Chatham Hill Winery Hosts their First Wedding for Joni and Jason!

Joni called me the day before Thanksgiving to find out if I could officiate her wedding on 12/7/08 at the Chatham Hill Winery in Cary which is right off I-40 at Aviation Parkway. She and Jason had apparently decided to get married on short notice! I was so glad that I was available to do this for them. We made all the arrangements and started working on the ceremony which would include their two adorable daughters, Brynn and Alyssa. I had never been to the winery before and was looking forward to seeing it and finding out how a wedding would be staged there. When 12/7 arrived, Marty and I found our way to the winery and were amazed at the nice space they had. The wedding ceremony was held in the Barrel Room which can accommodate 36 chairs with a center aisle. It was quite comfortable but at the same time quite unusual decor for a wedding! Meghan Reynolds, the winery hostess that evening, recognized me right away. She and I had worked together on weddings when she worked at the Matthews House and at Homestead Suites in Cary. It was great to see her again and chat with her. Seems that since I had last seen her she had married and been offered a great job at the winery where she had worked many years ago. She told me that this was the first wedding that has been done there and they would like to host more weddings as well as receptions.

Back to the wedding.........when Joni and the photographer and Brynn and Alyssa arrived we were ready to get begin the ceremony. Our guests who had been waiting (and sampling the wine) were ready to have the ceremony done and the celebration continue! Their beautiful cake was made by Jason's mother and Joni the day before. What a great job they did!


Joni's father, Bill, escorted her in and transferred her hand into Jason's. Meghan faded the music and the ceremony began. The couple had edited the ceremony to suit them and it was lovely. We honored their parents and their daughters, they exchanged vows and rings and I pronounced them husband and wife as their guests applauded while they sealed their vows with a kiss!

After the wedding, Jason's mother told me that I had also officiated the wedding of their daughter, Jason's sister, Shannon, and her husband, Mikey, at Duke Gardens many years ago--see their photo! Wow! I was not looking for them so I did not recognize them and they are now the parents of two small children. I did get to speak to Shannon but did not see Mikey before we left. What a small world!

Congratulations, Joni and Jason, Brynn and Alyssa!

A Beautiful December Wedding for Ellen and Rich!

Ellen and Rich had a wonderful wedding at The Matthews House on 12/6/08. They had about 175 guests and the ballroom was full. Lenny Fritts of Touch of Class DJ was the DJ for both the ceremony and the reception and Shawn Schindler of Your Special Day was the wedding planner. I have worked with both of them and I know when they are on board, everything will go smoothly. Tammy Wingo was our photographer. Lyn Graves of Fresh Affairs did the elegant floral designs and Ashley Lattimer of Ashley's Cakes provided the beautiful cake. The small ceramic figure of the bride and groom dancing was the cake topper from Rich's parents' wedding many years ago.

Before the ceremony I was inside the Matthews House in the big dining room where we sequester the groomsmen and best man (Rich's father) until we are ready to begin the ceremony. They were all listening to the Duke-Florida game and threatening to turn their cell phones on during the ceremony to get the score! Of course they were joshing with me but I seriously considered asking the guests during the ceremony what the score was. I told Ellen about that after the wedding and she laughed and said she wished that I had! Anyway, as soon as Shawn, our wedding director, gave us the signal we proceeded across the breezeway to the ballroom and Shawn's assistant summoned the bride and her maidens to come down the stairs to line up for their entrance. Ellen's dress was beautiful and the bridesmaids wore red-- a great color especially for this time of the year so near Christmas.

Ellen's father escorted her down the aisle and she was radiant. After he transferred her hand into Rich's the music faded and the ceremony began with a warm welcome to all the guests. Then we paid tribute to their parents--a wonderful recognition of these couples who are still married to each other after all these years. They make wonderful models for happy marriages for their children! This is always a treat for me to see. Then Rich had written the story of how he and Ellen had met when walking their dogs. Their guests got a kick out of that! It was a good story though and he included how they did things for each other like "Ellen sits through the cold and rain of late fall UNC football games because Rich says he has more fun when she is there with him. Rich spends Friday nights on Ellen’s couch, sandwiched between Ellen and her dogs, and rubs Ellen’s feet while she watches her favorite TV shows in her pajamas." Then we got down to the serious business of what marriage and commitment means to the two of them as they exchanged their vows and rings.

The sand ceremony followed with some difficulty pouring the sand without spilling it into the narrow mouthed container (see my article on sand ceremony set ups which I intend to post soon!) but they got it done! I pronounced them married, they kissed and I introduced them to their happy guests! After the wedding party recessed and the guests were enjoying cocktails in the main house, the wedding party returned for photos. We did some re-enactment of the ceremony for pictures and at one point, Ellen needed to hand off her bouquet for the photo and the closest person standing by was Lenny. See how my roadie, Marty, captured him holding the bouquet! After all the photos were done, Marty and I bid everyone adieu and headed home. Rich and Ellen, hope you are having fun in Jamaica!

A Beautiful Wedding on November 29, 2008 for Traci and Tim!

Traci's mother, Carol, contacted me in early October about officiating Traci and Tim's wedding at Brier Creek Country Club. The couple lives in Wilmington so Carol was handling the local details. Both sets of parents live in the Triangle area. Carol and I met in late October and signed a contract and then I sent all the ceremony material to Traci and Tim so they could get started on their ceremony. They did a wonderful job and the ceremony was beautiful. I did a small amount of rearranging for order and flow and minor editing and the ceremony was all set.

I meet Traci and Tim for the first time at their rehearsal on the 28th. Rebecca, the wedding coordinator at the Brier Creek Country Club was there to make sure we had everything we needed and the ceremony room was beautifully appointed with greenery and lots and lots of votive candles on the hearth and mantle of the fireplace where the couple and I would stand for the ceremony. John Carter was also there for the rehearsal. John is the owner of A Perfect Day DJ and Company and provided not only the music for the ceremony and the reception but also the photographer, Jeff, and the videographer, Robin. Traci and Tim's friend Patricia was the honorary wedding director so she and I worked together with the wedding party to make sure the wedding processional and recessional would go smoothly on the wedding day--and it did! Thanks to Patricia's attentiveness and quick thinking, she noticed that there were not enough chairs on the front row as grandparents were being seated so she and our DJ, John , quickly added three more chairs to the first row and the processional continued.

Tim, his Best Man and brother, Joey, and his young son, Sam, our Ringbearer, and I entered from the side of the room after the mother of the bride was seated. Then our Maid of Honor, Angela, processed in. The music changed, the guests stood to welcome and honor the bride, as our Flower Girl, Ella, preceded Traci and her Dad down the aisle sprinkling flower petals. The Father of the Bride transferred Traci's hand into Tim's and carefully stepped around the bride's train being careful not to trip on it as I had warned him at the rehearsal! We began with a warm welcome to all our guests and followed with a prayer. We remembered those who could not be with us. Then there was a tearful tribute to their parents thanking them for all their love and support. Tim's sister, Sandy, then told us the story of Tim and Traci and how great they are together. MaryBeth, Traci's cousin, presented the Indian Wedding Prayer and got choked up a few times! Then I gave the wedding address, words on love and marriage, which flowed into the blessing of the hands ceremony. Traci and Tim exchanged their vows and sealed them with their rings and I made the pronouncement of marriage. I could tell they had been practicing "the kiss" because it was a good one! (Their homework assignment from the rehearsal was to practice the kiss!) The guests cheered and we closed with a blessing for Traci and Tim and their new life together. As I introduced them to their guests, Traci raised her arms and bouquet in a sign of victory! Sorry I did not get a photo of that--in fact, the battery of my camera ran out so I did not get as many photos as I usually do!

Tim and Traci are a great couple and I know they are so happy together! Have a great time on your honeymoon----I suspect that they are likely snowbound in their cabin in the NC Mountains as I write this!

Beautuful Wedding for Leah and Josh at the Preston-Woodall House in Benson!

Leah and Josh planned a beautiful wedding outdoors, but unfortunately, due to the dip in temperature, Leah's hopes for an outdoor wedding were dashed. November is a risky time for outdoor weddings anyway and the weather surely did not cooperate with a high of 42 degrees on this clear sunny day. But the switch from outdoors to indoors was easily made and their wedding was fabulous anyway!

Leah and Josh came to see me last February and hired me as their wedding officiant. I was thrilled. The prestigious Preston-Woodall House in Benson is a wonderful place for weddings. It is a lovely historic house built around 1910 that the owners (Joel and Dale) have turned into a bed and breakfast and host elegant weddings there. In the past 8 years that I have been doing weddings there, I have seen some incredible changes to the property. What was once a concrete patio was transformed into the gorgeous 2800 square foot Cora Lily Grand Ballroom a few years ago. The simple backyard and small gazebo has been transformed into a beautiful garden courtyard with the Queen Ann Pavilion where we do outdoor weddings (in warmer weather!). Two of the great advantages of having a wedding here is that you can have the ceremony and reception in one location and the option of having your wedding outdoors or indoors. The owners have also purchased 3 of the small houses surrounding the block and renovated them into the nicest guest cottages that can accommodate the wedding guests. It is only a 42 mile drive from my home in N. Raleigh and not too far off I-40 and I-95.

When I arrived for the wedding today, November 22, 2008, the lighted arbor and the tables with the Memorial Candles and the Unity Candle were all in place in the ballroom with a lovely backdrop of blue sky and trees. Alice, Josh's aunt, our honorary wedding director, was all set for the ceremony. The wedding cake by Ashley's Cakes was beautiful. The flowers which the couple did themselves were lovely and right in keeping with their wedding colors of burgundy, black and white. The table napkins even had little notes tucked inside them that thanked their guests for being with them and that a donation had been made in their name to the SPCA. How generous and thoughtful! I knew that Leah and Josh were dog lovers because they had chosen the very funny poem that has been so popular in weddings this year called "Love is Like Owning a Dog" by Taylor Mali for their wedding ceremony!

The wedding programs That they made themselves were awesome and among the best I have ever seen; and believe me, I have seen tons of them. I collect the extras to give to new couples who are planning their wedding. Leah and Josh's programs are ones I will really treasure and show as a shining example of superb wedding programs. Seems like they thought of every detail.

At the appointed time their friend, Stephen Smith, began the processional music as the grandparents and parents processed in. Josh's father escorted his parents in (Josh's grandparents) and lit the candle representing Josh. Then Joe, the brother of the bride, escorted in Leah's mother and she lit the candle representing Leah and was seated. Joe returned to the line-up to process in next with the groom and groomsmen and me. Then the music changed for the lovely bridesmaids and the maid of honor to enter. The music changed again and I invited the guests to stand to honor and welcome the bride. Leah's father escorted her down the aisle and placed her hand in Josh's and everyone was seated. We began with a warm welcome and a prayer. I told the guests that the Memorial Candles were lit in honor of those loved ones who could not be with us physically but we knew were with us in spirit, especially Josh's mother. Then it was time for Gillian, a good friend of the bride, to present that funny poem about love being like owning a dog. Gillian did a fantastic job presenting this reading and we all had a good laugh or two. I followed that with words on love and marriage, the vows and the ring exchange.

As the couple lit the Unity Candle, Mathias, husband of one of our bridesmaids, sang a beautiful song accompanied on the guitar by our "DJ" Stephen who actually is a musician and writes songs himself. The song was not an easy one to sing without an orchestra ("When You Say You Love Me," by Josh Groban) but Mathias has a wonderful voice and it was beautiful! I then made the pronouncement of marriage and invited Leah and Josh to celebrate with their first kiss as husband and wife. We closed with a blessing and I introduced them to their guests as everyone applauded and they made their way down the aisle.

After the wedding party and their parents and grandparents departed, the guests were invited to enjoy delicious refreshments by the dedicated chef at Preston-Woodall House. While the guests were enjoying themselves the staff re-staged the ballroom for the reception and the wedding party reconvened for photos by Mike Phongsa of MP Photography. My "roadie," Marty, was back with me this weekend after taking a week's vacation to be with her twin sister. She took all the photos you see here. It was good to have her back!

Leah and Josh, you are a great couple and I wish you a very happy marriage and may all your dreams come true!

Long View Center in Raleigh Closing as a Wedding Venue.

Long View Center has been one of the most elegant wedding venues in Raleigh for the past few years. I have enjoyed officiating many weddings in this lovely place for the past few years and expect to continue doing weddings here in the future. Here are some photos of weddings I have officiated here.

A bit of history: This historic church building was originally constructed in the mid 1880s and was owned and occupied by a Baptist church until about 2001 when that congregation built a new church building and relocated to North Raleigh.

The church property was purchased by an individual who restored the beautiful old church and opened it as Long View Center, a conference center and wedding/special events venue. In November of 2006, the bulk of the building space was leased to Unity Church of the Triangle (UCT), a non-denominational spiritual community, for church offices and services because they had outgrown their church building on Whitaker Mill Road. Long View Center retained use of the sanctuary for weddings and special events. There is a wonderful lower level area and catering kitchen for receptions and other events.

Just recently Long View Center as a business announced that it will no longer be hosting weddings and special events in the historic old church building effective February of 2009 and cancelled all wedding scheduled there for 2009. The owner of the church building has mandated that UCT not host weddings in the sanctuary as a condition of the lease unless the couple are members of UCT. UCT is in the process of assessing the possibility of purchasing this historic church building and if we do, then weddings will again be possible in the sanctuary to couples wishing to have their ceremony there. If this comes about, I will post the news on this blog.

Unity Church of the Triangle (UCT) is the church where I have been an active member since 1992. Although I am a minister, I do not serve in the capacity of minister at UCT. I have served on the Board of Trustees and been editor of the newsletter. I much prefer to officiate weddings and counsel couples and enjoy singing in our amazing choir and serving my spiritual community in other ways such as teaching classes on relationships, hosting book study groups, and other special projects.