Raleigh Wedding Blog

Friday, September 26, 2014

The Wonderful Wedding of Jaime and Zac at The Umstead!

The beautiful courtyard/garden at The Umstead Hotel and Spa is ready for Jaime and Zac's wedding on 9/13/14.

The temperature is pleasant but it has been raining on and off all day. The earlier wedding at The Carolina Inn was forced indoors. But, amazingly the weather slightly improved and held for Jaime and Zac to have their dream wedding!

The musicians from Triangle String Quartet are setting up while I apparently am either watching the sky or looking at all the onlookers from the balconies of the hotel rooms overlooking the garden. When I arrived for this wedding I was spotted and greeted in the lobby by Sarah and Jason, a couple I married at the Shady Wagon Farm a year ago. They were at The Umstead celebrating their first anniversary. It was great to see them again! And during the wedding ceremony, I could see them standing on the balcony watching the wedding! Fun!

Gina Anaab with A Southern Soiree is our very capable wedding director. Great job, Gina!

Meanwhile my assistant, Marty, located the reception room. The flower arrangements were provided by the aunts of the bride. Beautiful!

Also in the reception room was Steve Stow with Joe Bunn DJ Company, getting ready for the reception.

This beautiful cake is by Ashley Cakes.

Back in the garden, our musicians are all set up and tuning up. Our photographers for this wedding are Emily and Gary with Big Star Photography.

The processional has started.

Jaime's mother, Linda, was escorted in by Jackson, Jaime's son, and Olivia, Jaimie's niece.

There were seven groomsmen and seven bridesmaids.

Watching the bridesmaids enter one by one. What are those groomsmen on the right laughing about?

Serving as her mother's maid of honor, Jordan, makes her walk down the "runway!"

Now for the bride. By this time there are many hotel guests watching from their balconies.

Here comes our gorgeous bride and her proud father, Bruce!

This is Jaime's second wedding. I officiated the first one too. So happy she called me!

And so we begin the ceremony with a welcome to all, prayer, community blessing, then I got to tell their love story!

Their story was filled with sweetness and quite a bit of humor!

On a trip to the beach it hit them both at the same time that they were meant to be together!

The proposal story was funny!

I love seeing smiling bridesmaids!

Telling Jaime what Zac loves about her, why he wants to marry her and what he is looking forward to in marriage.

Then telling Zac the same from Jaime.

They read their vows to each other from my book where the words were printed facing them.

They exchanged rings then it was time for the family unity sand ceremony. I invited Jackson and Jordan to the table to join us in pouring their sand.

The hole the sand had to go through was small and the funnel was slow to empty, so we just got to put token amounts of sand in with the rest to be added later.

Who says guests don't read programs?

Jaime and Zac had an amazing wedding program. It was designed by her cousin, Carl Broaddus, who was a reader in the wedding.

Jaime's cousin, Carl, did a fantastic job reading the Irish Blessing before the pronouncement of marriage.

The legal moment when they become husband and wife!

Jaime had on very high heels so Zac did not have to bend over too far when he kissed her!!

Applause and cheering from their guests when I announced them!

Aaah! Jaime and Zac, what a great wedding! I am so happy the rain held off and we could have your wedding outside as planned. Despite your height discrepancy (!), I know you are a great match and I wish you all the happiness in the world! Thank you for choosing me for your officiant again; it was my honor!

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revk@aweddingminister.com

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Post Script from Jaime after viewing blog:

We are back from our honeymoon. Paris was fabulous!!! Your blog post is great!! :) Thank you so much for everything you did for us!! It was perfect, and the credit is all yours for the wonderful ceremony. Thank you again!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Susan and Lance Wed at The Carolina Inn!

Susan, Lance and I met in April to discuss their wedding scheduled for September 13, 2014 at 10:30 AM at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill. They were planning a small intimate wedding with about 35 guests. After we decided we were a good fit, we started planning the ceremony they wanted. The big day arrived and the weather was rather damp so the ceremony was moved inside the Inn to the Alumni Room.

I checked in with Susan in the black and white hallway where the wedding party was hanging out before the ceremony. Susan was born and raised in England then later moved to the United States. She and Lance met at the place they both work in 2011and fell in love.

Meet their daughter, Amelia! She was thoughtfully attended to by a designated babysitter. A great idea so that the bride and groom knew she was well taken care of during their wedding ceremony.

This is the sign Amelia wore when she entered before the bride!

Their guestbook was this beautiful wooden tree with circular signed leaves by their guests.

The reception was in the Old Well Room. At each place setting was this favor into which were embedded flower seeds.

The trend in wedding cakes for a lot of weddings these days is a small cake for cutting by the bride and groom then cupcakes for the guests. Simply Cakes provided this one!

Their unique wedding program!

The musicians from Arioso Strings arrived about the same time we did and started warming up.

Then the guests began to arrive and be seated. Notice all the hats!! It's an "English thing" just for Susan!

Lance, his best man, Howard, and his son, Brandon, and I entered and took our places followed by our lovely maid of honor, Elizabeth. The pretty flowers were by Fresh Affairs.

Time for Amelia! Grace Beason, our wedding director, leads the way as the babysitter took her seat to retrieve Amelia at the other end of the aisle!

Our second flower girl is Simone! Both little girls did so well for being so young.

Grace straightens out the veil for Susan before her brother, Matthew, escorts her in.

And so we begin. A warm welcome and prayer, remembrance of Susan's parents who have passed away, and a tribute to Lance's parents who came all the way from Georgia for the occasion. Then we recognized Lance's grown-up children, Ashleigh, Brandon and Hanna, and their daughter together, Amelia.

Some brief words about how Susan and Lance met and their beliefs in love and marriage.

Susan's friend, Kate, shared a reading by Elizabeth Barrett Browning "How Do I Love Thee."

To honor Susan's heritage, we included the hand fasting ritual.

The black and white hand fasting band came from a friend in Ireland especially for the occasion.

After they made their vows to each other while their hands were bound together, I removed the band and draped it on Lance making sure it was even.

They exchanged rings then I asked them to feel the happiness of the day and look around at all the loved ones surrounding them to honor them on their wedding day.

The pronouncement of marriage......

Sealed with a kiss......

And out they go!

Lovely, lovely, lovely! Susan and Lance, congratulations on finding each other, loving each other and marrying each other! Thank you for the privilege of joining you in matrimony! It was a fabulous celebration!