Samantha and Shawn's Beautiful Wedding at The Pavilions at Angus Barn!

Samantha and Shawn met one day in February of 2006 when they were both students at UNC. They were instantly attracted to each other and have been together ever since for the almost 6 intervening years. They finished their undergraduate degrees, Shawn law school, and launched their careers--Samantha is a school teacher and Shawn an attorney. Shawn loves Samantha for her exceptional thoughtfulness and unconditional positive regard for people. He is also happy that she is willing to accompany him fishing on Jordan Lake or watching sports. Samantha loves that Shawn is so romantic, keeps her laughing, and often will surprise her with his "seize the moment" spontaneity although it sometimes drives her crazy because she is used to being organized and following a schedule!

Their wonderful wedding was at the prestigious and spacious Pavilions at Angus Barn which is set on a beautiful lake with lovely landscaping and amenities. I love doing weddings there. The date was October 8, 2011 at 5:00.

They wisely hired Megan Brewer Gillikin (center, above) who owns A Southern Soiree to help them plan their wedding and direct it. I know Megan well because I officiated her wedding in May of last year to Jason. She is really good at what she does, loves doing it, is so fun to work with, and I can count on her to have every detail handled. She had her summer intern, Michelle, with her at the rehearsal and wedding to assist her. Pictured above on the left is Kelly Joslin who is in charge of the weddings at The Pavilions and a joy to work with. Thanks, Kelly and Megan!

Mitch Woodard with Joe Bunn DJ Company was our very capable DJ for the ceremony music and the reception. Mitch and I have worked many weddings together and he has the routine of plugging my mic into his system down to a fine science. Thanks, Mitch, the sound was perfect!

Wayne, owner of Swank Cake Designs, a well known wedding cake bakery around here, was putting the finishing touches on this gorgeous cake!

A clever way for guests to commemorate their presence was to leave their fingerprints on this lovely drawing of a tree. There were different shades of green ink pads to choose from. This will make a very unique piece of art to grace the couple's home.

When the guests were seated, we started the processional. First the grandmothers and parents were seated by our groomsmen who returned to the line-up to come in with me. Then our cute little flower girl and ring bearer  who made it all the way with assistance! Then the Father of the Bride proudly escorted in our exceptionally beautiful bride -- quite a long walk which makes an elegant entrance!

Samira, Maid of Honor, presented a reading of "The Art of Marriage" by Wilferd Arlan Peterson.

 

Shawn and Samantha read their vows to each other. Their promises of marriage were very touching: 
“I choose you to be my partner and best friend for life.
You accept me for who I am, and I accept you just as you are.
I trust you and respect you, and cherish every moment we are together.
I promise to love you with all of my heart.
I am committed to you and will never take our love or friendship for granted.
I promise to bring out the best in you, as you do in me.
I promise to make you smile and to support your dreams, forever and always.”

"Please accept this ring as a symbol of my love and the promises I make to you today."

As Shawn and Samantha joyfully recess down the aisle they are closely followed by their fabulous photographer, Robin Lin! Robin and I have also done many weddings together and she is so good at what she does. She had a second shooter, Penny Noelle Fuller, and even a third shooter, Sara Jane, with her for this wedding so I know she got exceptional coverage of Samantha and Shawn's special day. Tre Bella did the beautiful floral arrangements for the arbor, the bouquets and boutonnieres, and the centerpieces.

Fabulous wedding, Samantha and Shawn! I feel so honored to have been a part of it. Your love for each other is so evident and I know you will have a very rich and full marriage. I wish you all the best!

Kate and Steve's Wonderful Family Wedding at Second Empire!

Kate and I made all the arrangements for their sweet family wedding at Second Empire on Saturday October 8, 2011 by email so I did not meet them in person until their wedding day. She and Steve wanted to include Kate's daughters, Kailynn and Clara, and Steve's sons, Elijah and Aiden, in the ceremony who would officially become one big family that day. The couple's parents would be present as well. So, I wrote a special ceremony for them which they reviewed and made the changes they wanted. I love the intimacy of weddings at Second Empire, a stately  historic mansion which has been renovated into an upscale restaurant and event venue in downtown Raleigh. I do many weddings there each year and Tracey, the wedding/events coordinator, is always on the ball and everything is ready when I get there. It is a beautiful and elegant setting for small weddings of usually up to 40 guests and they could probably accommodate more if needed. This particular day there were two weddings--ours at 12:30 and another one at 4:00.

Kate found this pretty glass container for the family unity sand ceremony with sand for the bride and groom and the four children.

The atrium downstairs at Second Empire is a bright and airy space for the reception. The pastry chef there bakes beautiful wedding cakes but they keep them refrigerated until it is time for the reception so I don't have a photo to show you.

Ed with Arioso Strings provided the music for the ceremony. Ed and I work together a lot. Sometimes he is solo like today and other times he is one of a guitar and violin duo. It is a joy working with the musicians that Mary Page Block, the superbly organized owner of Arioso Strings, provides for weddings.They are always on time, organized, know the music and their musical ability is unsurpassed. I can always count on them.

The children are all ready and bursting with excitement about the wedding and their new family status!  They cannot wait to get started on the ceremony. 

The couple's friend, Gloria, was the perfect director for the wedding. She was very organized and had us all lined up and ready to walk in on cue. Thanks, Gloria! Their photographer was Tonya Mae Photography and the flowers were furnished by The Flower Cupboard.

 

"Now today, we witness the marriage of not only two individuals, but also that of a family who has been so fortunate to find one another, to enjoy one another and to love one another, now and always." 

Kate's mother, Maxine, shared with us a reading from "The Oyster Bed" section of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's book Gift from the Sea. She put in her own special touch for our couple based on her own marriage of 39 years. Thanks, Maxine!

Kate and Steve, may all your dreams come true and may you find much happiness and love in your new marriage! I wish you all the best life can offer!

Heartstone Films Video of Emily and Danny's Wedding!

Chris and Toni Wheaton of Heart Stone Films just sent me the video of Emily and Danny's wonderful wedding at the Carolina Inn on July 3, 2011.

You can read the original post for the details. This wedding video is simply beautiful. They wrote: "You did such a fantastic job and what you said tied everything together! What you said inspired us in this film!" Go take a look!  Thank, you Chris and Toni!!

Oh My, I Guess I Need to Get an iPad!

Social media, mobile tech on the rise for weddings

By LEANNE ITALIE, Associated Press – 6 days ago

NEW YORK (AP) — As her grandfather sat pleasantly perplexed at her wedding, Lauren Barnes reached into the recesses of her strapless white gown, whipped out her iPhone and accepted her groom's Facebook relationship change to "married."

"Nothing's official," she said, "until it's Facebook official!"

In today's $78-billion-a-year business of getting hitched, those wacky viral videos of whole wedding parties dancing down the aisle seem positively 2009. Social media, mobile tools and online vendors are abundant to offer the happy couple extra fun, savings and convenience, though most of the nation's betrothed aren't ready to completely let go of tradition.

Some send out video save-the-dates, include high-speed scannable "QR" barcodes on invitations, live-stream their ceremonies for far-flung loved ones to watch online, and open their party playlists to let friends and families help choose the tunes.

They invite guests to live tweet the big day using special Twitter keywords, called hashtags, and create interactive seating charts so tablemates can chat online ahead of time.

One couple featured a "guest of the week" on their wedding blog. Another ordered up a cake with an iPad embedded at the base to stream photos at the reception. A third Skyped in a "virtual bridesmaid" who couldn't make it, so she was walked down the aisle by a groomsman via iPad.

For Steve Poland, 31, in Buffalo, N.Y., it was the whole shebang for his Sept. 10 wedding. "We used the Twitter hashtag 'polandwedding,' our nuptials were read from an iPad by our friend, who got ordained online, and our wedding invites were printed by the hip Us.moo.com as postcards that we mailed out. I was really hoping to use Turntable.fm as our music, but it didn't work out," he said. Oh, and Poland and his wife, Caryn Hallock, spent part of their honeymoon in a Hawaii tree house they found on Airbnb.com.

According to surveys by the magazine sites Brides and The Knot, tech is on the rise in the world of weddings, with 65 percent of couples now setting up special sites to manage RSVPs, stream video of the ceremony and-or reception, and keep guests in the loop.

One in five couples use mobile apps for planning. That includes chasing down vendors, and virtually trying on and locating dresses. Seventeen percent of couples use social media to plan, shop or register for gifts, along with sharing every detail online. About 14 percent to 18 percent of brides buy a dress online, according to Brides.

Nearly 1 in 5 couples go paperless for invitations or save-the-dates. Many of those who have preserved the tradition of paper invites have dispensed with the inserts usually tucked inside envelopes, opting for e-mail or Web tools for RSVPs, maps, and details on destinations or related events.

From proposals on Twitter to Foursquare check-ins from the church or honeymoon, weddings seem ready-made for social media sharing — or oversharing, depending on whether you're invited.

Alexandra Linhares, 23, is nervous about that. She just moved to Marietta, Ga., but she's getting married in April back home in Highlands Ranch, Colo. She and fiance Bradley Garritson, 24, are taking care not to gush too much to their hundreds of Facebook friends. Other couples turn off their Facebook walls so premature messages of congrats don't show up before they've announced their engagements.

"There are a lot of people I work with on Facebook and who follow me on Twitter," Linhares said. "We don't want to hurt anybody's feelings."

But apps and online services have saved her life, logistically speaking.

"Since we're planning a wedding from thousands of miles away, we're relying heavily on technology to help us," she said. "We have a private Facebook group that we use to communicate with everyone in our bridal party since we're all in different states and countries."

Linhares found her gown with the help of an app. She and Garritson rely on Skype meetings to interview vendors. They're keeping track of RSVPs on their phones, along with the usual tangle of deadlines. And they're using an app to keep track of their budget. The couple went to the cloud — for online data storage and sharing — to maintain a master spreadsheet everyone can access at any time, avoiding the need to push updates around in e-mail.

Such tools can be a godsend, so long as older or not-so-techie folk aren't stranded on the wrong side of the firewall. "But that list of people is shrinking fast," said Anja Winikka, site editor for The Knot.

Brides found that 17 percent of couples register for gifts exclusively online. Sites have popped up making it easier to combine multiple registries into one — like MyRegistry.com — and ask for cash at the same time for honeymoons or home repairs.

Cris Stone, 33, will marry Jerry Delp, 44, in San Antonio, Texas, in May.

"I already have a wedding website," she said. "People will be able to watch the wedding via live streaming, though it's only for the ceremony because I consider that the most important part of the wedding."

John Ham, co-founder of Ustream, said about 10,000 weddings have been broadcast live from the site — Ustreamtv.com — over the last 12 months. "People want to participate in the moment," he said.

Stone is using DepositaGift.com. It offers a button on her wedding site so people can give cash for the couple's home remodel "without ever worrying about checks or actual cash envelopes," she said.

"It's proven extremely popular so far, and surprisingly not with the younger crowd as we had originally assumed, but with the 40 to 55 set who like not worrying about losing the envelope," Stone said.

She jiggered her Deposit a Gift so people can contribute $25 increments of brick, for instance, or $100 toward the cost of new windows.

Nicole Endres, 25, in Centreville, Va., and fiance Dan Rodriguez, 28, asked for cash, among other gifts, on their wedding website using Honeyfund.com, to help pay for their honeymoon in the Dominican Republic.

"We can transfer it straight from PayPal to our bank account, instead of taking checks to the bank," Endres said.

On invitations, some couples are using the small, square QR codes to lead guests online for additional details, and sharing photos and video on Tumblr, Flickr, Picasa or numerous other fast, free sites.

As for the Barnes and James Williams nuptials held Sept. 3 on the grounds of the Long Beach Art Museum, their officiant and friend Andrew Pachon used an iPad for the ceremony, but that and the Facebook fiddle to "married" was about it in the way of tech flourishes.

Williams and Barnes, a 29-year-old physician from Long Beach, had Pachon explain toward the end of the ceremony that the couple wanted to share the moment with their 400-plus Facebook friends.

Before the ceremony, Williams had sent his bride a Facebook request to change his relationship status to "married to Lauren Barnes." Once they were hitched, she accepted using her iPhone — at 5:48 p.m. to be exact. There was a flurry of "likes" from gathered guests and the masses in cyberspace.

But not grandpa, who still managed to have a good time.

Scottish Themed Wedding for Jana and Jeremy in the Green Rolling Hills of Chapel Hill!

This was the sweetest wedding. Jana and Jeremy are such an interesting couple and I loved telling their story. It began four years ago at Tyler's in Carrboro where they had their first date which lasted much longer than either expected. Of course they were delighted to discover each other and that they both loved traveling, bluegrass music festivals and being in the great outdoors. In fact, Jeremy is quite an accomplished camper and outdoorsman and told me that they had become a "well-oiled camping machine" that can be set up and relaxing within a matter of minutes cuddled together in a swinging hammock beside a babbling stream! He really appreciates that Jana never complains about the bugs or the dirt and is content to be in whatever beautiful place she happens to be in, enjoying nature's majesty and not dwelling on things she cannot change. Jana loves that Jeremy is a gourmet camp cook, even gets up early to bring her tea in the morning when they are camping, and is such a romantic guy who gives her a different perspective on life. They are a strong, well-matched team and were thrilled to celebrate their marriage surrounded by their family and friends in this lovely setting.

 

Their wedding was October 1, 2011 which turned out to be quite a cool windy afternoon at The Barn at Valhalla. This lovely pastoral venue is located between Carrboro and Saxapahaw and if we did not know we were in Chapel Hill, we could be in the rolling hills of Scotland. I visited Scotland this past August and can attest to the similarity in landscape. The only thing missing that would be in Scotland is a flock of sheep munching on the grassy hillside. Inside the "barn" is the more formal seating for the reception, the DJ (Steve Stowe with Joe Bunn DJ Company, not pictured) and the dessert spread. In lieu of a wedding cake were scrumptious looking pies and other sweet treats created by Scratch Bakery, a company whose mission is to use only healthy produce from local farmers! Beau Catering was in charge of the rest of the reception goodies for the evening. The guests gathered on the deck off the side of the reception room for cocktails prior to being seated for the ceremony. On the second story of the barn are guest rooms and usually the bridal party stays there the night before.

Jeremy's parents make their way down the aisle. 

Mother of the bride was escorted in by her son while Dad was proudly hanging back to bring in the Bride.

Instead of having attendants, Jana and Jeremy had their closest friends process in then be seated. Here are Jana's 8 friends. You can't really see much of her in the photo above but Erin McLean, our wedding director, did a fabulous job directing this wedding and making sure it went seamlessly. This is the third wedding Erin and I have done together at this location and it sure is good to have her handling all the details! Thanks, Erin!

Then the sweet little flower girls.......

Jana and her father make their entrance!

Such a pretty setting with the lake in the background. Their two friends, Melissa and Patty, presented a special reading. To the left, you can barely see their friend Jeff Yetter at the keyboard. He provided the processional music.

Jeremy cut these rhododendron branches from a friend's home near Boone and hauled them here in his truck then fashioned this unique arbor which has ivy stems and leaves woven through the branches and flanked by large pots of pretty green and white caladiums and fern fronds. Jeremy is dressed in traditional Scottish fashion with his family tartan.

They turn to smile at their parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and dear friends as I asked them for their blessings for this marriage.

Then we got to the wedding address which included their wonderful story with many touches of sweet humor in it which everyone enjoyed. 

They read their special vows to each other from my book where I printed the words so that they were facing them. 

Their friends, Meg and Joe, crafted a beautiful wooden wine box for them. Wish I had gotten a photo of the top of the box where they had handcarved an intricate tree into it. Into the box Jeremy and Jana placed love letters to each other. The box was sealed until their first anniversary when they open it, pour each other a glass of wine then read the love letters from each other for the first time to remind them of all the qualities that they love in each other. 

The pronouncement of marriage was made followed by the sealing of their vows with their first kiss as husband and wife.

 

Most ceremonies end at this point but next was the "pinning of the tartan" ritual in the Scottish tradition.

Jeremy places the family tartan scarf on Jana to symbolize the acceptance of her into his family. The wind was whipping her veil all around so I helped by holding it out of the way!

 And here they are, husband and wife at last! 

Bagpiper Robert White graced us with appropriate Scottish music both before and after the ceremony! I am pretty sure I have done weddings in the past with Robert!

  

I was so happy to have this opportunity to wear my purple Celtic prayer stole I picked up in Dublin this past August. Can you see what the wind is doing to our hairdos?

Jana and Jeremy, you are a vibrant, steadfast couple and you truly belong together! I was honored to have legally tied your knot and a part of your special day! Thank you!