Wedding at All Saints Chapel for Sandy and Todd!

Sandy and Todd fell in love with All Saints Chapel and wanted to get married there with closest family and friends on August 21, 2010. Their reception was at Second Empire. I met with them last November and we signed a contract and I sent them all the material from which to create their ceremony. When I arrived at the chapel on Friday for their rehearsal, I met Debbie, a new member of the staff at All Saints Chapel, who was on duty for this wedding and extremely helpful. 

 

 Here Debbie is pinning the corsage on Todd's mother. April Sirit with Evoke was our photographer.

Matthew Kanon was on hand to provide the couple's selection of music. Always a pleasure to work with Matt!

The couple had a theater theme and this is the billboard that greeted their guests when they arrived. Sandy made lovely wedding programs that also reflected their theme.

When it was time and all the guests were there, we began with the seating of the mothers, entrance of the groom and groomsmen and me, then the bridesmaids followed by the bride and her proud father! That is Todd's Aunt Sally in the background. When Sandy's sister could not be at the rehearsal due to a work conflict, Sally stepped in and did a fine job of directing this wedding. Thanks, Sally!

The altar was filled with beautiful floating candles provided by Fresh Affairs and created a very soft and romantic glow against the dark wood of the altar.

 After the vows and the ring exchange, Sandy and Todd included the wine and chocolate ceremony. The wine was the same pinot grigio that they celebrated with on their engagement in 2009. The glass was "borrowed" from their favorite restaurant in Savannah, and the chocolate was Godiva, the first gift Todd had given Sandy.  The words in the ceremony were: "The years of life will have some hardships and disappointments, of which this bitter wine is a symbol, remember to forgive the frailties of one another. Bear together life’s adversities and be confident that the good will always return.The years of life have indeed, much happiness, joy, hope, healing and goodness, of which this sweet chocolate is a token. We ask that you eat of it together, and as you do, earnestly seek the power and wisdom to use all the pleasure and prosperity that may come to you, with gratitude, modesty, and sympathy for all those less fortunate than yourselves."

The pronouncement was made, the kiss enjoyed, and the newlywed couple step into their new life together as husband and wife!

Doesn't Todd's smiley smirk look like the cat who swallowed the canary? They were so happy to be married after meeting exactly 6 years ago on this, their wedding day! Congratulations and all the happiness and contentment in the world!

LONG VIEW CENTER OPENS AGAIN FOR WEDDINGS!

I am delighted to announce that Long View Center sanctuary is once again open for weddings and other events. Long View Center is one of the most elegant and beautiful church settings for a wedding in the Triangle.

When it was purchased from Tabernacle Baptist Church about 10 years ago all the stained glass windows were replaced with non-religious themed windows because Tabernacle took with them the original windows. So the sanctuary is perfect for non-denominational weddings. It is located in downtown Raleigh at 118 S. Person Street across from Moore's Square. Convenient to many restaurants and local attractions.

This photo of the balcony at the rear of the church was taken from the altar to show the light shining through.

This is a photo of a Jen and Martin's wedding I officiated there in August of 2003. The sanctuary has a grand piano and other musicians can be brought in. Jen's brother, David, a classical pianist, is playing for us.

The sanctuary is semicircular with a very long center aisle for the bride and her attendants to process in.

There is also an upper balcony in the rear of the sanctuary.

The church was originally built in the 1880s and the acoustics are wonderful. It is such a fabulous place for a wedding. Many couples use Marbles in the same block for their reception or the Sheraton or Marriott Hotels nearby.

To find out about Long View Center for your wedding, you can call Diane McDaniel with Unity Church of the Triangle to set up a meeting and view the facility. Her phone is (919) 832-8324 Ext. 51 or email her at events@UnityTriangle.org. The website is under construction.

Caffe Luna Wedding for Jen and Chris!

Last December Jen and Chris asked me to officiate their wedding on August 14, 2010 at noon at Caffe Luna, a great place for a casual fun wedding in downtown Raleigh. I am practically "resident minister" there! I was delighted and so we began work on their ceremony. We had the rehearsal on Friday afternoon and figured out how we would enter, the logistics of the ceremony and the recessional. Everyone was so focused and attentive that we finished in a record 35 minutes! The bride's family had traveled from Michigan for this wonderful occasion.

When Marty, my "roadie," back from vacation, and I arrived, our DJ, Daniel Clodfelter with Anything Music, was busy setting up the sound for Jen's Uncle Mark on guitar, his daughter Maddie and Mark's wife (not in photo) who was the page-turner and sound check tester! Then he plugged my theater microphone and the handheld microphone for the reader into the system and we were set.

Here's Daniel, all dressed and ready to begin the ceremony. He was so helpful. We worked together at another wedding at Preston Woodall House last spring. Thanks, Daniel!

Marty looked around and found this lovely wedding cake that was provided by a friend of the bride. What a nice tribute to a friend. The flowers for the bouquets and boutonnieres and centerpieces were by Flower City.

Another table held these two photos of the couple's parents on their wedding days. I could definitely recognize their younger selves. Nice tribute to both parents who are still married today and provided wonderful models of long lasting marriage for this couple. We paid tribute to them in the ceremony and they were very touched.

After the parents entered--see both mothers (Debbie and Peggy) on the right--the groom and groomsmen and I entered from the front of the restaurant and took our places in the archway and waited for the bridesmaids to come in. Uncle Mark and Maddie provided really terrific music for the processional and recessional. They apparently came in from Michigan for this wedding. Thanks, you two!

Five lovely bridesmaids in pretty "fern green" dresses and the sweet 6 year old flower girl, Ellal. She did a great job coming down the aisle and sprinkling the petals. The bride and her father are making their entrance at this moment.

Here comes the bride and her loving father, Ron, floating down the aisle!

"Ron, as Jen's father, do you and her mother, Debbie, bless and support her as she comes to join in marriage with Chris?" Of course his answer was "We do."

Chris' sister, Kathryn read a poem during the ceremony. It was a poem written by a bridegroom I married in 2003, Sean Brosnahan, for his own wedding. The title is: "A Fairytale Potion for a Modern Day Wedding" and is wonderful. Kathryn did a great job presenting it. Then  11 of the bride's friends each stood and read a quote from some of Jen's second grade students and former students on love and marriage. They were quite amusing, to say the least.

That was followed by the story of how the bride and groom met and how they got to this wedding today. Chris jokes around saying that match.com should use them for a commercial! Then they read their vows to each other from my book.

Jen and Chris chose to include the rose ceremony where they give a rose to each other as their first gift to each other. Nice and touching ceremony.

The pronouncement of marriage as Chris is grinning with happiness!

Followed by the kiss they had been practicing!

The presentation of the newlywed couple to their guests as the music begins and they take this sight in before exiting.

And out they go for photographs as the guests are instructed to go to the reception area.

Our very capable photographers, Nancy and Mark Ruggirello, of Simply Creative Photography, and their third camera-woman, Ashley, set up some great poses in the grassy area behind Caffe Luna. I really enjoy working with them and they do many weddings at Caffe Luna.

Final photo with the happy couple. Jen and Chris, you were a delight to work with and I am so happy you found each other! Congratulations and I wish you a lifetime of health and happiness!
(Whoopee! I am all caught up on my blogs until next weekend! Enjoy!)

Krystal and Soumitra's Wonderful Wedding at Brier Creek Country Club!

Krystal and Soumitra came to see me in June to officiate their wedding on August 7, 2010 at Brier Creek County Club. Krystal grew up in Massachusetts and Soumitra (AKA "Meech") grew up in North Carolina. They met in a on line forum in 2002 while Krystal was in college in Boston. They actually did  not meet in person until almost a year later when Meech traveled to Boston and when they did, the attraction and compatibility was Magic! So, now they both live in Apex and wanted to make their commitment to each other official. Their wedding day was a very pleasant temperature, more like the traditional June rather than the hot August weather we are accustomed to.

Kristie Taylor, catering and events manager for Brier Creek, was on hand to make sure everything ran smoothly. Jill with All the Right Grooves was our DJ for the ceremony and reception and did a fine job.  I thank Amy Turner of Your Still Life Photography for sending me these fabulous photos. My camera had an unfortunate technical malfunction and she bailed me out here for the blog. Both Amy and her husband, David, were shooting this wedding. North Raleigh Florists provided the beautiful flowers.

Krystal's parents, Silvano and Judith, escorted their lovely daughter down the aisle.

Here I believe I am sharing the story of their first kiss. Or maybe how Soumitra secretly conspired with Krystal's mother to get family heirloom diamonds and design a special engagement ring for Krystal.

This must be the part in the ceremony about Soumitra's carefully planned proposal at Duke Gardens and the duck that "helped" him stage the event!  

Then they said their vows to each other and exchanged rings and it was time for the sand ceremony.

They poured their individual colors of sand together into one container symbolizing their connection to each other.

I made the pronouncement of marriage and they shared their first kiss as husband and wife. I managed to step out of the way and was so happy to see that Amy got this photo of the couple kissing without me in it.

And, here they are, husband and wife at last! 

This photo is one of only a few taken with my camera after the wedding when I was able to delete some photos filling up the media card. Krystal and Meech, what a great couple you are! I know you are so happy and I wish you much joy! 

Family Wedding for Deborah and Tony from Tennessee!

Darcy contacted me in June to see if I was available to officiate the wedding of her mother and Tony who live in Tennessee and were going to be visiting her in North Carolina. They had set a wedding date of August 7th, 2010. I was delighted that I was available and so we got started on the ceremony. Initially Deborah and I had trouble getting our email servers to accept each other's messages but we finally prevailed. Dave and I arrived at Darcy and Dean's home in Rolesville about 15 minutes before the wedding and met everyone for the first time. There were several other family members there too. They had transformed the dining room into the setting for the wedding ceremony and even planned music and a processional.

The ceremony was short but sweet and very meaningful for Deborah and Tony who had previewed the ceremony I wrote for them and loved it.

I don't think Tony was quite prepared for Deborah to grab him so quickly for this kiss! But he certainly was not displeased either! Everyone was so happy for them.

 The new Mr. and Mrs........I think Deborah is starting to tear up a bit here as they are introduced to their guests.

Deborah and Tony, I am so happy for you! I am so glad you decided to get married in North Carolina and I am honored to have officiated your ceremony! All the best to you both and your families!