Danielle and Emilio's Beautiful Wedding at Jones Chapel!

Danielle and Emilio relocated to North Carolina from New Jersey 5 years ago to begin a new life adventure together. Emilio is originally from El Salvador where his parents still live. Their love and devotion strengthened through the years and they decided to make it official and get married. They chose the date of July 7, 2012, exactly 5 years to the day that they moved to NC. They reserved the beautiful Jones Chapel on the Meredith College campus to celebrate their nuptials with a reception following at Embassy Suites in Cary.   The wedding day was beautiful, but hot, and we were so grateful to Danielle and Emilio for choosing to have their wedding indoors inside this beautiful chapel.

They had a pretty platter for their guests to sign which will be fired again making the inscriptions permanent. A beautiful memento for this occasion.

Timothy Hendrix who teaches music at Meredith College was our musician for the wedding. For the prelude music he played the most divine selections and then for the processional and recessional he moved to the magnificent pipe organ.

Meanwhile, the men and I assembled back behind the altar area where I pinned on their boutonnieres as we awaiting the start of the ceremony. 

After the guys and I entered from the altar door on the right, Danielle's grandmother, Janet, was escorted in followed by the sister of the groom, Arely, representing Emilio's parents who are in El Salvador, then mother of the bride, Bari. Our lovely bridesmaids entered next. Our directors were Melissa and Jennifer, cousins of the bride, who have obviously done this many times before as they were very organized and made sure everything went as planned. Melissa was back with the guys and me and Jennifer in the foyer with the bridal party. They cleverly used their cell phones to text back and forth to coordinate our entrances into the chapel. Thanks, ladies! It was a pleasure working with you.

 Here comes the bride!

Emilio stepped down to take the hand of the bride from her father, Joseph.

Joseph carefully lifted the blusher veil then kissed Danielle and took his seat as the couple ascended the steps of the altar to join me.

Blusher veils are beautiful and traditional. It is important to make sure that the blusher veil is pulled back and arranged so that it does not block the view of the bride's face for the guests (and her photographer!). Danielle's veil was perfect! Our photographer for the wedding was Teresa Porter. The beautiful flowers were by Flowers on Broad Street in Fuquay-Varina. I want to credit and thank their DJ, Lenny Fritts, for sending this couple to me. I know they had a fabulous reception with Lenny in charge of the affair!

Our first reader was Danielle's Aunt Patty who read a poem "He Never Leaves the Toilet Seat Up" --quite humorous and she did a great job of presenting it.

Barbara, a close family friend, presented a reading from First Corinthians.

Then it was time to share the couple's story--how they met, what attracted them to each other, what they love about each other and why they want to marry. It seems that Emilio used to be a "club hopper" back in NJ but secretly wanted to find the woman who would settle him down. He met Danielle through her friend Ashley and his cousin Roni who knew each other. Danielle was taking a Spanish class and frequented Emilio's family's home so she could learn to speak Spanish fluently. Emilio found himself helping her with her homework more and more and decided he did not miss the clubs! Their friendship grew into love and they soon became a couple. The decision to move to North Carolina was a big move for them both and they have grown closer as a result. They are hoping that more family members will join them in NC! Emilio has started his own landscaping company in Holly Springs, Jersey Landscaping, and is delighted to see it grow and become successful with Danielle's help keeping the books and organizing the schedule.

 Emilio places the ring on Danielle's finger. 

Their sand ceremony included sand that represented their respective families as a foundation for their marriage. The sand representing Emilio's family had been brought from the beaches of El Salvador by his uncle. The sand representing Danielle's family heritage was from the beach at Cape May, NJ, where she spent many summers of her childhood on the Jersey Shore. Danielle's mother, Bari, poured her family's sand and Emilio's sister, Arely, poured for Emilio' family.

 Then the couple poured their sand in layers on top.

 The pronouncement of marriage! 

 Tim sneaks a peek at the kiss! 

 And off they go! 

Emilio and Danielle, congratulations and best wishes always! 

Beautiful Christmas-time Wedding for Kate and Will Gray!

Like many good love stories, Kate and Will Gray's began their freshman year in college at Furman University. During freshman orientation activities in which the freshman boys paraded through the girls' dorm, they definitely noticed each other. Will Gray was quite taken with Kate and that evening found him under her balcony serenading her at midnight in the moonlight--another Furman custom. Apparently the feeling was mutual! After spending many hours together attending classical music concerts, watching favorite shows in the dorm basement, and many hours of guitar hero and legend of Zelda, long after they were inseparable friends, they realized they were in love. After college their careers took them 300 hundred miles apart--Will Gray in Atlanta and Kate in Raleigh. With marriage and Will Gray's landing a job in NC, they are overjoyed to be married at last and make themselves truly inseparable.

They met with me on June 2, 2011 to plan their ceremony on December 17, 2011 at the beautiful Jones Chapel on Meredith College campus--a very fitting venue for these college sweethearts. They put together a composite draft of their ceremony from the material I sent them, wrote their own story and worked with me individually to craft the paragraphs to each other detailing the reasons they wanted to marry. So sweet! And then, the big day was here!

Kate and Will Gray included a lot of their college friends in the ceremony. Will Gray himself is a "tubist" and they had their friend Paul play the euphonium for the prelude.

All the while, the bridesmaids and parents were getting lined up in the foyer. Leroy, another college friend, was in charge of cuing the wedding party in. He had never done this before but with my training at the rehearsal, he did a fine job! That is Kate's father, Allan, holding Sarah's bouquet. She is Kate's sister and was helping the bride in the room behind him. Fallon's Flowers did the floral arrangements and bouquets.

We are all assembled on the altar as the bride and her father enter. 

 

Sarah stepped down to take the bouquet as Dad transferred Kate's hand into Will's hand before they ascended the steps.

 I welcomed everyone and told them how special they were to the couple.

We were graced by Blake, another Furman friend, who sang two pieces: "In the Bleak Midwinter" and after the prayer, "Simple Song." His bass voice is amazing! No wonder they wanted him to sing at their wedding!

After the ceremony I saw two Blake's, deduced that he had a twin but then found out that Blake and his brother and sister are triplets.

Love "red" weddings, especially at Christmas time. So vibrant and festive. The matron of honor, Sarah, is on the far right and next to her are Kelley and Bethany, also sisters of the bride.

Will Gray's best man was his father, Bill. Behind Bill are David and Phillip, brothers of the bride.

After the prayer, the story and wedding address, they exchanged vows then rings.

 

 

 

Their photographer, Denise Meyers with 1 Impression 2 Remember, and her second shooter, Peter Newby, got the wedding party and parents to assemble in the balcony after the guests departed for the reception at Crabtree Marriott. 

 

Kate and Will Gray, such a pleasure working with you! I know you will be very happy! You have had very good role models in your parents and know how to make marriage a glorious path through life. Many blessings to you!

Laura and Matt's Wedding at Jones Chapel, Meredith College!

Laura and Matt came to see me last August to officiate their wedding on June 27, 2009 at the beautiful Jones Chapel on the Meredith College campus. They wanted to be sure to include Laura's 12 year old daughter, Cheyenne, in the ceremony. What a great wedding they created! The men all looked so handsome in their white suits and the ladies were beautiful in their light blue dresses. They had 7 attendants each--a large wedding party plus a flower girl, ring bearer, and bell ringer! Our ring bearer, Nate, was entrusted to the real rings and was responsible beyond his age and entered with me and the groom and groomsmen.
Our little flower girl, Nadilyn, was about 3 years old and needed a bit of help making it all the way down the aisle. She did not last long standing up with us during the ceremony and soon crawled over the pew into her waiting grandmother's arms!

Laura and her father swept down the aisle!

Cheyenne was so pretty and grown up serving as her mother's junior maid of honor! As part of the ceremony Matt gave her a little token of the occasion and later the three of them poured their sand together in the family unity sand ceremony.

Laura and Matthew made a jubilant exit while Trumpet Voluntary resounded throughout the chapel as their friends and family applauded!

Our bell ringer, Harold, was just adorable and his eyes were as big as saucers as he watched everyone recess out after the ceremony without him. (He was supposed to leave with the flower girl but she was no longer there!)
I was watching to see if one of the groomsmen would grab his hand and take him along with him but none did so I motioned for him to come up the steps, take my hand, and stand with me as the parents and grandparents were escorted.
He stood right beside me as if we had planned it that way!

After the ceremony when all the guests had departed for the reception,
we took some photos with the happy couple!

As we were leaving, I spotted Savannah putting the final touches on the "get-away" car! She and her father sang The Prayer during the ceremony and had everyone in tears! Great job, Savannah. Her family was an integral part of this wedding. Not only did Savannah and her father, Kevin, sing the duet, but her mother, Karen, was our wedding director who made sure everyone was in place. During the kiss, Kevin also played the piano and sang Ribbon in the Sky.

It was a terrific wedding that only Laura and Matthew could have created for themselves! Congratulations and best of everything to you, Laura and Matthew!

Vendors:

Organist: Dianne Stanley
Photographer: Kate Mejaski of This Little Light Photography
Videographer: Ismail Abdelkhalek

Celtic Wedding for Robyn and Tom!

When I met with Tom and Robyn last August to plan their wedding, they told me that they wanted to create their dream wedding in full Celtic regalia on May 2, 2009 at Jones Chapel on the Meredith College campus. And so they did! They put together from my ceremony material a nice blend of contemporary wedding customs and the centuries old Celtic customs including handfasting. As you can see from the photos, Tom and his men were decked out in their kilts and all the trimmings! Even their wedding programs included Celtic images and seals. They had a bagpiper play on the lawn outside the chapel before the ceremony. I am sorry that I did not get his name but I did not want to interrupt his breathing and playing that bagpipe--I just walked up beside him and Marty snapped the photo! Maybe Tom or Robyn will put a comment on this blog post and let us know who the bagpiper is. The Jones Chapel is a regal place to have a wedding. It is so magnificent with the organ and carillon. Marilyn Wienand not only played the harp but switched over to the organ for the recessional. She is certainly multi-talented. Kim Allemang played the flute and the combination of harp and flute was beautiful. Jonathan Young was our capable photographer for the wonderful wedding.

The wedding started right on time and Tom's sister-in-law, Maura, did a fine job of directing the wedding party and parents in. Robyn was escorted in by her father and then Robyn and Tom stepped up to the top of the altar and we began. After a warm welcome to the guests, our opening prayer was A Wedding Prayer by Robert Lewis Stevenson. We paid tribute to their parents who were beaming--along with their grandparents, too! Following the handfasting, vows and rings, they lit the Unity Candle as harp music wafted softly through the chapel. I pronounced them married and they departed for the Hibernian restaurant for a suitable wedding feast! Congratulations, Robyn and Tom--great wedding!