year kindergarten teacher and she a first year school counselor, they jokingly used the term b.i.t. which means "boyfriend in training" for Nathan. Apparently he was a good student and learned fast though!

They really liked the symbolism of the handfasting ceremony and here I am wrapping the handfasting cord around their joined left hands. The more loops, the stronger the bond.

 

They wrote their own vows and read them to each other as they exchanged rings.

 

To symbolize their family unity and include their son in the ceremony, they did the sand ceremony. Riley was too young to participate physically but they poured his sand in with theirs making many pretty layers of colored sand.

Heather wanted to honor her Jewish heritage so she included the glass breaking and the Seven Blessings from the Jewish wedding traditions in the wedding. You cannot see it in this photo but I have just put the glass to be broken at Nathan's feet and told him not to stomp it yet! I have to make the pronouncement first, then the stomp, the guests shout "Mazeltov" then they kiss.

 It's done! They are married!  (We had no idea what was brewing outside at this point!)

This is Derrick Bryant, our photographer, with One Vision Photography. His plans for getting beautiful shots of Heather and Nathan at the arboretum just did not pan out! Could not even go outside the hotel so he had to settle for the lobby and an upstairs conference lobby. He had a second shooter with him and I know the two of them got some great shots despite the circumstances!

While the guests went to the reception, the newlyweds, their wedding party, Riley and his babysitter, Eric, and Marty and I went upstairs to the lobby for photos. Eric is opening the goody bag which is his reward for being quiet during the wedding ceremony!

I think we are all in a bit of a shock as we had just learned that a tornado was expected to touch down in 20 minutes, at the moment Marty snapped this photo. Wow, are we ever glad to be in a safe building on the lower level. Heather and Nathan, I know you won't ever forget your wedding day, and I won't either! It turned out beautifully despite the adverse weather, just as you two have weathered your own challenges. You have the love and you have the endurance to make your marriage a grand success and full of peace, love and joy!