A Wonderful Wedding at Home for Sparkle and Lyron!

Marty and I arrived at Sparkle and Lyron's beautiful new home in Willow Spring on their beautiful wedding day, April 4, 2014 (which happens to by mine and Dave's 16th wedding anniversary). Their pretty tent was blowing in the breeze and the chairs were all in place and ready for the wedding.

 They wisely installed the rear wall of the tent to prevent the breeze from blowing right through. 

A Special Event provided the tent, chairs, dance floor, tables AND that wonderful carpet runner! This, in my opinion, is the only kind of runner to have on grass, concrete, hardwood and decking because it is heavy enough to stay in place and won't wrinkle with each step and catch on shoes. Here it is folded over to shorten then will be pulled out straight before the processional.

 After the ceremony, the round tables and the chairs will be placed around the dance floor.

 Here is the runner extended its full length which looks like at least 50 feet to me. 

Our DJ was with Feel the Sound Music. After getting my microphone plugged into his sound board and doing a sound check, we went over the processional music order.

 Meantime, Jamaican Jerk Masters catering team was setting up the buffet. Yummy...

Lyron is the tallest guy in the photo and to his left is his dad, Liston, and to his left is Keemo, Lyron's son. Elroy, one of the groomsmen, is on the left in the photo.

Lyron gets a photo with is grandmother, Adena, while his mother, Judith, stands behind them. They flew in from the Virgin Islands to be here.

Keemo escorts in his great grandmother. Lyon thanked them all in the ceremony for making the long and expensive journey to be with them from the Virgin Island where they live and where he grew up. He additionally thanked his grandmother from Tortola, British Virgin Islands, for her strict upbringing, strong leadership and genuine care for without it, their family would not be together today. So sweet.

Next up is Lyron's father, Liston, and his stepmother, Reynalda. To the right is Kindria, our fabulous wedding director who did a great job!

 Lyron escorts in his mother, Judith. 

 Sparkle's brother, Dathan, and her mother, Barbara, enter next.

Now it is time for the wedding party. Lyron and I lead the way followed by his best man Lindell who is also from the Virgin Islands, then groomsmen Elroy and Keemo. 
Kindria makes sure Carter, Sparkle and Lyron's 3 year old son, stays back while our pretty bridesmaids process in.

Our first flower girl is Lyannah, Lyron's 11 year old daughter.

Now it is time for Carter to enter with his ring pillow followed by Sparkle's niece, Taylor, to make sure he gets down the aisle! 

The gate to the fence through which we entered was closed and Dathan and Sparkle emerged from the driveway for Sparkle's big entrance when the gates were opened! (She really is true to her name and sparkles!)

 There they go down the aisle on that wonderful aisle runner! I cannot say enough good things about it! 

And so we begin with a warm welcome to everyone. 

 We bow our heads in prayer. 

We remember those no longer with us and then pay tribute to the parents and Lyron's grandmother. Carter looks like he is having some fun as Lindell holds him in tow!

Now it is time to tell their love story and it was really humorous! Everyone was laughing about how they met at work and the proposal story. It was so good, I had to stop and wait for the laughter to die down before I could go on.

 They made their vows and exchanged rings. 

(The pretty flowers were provided by Flowers on Broad Street.) 

Sparkle's Aunt Kim graced us with her a cappella performance of The Lord's Prayer. It was incredible! 

 The pronouncement of marriage......

 This is the kiss either before or after Lyron dipped Sparkle! 

 Our photographer, Shawn Harrington Video and Photography, was close by to get a good shot of the kiss!

The Maid of Honor, Barbara, Sparkle's sister, hands her the bouquet so I can present them to their guests as husband and wife!

 Out they go! 

Sparkle and Lyron! You pulled off a good one. Thanks for all your meticulous planning. It was a beautiful wedding and I know from all the laughter that everyone had a great time at the ceremony and I am sure the reception was a grand celebration of your marriage! I wish you the best of everything!

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Heather and Travis wed at Doubletree Suites on May 25th

Heather and Travis planned a beautiful wedding at Doubletree Suites in Durham with the help of Amy Acosta, the catering director there. And, brides, they have a white carpet runner which I was so glad to see! The big reception tent at Doubletree has been "renovated" and now has billowing ceiling drapes and chandeliers and can be air conditioned and heated. It was beautiful!

I was delighted to see Lenny Fritts, one of my favorite DJs there too. We all love working together and making the wedding ceremony and reception flow behind the scenes so the couple can have a fabulous wedding experience. The lake and patio area for the wedding was beautifully decorated and after a rehearsal on Saturday morning, we all knew what to do.

I have so many great photos of this wedding I could not eliminate any of them. The colors of the wedding were the lovely "clover green" that is so popular this year and it is a great color for everyone. Way to go, Travis and Heather!

This must be the weekend for flower girls! Heather and Travis' flower girl, Kayla, was a little princess and I know she will grow up to be a movie star or model. She walked down the aisle with such poise and confidence. I couldn't help taking more pictures of her for the blog.

Let's talk about aisle runners!

The vision of floating down the aisle on a pristine white runner is appealing for sure! The task of making that vision happen can be a challenge though. The best aisle runner I have ever seen is a 50-foot length of white carpet. The carpet won't twist, wrinkle, snag, or fly up in the wind which are the problems encountered with the standard aisle runners sold to brides! Diane Tighe at the Washington-Duke Inn where I did the wedding with the white carpet runner told me that the runner was rented from American Party Rentals. According to their website you can rent it for $50. It would be a wise investment if you want a great runner for your wedding.

Another suitable aisle runner was made by Laura and Ash, a couple I married at the Raleigh Rose Garden. I warned them about the futility of putting an aisle runner on top of grass and so they very wisely had a length of heavy white canvas hemmed with grommets inserted at intervals so the runner could be secured to the ground with tent stakes--very clever! See photo of Laura and Dad processing in on the runner.

The flimsy paper-thin, rather narrow aisle runners on a cardboard roll with rope through it leaves much to be desired and requires planning and hard work to install! I do not recommend it be laid out over grass--at all. Even when we have tried to secure it to the ground with white golf tees, it becomes treacherous. The least little bit of wind will pick it up and wrinkle and twist it. The heels of the bridesmaids' and bride's shoes can snag it and risks walking down the aisle dragging the runner behind like a long piece of toilet paper! Besides, it feels like you are walking on pillows! A better solution to defining the aisle is to sprinkle rows of flower petals thickly on each side of the aisle, or all over. This is so pretty! Or, sprinkle lavender seeds on the aisle right before the bride comes in and as she and her father walk on the lavender seeds as they process in, the beautiful lavender scent wafts through the air!










If the aisle is carpet, concrete or decking, the paper aisle runner must be secured with tape--not an easy task getting tape to stick to carpet or concrete. It must be taped at the beginning and at the end and usually tacked down along the sides. This takes time and therefore dictates that the aisle runner be put down before the wedding begins and if you don't want your guests walking on it, rope off the center aisle and direct the guests to their seats from the sides. To wait and have your ushers roll out your aisle runner after all the wedding party have processed in can sometimes be a longer pause in the procession than you planned on. It is usually entertaining for the guests though as they watch the person(s) in charge of unrolling the aisle runner struggle to get the runner straight and then secured. The rope that they put in the tube that the runner is rolled on invariably snags and gets hung up during the unrolling and getting the runner straight down the aisle is not an easy thing for the usher(s) who is backing down the aisle and can't easily see where he is going--no rear view mirror--ha ha! Then, once it is in place, it must be cut and taped down before the bride makes her entrance.

The wedding I did at Bass Lake Park on 4/27 had a runner and it was quite easily taped to the deck there but did result in a delay as the two women who ran it down the aisle after the mothers were seated frantically had to get it straight then cut it with scissors and hold it down (it was windy) while trying to tape it down. See photo. The next Saturday 5/3 I did another wedding there where the runner was attempted to be held down by pots of flowers. That did not work very well--it was windy and the wind lifted the runner up and out from beneath the pots and it twisted and wrinkled. When the bride and her father tried to walk down the aisle it was too narrow because of the pots of flowers and dad had to run an obstacle course avoiding the pots of flowers. Actually he was a good sport and it was quite comical and we all had a good laugh! You can see the wrinkled runner and flower pots in the photos of Valerie and Kevin's wedding below.

Tim Oxendine, local DJ, has a red carpet runner which can be used in your wedding. Here is a photo of a wedding at Eagle Ridge Golf Club with Tim's red aisle runner. So, if you hire Tim to DJ your wedding, you can have a red aisle runner for your wedding!

If anyone has any innovative ideas for aisle runners, I would love to hear from you.