Melinda and Jeff's Fantastic Wedding at Washington-Duke Inn!

Melinda and Jeff's wedding was really special for me. They wisely chose to take my Marriage Optimization course to be sure they were starting their marriage off on the right foot and would not have any unforeseen problems arise. They were so much fun to work with and I got to know them quite well. They are quite well matched for each other. So, I was really looking forward to marrying them. Together we created a very warm and meaningful wedding ceremony that they both loved and enjoyed hearing on their wedding day.

Diane Tighe at the Washington-Duke Inn helped them make their wedding ceremony very unique by seating the guests in a circle with 6 aisles, 4 of which had a bridesmaid and a groomsmen standing at the inside of the aisle. I could see that the guests were just fascinated as each groomsman entered and took his place followed by each bridesmaid entering and taking her place beside him. The Maid of Honor, Bethany, stood just outside the arbor opposite the best man, Andrew, Jeff's brother. Then Jeff entered by walking completely around the outside of the circle then coming down the center aisle to join me under the arbor.

Melinda, you are a gorgeous bride. Of course you come by it naturally with a beautiful mother and handsome father. Here they proudly escort her in.

They walked her around the outside of the circle then at the entrance to the center aisle, they kissed her and from that point Jeff escorted Melinda down the aisle and under the arbor. Then they turned and faced each other centered in front of me and I began to speak.

Each set of parents had chairs nearest the arbor; Jeff's parents, Tom and Eileen, are on the right and Melinda's parents, Jim and Nancy, are on the left in the photo above.

You can see the bridesmaids and groomsmen in couples at the inside of each of the 4 aisles and the best man and maid of honor just outside the arbor. As I delivered the welcome, I rotated in different directions to greet all the guests. The rain had held off all day and there was a lovely glow in the air as the sun started to go down.

In this photo, the parents have joined us under the arbor, or chuppah, for the Parents' Blessing thanking and honoring them on behalf of the couple and guests. It was an emotional moment.

Jeff's cousin, Winn, read to us the poem by Taylor Mali "Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog." Melinda and Jeff chose this reading because it expresses both their love for animals--especially dogs, as well as the humor they embrace in their relationship. It is a sweet and funny poem that everyone enjoys and one of the most popular poems chosen by my couples for their weddings for the past 2 years.

Jeff and Melinda made their vows to each other loud and clear! Then they exchanged rings and after the pronouncement we had the "breaking of the glass" to honor Melinda's Jewish heritage.
Then they finally got to kiss each other! The raindrops started gently falling just as we ended.

Husband and wife, equal partners joined in matrimony, at last!

Melinda and Jeff, you are a terrific couple. I know you will both go far in your careers and have a happy marriage too. It was my pleasure working with you and officiating your beautiful and memorable wedding ceremony. Congratulations, I wish you the best of everything!

The Washington-Duke Inn is one of the most elegant settings for weddings in the Triangle and probably the whole State of North Carolina. This is the ballroom set up for their reception. I always enjoy working with Diane Tighe who is in charge of the weddings there. She is so knowledgeable, so creative, and so pleasant to collaborate with on weddings. Some of the most beautiful and memorable weddings I have done have been done here. Great job, Diane!

The Matthew-Chicurel String Trio provided the lovely music for the ceremony. This is Matt with his back to the camera who put together this group. He plays viola, the other instruments are cello and violin. Standing behind them is Craig Carpenter, our photographer, with Luster Studios. His photographic skills are excellent and his photos show it. I love working with Craig and we do a lot of weddings together. Send me some photos of this one, Craig!

Floral Dimensions did all the flowers. Aren't these centerpieces beautiful?

This wonderful wedding cake was made by a friend of the couple. I believe her name is Carla Young. I don't know if she is in the business of baking wedding cakes or not. Maybe someone will let me know.

A Wedding in the Round for Delaney and Jake at Snipes Farm Retreat in Chapel Hill!

Jake and Delaney met at the University of North Carolina 9 years ago but they live in Chicago now. Jake is originally from Laurinburg NC and is descended from the Lumbee Indians. Delaney was born in Tennessee and lived in NJ and her heritage is Christian and Jewish. Their wedding ceremony was a beautiful blending of all their heritages.

Snipes Farm Retreat in Chapel Hill fit Delaney and Jake's dream site for their wedding. It is an old dairy farm with barn and silo, now converted to a great casual party place out in the country. Here is our wedding director in the black dress, Lindsey Moyer, directing guests to the wedding ceremony area. The pooch is Jake and Delaney's sweet doggie, Stella, who was honored by a reading during the wedding entitled "Love is Like Owning a Dog." She was wearing a ring pillow on her collar but Jake's dad had the real rings. She was such a gentle dog and had the sweetest face.

Here Jake is being escorted in by his parents. Jake and Delaney wanted to have their guests in a circle around them. There were 3 rows of concentric circles of chairs. Seated in the Inner Circle were their family members and special friends instead of having attendants standing up with them. That made it easy for the three of us under the Chuppah to make a quarter turn every quarter section of the ceremony so all the guests got good views of the bride and groom. In the ceremony we included a Native American saying “Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are the stars. The wind in its greatest power whirls. Birds make their nests in circles. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man or a woman is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.”

Delaney is escorted in by her mother and father and helped along by Lindsey.

Here Delaney and her parents enter the circle as the guests are standing in honor of the bride. (I noticed after the wedding that there was a note in the program Please Don't Stand for the entrance of Inner Circle, Groom and Bride, but I did not see it ahead of time and had the guests stand for the bride!)

The sun is shining right in Delaney's eyes while we stood facing this direction. She was glad when we turned. Did you notice the big rocks in the pots holding the poles of the Chuppah? Well, although the poles were embedded in concrete, it was not heavy enough to keep the Chuppah from blowing over. Having seen 4 good sized rocks on my way in, Lindsey and I enlisted the help of 4 strong young men to fetch those rocks to anchor the pots. Once these guys were involved, they took over making sure that Chuppah would not blow over and they were certainly successful. Thanks, you guys!

Jake is tall. The Chuppah is almost grazing the top of his head! This Chuppah was very special to this couple as the canopy incorporated needlework of her great grandmother.

Jake and Delaney drink wine together as part of the Jewish wedding tradition. L'Haim, may your cup of life run over!

Stella decided it was nap time during the ceremony but I believe she did pay attention during the reading dedicated to her.

I had to include this amazing photo filled with rainbow light!

Delaney is reading to Jake her personal statement to him from my book. All of us got a good laugh at her sense of humor about how they met. Jake's personal statement to Delaney included his singing to her a song he wrote for her. It was so romantic. I could almost hear the women all around us swooning!

I made the pronouncement of marriage, Jake stomped the glass, and after 9 years, Jake and Delaney are sooooo happy to be married, at last!

The sun is shining bright on this very special couple. Jake and Delaney, your wedding was terrific. I love your creativity and expressiveness. It was definitely a one-of-a-kind wedding. Congratulations to you both.

Who made this lovely cake? I forgot to find out.

This is the reception area inside the barn at Snipes Farm Retreat. (They don't have a website but you can call the owner, Roger Snipes, at 919-929-3454.) Delaney made the favors and each table was named for a city they either lived in or visited with a photo of them there and words explaining the significance. Delaney also made some of the most beautiful wedding programs I have ever seen. She is so talented and creative. She actually stamped a swatch of fabric with the design of a tree with the roots spelling out hers and Jake's full names. This was sewn onto the cover of each program. In addition to having the usual order of service and the names of parents, grandparents and Inner Circle friends, they made a crossword puzzle specific to their facts, like "the name of the Tarheel mascot, Chicago-style pizza, Jake's birthday month Scorpio, what's black, barks and bears the ring?" Inside each program was a handwritten name or word that was to match or "twin" with another name or word in another program, i. e. Peanut Butter and Jelly would match. The guests were to find their "twin." A wonderful touch and a fun mixer.

Many thanks to Lindsey Moyer of A Joyful Occasion, and her assistant, Suzanne Dale, for doing a super job organizing the guests and wedding party and directing the wedding.

I want to thank Jonathan C. Ward, Native American flutist, who played original flute music for the processional. It was so beautiful, so much so that I bought one of his CDs. He also brought his sound board so that all I had to do was plug in my ear mic and the handheld mic I brought for our reader. The website address www.jonathancward.com on his card does not work but his phone number is (910) 474-8189 and if you google him, you can watch his U-tube. Forbes Boyle, guitarist and singer and one of the Inner Circle Friends, played and sang for the entrance of the Inner Circle Family and Friends and Groom and Bride.

James Bowman of James Bowman Photography was our photographer. The photos on this blog, however, were taken with my point and shoot digital camera by my friend and "roadie," Marty.

A Very Special Wedding Ceremony for Cortney and Joseph!

Joseph and Cortney met with me in February to discuss their wedding plans and see what I thought about their ideas for their ceremony on April 25th. They really wanted to do things differently. First of all, their wedding was on the patio at the Washington-Duke Inn in Durham, an elegant and fun wedding venue. They wanted to do their wedding "in the round." Ironically, I did a wedding at that same site in the round a few years ago so I was positive it would be work very nicely there. They were thrilled. They loved the ceremony I read to them and the creative freedom I give couples in writing their own ceremony using my ceremony material as guidelines and were eager to get started. A few weeks later they called me and told me that they were very happily "with child!" I suggested we put a blessing for the child that was to be born to them in the wedding ceremony if that appealed to them and they loved it!

At the rehearsal on Friday, I was thrilled to work with Diane Tighe from the Inn again! It has been awhile. Diane and I work together so well because we have done many weddings together in the past 10 years. She had already had the chairs placed in an octagonal shape with 4 aisles. Joseph and Cortney planned to enter at the same time from opposite sides, come around the outside of the circle of guests, meet in the middle and enter the circle together. They also wanted to dance out at the conclusion of the ceremony with their first dance around the outside of the circle once then entering it again and then dancing with their parents and then inviting the guests to join them. So, we got the choreography down pat and went through the ceremony logistics and looked forward with anticipation for the ceremony the next day. Cortney's sister, Heather, and Joseph's friend, Alan, were their matron of honor and best man, respectively. They had two readers who stepped into the circle for their readings. The "sound man" from the Inn, Thomas Burke, was with us and I was able to plug my receiver into his system. The couple had a playlist of the songs they had selected to be played for the prelude and ceremony. See photo of Thomas and Diane above.

Saturday dawned--a beautiful sunny day for a wedding. Their photographer, Ana Kirin of Studio 1, was there to capture the day in pictures. The ceremony went exactly as planned and the guests were marveling at the originality and uniqueness. Joseph and Cortney circled in and the ceremony began. Cortney was a radiant bride and Joseph was beaming. They were both so in the moment and really enjoying themselves. We honored their parents and then blessed their unborn child--so sweet and touching. They read the vows they had written to each other from my book and exchanged rings. Then we had the wine ceremony which begins "The years of our lives are as a cup of wine poured for us to drink..." The pronouncement of marriage followed and then the closing prayer. I announced them to their guests and the music started and they danced, and danced all around the outside of the circle as the guests looked on with amazement! It was so much fun! They were so happy to be married and be with their friends and families. I met one guest who came all the way from Hawaii to be with them. We are going to do a baby blessing ceremony for their baby when it arrives and I am so looking forward to it. I wonder if they will dance again!

Joseph and Cortney, you are amazing! Congratulations on your marriage and your new family!