Wonderful Winter Wedding for Kristin and Tim at The Cotton Company!

Kristin and Tim are a great couple. When we met on November 20th, they shared the funny story of how they met each other with me. I am so happy they found each other because they seem so compatible! They were a lot of fun to work with in creating their special ceremony for December 17, 2011 and worked so hard to transform the upstairs gallery of The Cotton Company in Wake Forest into a winter wonderland. Kristin's mother, Renee, was so very kind to donate all the decorations to the bride whose wedding was there the next day! 

Marty and I arrived an hour before the ceremony and everything was in place. The caterer, Jessie Scott with Tastefully Yours, was getting all the beverages set up.

This beautiful cake was made by Dawn Macon. 

 

The DJ, Frankie Hagen with Island Sound, was setting up too. He was great to work with and had been told that I brought my own microphone and receiver so he was ready. Frankie also identified for me the most beautiful rendition of the Bridal March Kristin had chosen for her entrance that I had heard at previous weddings and loved. It is by Jonathan Cain of Journeys. It is on You Tube at this link.  

This is the latest trend in bouquets--brooch bouquets--made with vintage brooches. How gorgeous they were and Kristin made them herself! I had read about them just the other day but this was the first time I have actually seen them.

Across the dance floor Kristin and her father, Gregory, float down the aisle to that magical Bridal March. Our photographer for this occasion was Bernhard Goetsch with BG Photography in High Point. This was the first wedding he and I have done together but I met him a couple of years ago at a wedding event in Mebane. He also does a lot of weddings with our mutual friend, Rev. Jane Burnette in the Triad, and had furnished our website with some great photos he had taken of Jane. It was good to see him again and work with him!

 

Kristin's friends Samantha and Shannon were her two attendants. Tim's best man was his father, Tim Sr., and his groomsman was his younger brother, Josh.  They were not at our rehearsal but did just fine.

 

After the vows, Kristin and Tim exchanged rings. Then we had the Unity Cross ceremony.

The Unity Cross symbolizes the joining of the bride and groom in marriage. First Tim took the frame of the cross which represented strength and his role as the supporter and protector of his family and set it up in the base.

Then Kristin placed the more intricate sculpture inside the frame representing her many capabilities and how she fit perfectly together within the frame of the marriage.

The Unity Cross comes with three pegs which hold it in place. These three pegs represent God: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. I placed those three pegs in place and finished the ceremony with words from Matthew 19: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two shall become one. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."

Then we closed with a prayer based on First Corinthians, the pronouncement of marriage, the kiss and the presentation of the newly wed couple!

 

 

 

 They look so happy and thrilled to finally be married. It is time to party!!

Kristin and Tim, what a wonderful couple you are and what a wonderful wedding you planned. It was my pleasure and my honor to know you and officiate for you! I wish you all the best! 

Beautiful Christmas-time Wedding for Kate and Will Gray!

Like many good love stories, Kate and Will Gray's began their freshman year in college at Furman University. During freshman orientation activities in which the freshman boys paraded through the girls' dorm, they definitely noticed each other. Will Gray was quite taken with Kate and that evening found him under her balcony serenading her at midnight in the moonlight--another Furman custom. Apparently the feeling was mutual! After spending many hours together attending classical music concerts, watching favorite shows in the dorm basement, and many hours of guitar hero and legend of Zelda, long after they were inseparable friends, they realized they were in love. After college their careers took them 300 hundred miles apart--Will Gray in Atlanta and Kate in Raleigh. With marriage and Will Gray's landing a job in NC, they are overjoyed to be married at last and make themselves truly inseparable.

They met with me on June 2, 2011 to plan their ceremony on December 17, 2011 at the beautiful Jones Chapel on Meredith College campus--a very fitting venue for these college sweethearts. They put together a composite draft of their ceremony from the material I sent them, wrote their own story and worked with me individually to craft the paragraphs to each other detailing the reasons they wanted to marry. So sweet! And then, the big day was here!

Kate and Will Gray included a lot of their college friends in the ceremony. Will Gray himself is a "tubist" and they had their friend Paul play the euphonium for the prelude.

All the while, the bridesmaids and parents were getting lined up in the foyer. Leroy, another college friend, was in charge of cuing the wedding party in. He had never done this before but with my training at the rehearsal, he did a fine job! That is Kate's father, Allan, holding Sarah's bouquet. She is Kate's sister and was helping the bride in the room behind him. Fallon's Flowers did the floral arrangements and bouquets.

We are all assembled on the altar as the bride and her father enter. 

 

Sarah stepped down to take the bouquet as Dad transferred Kate's hand into Will's hand before they ascended the steps.

 I welcomed everyone and told them how special they were to the couple.

We were graced by Blake, another Furman friend, who sang two pieces: "In the Bleak Midwinter" and after the prayer, "Simple Song." His bass voice is amazing! No wonder they wanted him to sing at their wedding!

After the ceremony I saw two Blake's, deduced that he had a twin but then found out that Blake and his brother and sister are triplets.

Love "red" weddings, especially at Christmas time. So vibrant and festive. The matron of honor, Sarah, is on the far right and next to her are Kelley and Bethany, also sisters of the bride.

Will Gray's best man was his father, Bill. Behind Bill are David and Phillip, brothers of the bride.

After the prayer, the story and wedding address, they exchanged vows then rings.

 

 

 

Their photographer, Denise Meyers with 1 Impression 2 Remember, and her second shooter, Peter Newby, got the wedding party and parents to assemble in the balcony after the guests departed for the reception at Crabtree Marriott. 

 

Kate and Will Gray, such a pleasure working with you! I know you will be very happy! You have had very good role models in your parents and know how to make marriage a glorious path through life. Many blessings to you!

The Siena Hotel Hosts the Wedding of Rabia and Jon!

The Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill holds many fond memories for me going back 12 years ago when I officiated the wedding of Laura and Gus, one of my first weddings. Their rehearsal dinner was at the Siena. (Back then I attended rehearsal dinners.) The Il Palio chef prepared Laura's family's favorite dessert from the recipe given supplied by her mother. It was layers of lady fingers and whipped cream drizzled with an amazing home-made chocolate sauce. Yummy. So fantastic that I asked for the recipe and still treasure it today! Since that time I have done many weddings at the hotel, some big and some small. They can accommodate just about any size wedding and the staff and hotel are wonderful to work with. 

This is Arie, the events manager with the Siena. She is great to work with and took care of all the details of the wedding day!

Jon called me in mid-November to see if I was available to officiate his wedding to Rabia on December 3, 2011 at the Siena--just a few short weeks away. Fortunately, I was available so we scheduled a meeting quickly.  We did not have a lot of time so I crafted a ceremony based on what they told me they wanted, sent it to them and they loved it. They really liked the parts reflecting their different family heritages (Rabia is Muslim and from Pakistan and Jon was raised Christian and American although he was born in Germany) making it an interfaith ceremony. Rabia particularly liked the idea of using a poem by the Persian mystical poet, Rumi, as a meditative prayer. She told me that her parents who traveled from Pakistan for the wedding love the works of Rumi and would be very pleased (and they were). For a closing blessing, we used a prayer based on First Corinthians. We also included a tribute to both sets of parents who have intact marriages and serve as wonderful role models for our bride and groom. 

Marty and I arrived at the hotel at 10:15 for the 11:00 AM wedding. This gorgeous cake by Sugarland was hidden away in the reception room. Needless to say, the wedding color was a beautiful pink. 

The Fisher-Park String Quartet from Greensboro was already there and warming up. They were very good!

This the room all set up for the ceremony. I am amazed that my new camera got this low light shot without flash! Wow!

These are our flower girls all lined up early! 

 

Jon's parents, Helga and Dean, process in first followed by Rabia's mother, Tehseen, escorted in by her two sons.

 Then Jon and I.

 The cute (unrehearsed) flower girls trickled in slowly! 

Rabia was escorted in by her father, Javed, then he transferred her hand into Jon's.

I don't have any photos of it but we did a "water pouring" ritual after the wedding address, the vows and ring exchange. "We honor water, to clean and soothe your relationship that you may never thirst for love....Together may you always share kindness with one another that will ease any pain that may come between you. With all the forces of the universe, we pray for harmony and true happiness for you both." 

Joining hands again after drying their hands. 

"It is my pleasure and my honor to recognize you as husband and wife!"

Their kiss was so brief I had them kiss again but still we got no photo of the kiss! I think they were a bit shy about kissing in front of everyone.

Waiting for the quartet to start the recessional music. Isn't Rabia's ceremonial dress beautiful?

 And out they go!  

Jon and Rabia, I am so happy that you called me that day and that we could work together to make your ceremony so special for you. I wish you all the best always!  Thank you for your note the next day that said: "I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful job you did on our wedding ceremony yesterday.  So many people came up to us and told us how much they liked the ceremony - you really made it memorable. We even had one guest say that she and her husband would like to do their wedding over again with you as the officiant! So thank you very much."