Danielle and Emilio's Beautiful Wedding at Jones Chapel!

Danielle and Emilio relocated to North Carolina from New Jersey 5 years ago to begin a new life adventure together. Emilio is originally from El Salvador where his parents still live. Their love and devotion strengthened through the years and they decided to make it official and get married. They chose the date of July 7, 2012, exactly 5 years to the day that they moved to NC. They reserved the beautiful Jones Chapel on the Meredith College campus to celebrate their nuptials with a reception following at Embassy Suites in Cary.   The wedding day was beautiful, but hot, and we were so grateful to Danielle and Emilio for choosing to have their wedding indoors inside this beautiful chapel.

They had a pretty platter for their guests to sign which will be fired again making the inscriptions permanent. A beautiful memento for this occasion.

Timothy Hendrix who teaches music at Meredith College was our musician for the wedding. For the prelude music he played the most divine selections and then for the processional and recessional he moved to the magnificent pipe organ.

Meanwhile, the men and I assembled back behind the altar area where I pinned on their boutonnieres as we awaiting the start of the ceremony. 

After the guys and I entered from the altar door on the right, Danielle's grandmother, Janet, was escorted in followed by the sister of the groom, Arely, representing Emilio's parents who are in El Salvador, then mother of the bride, Bari. Our lovely bridesmaids entered next. Our directors were Melissa and Jennifer, cousins of the bride, who have obviously done this many times before as they were very organized and made sure everything went as planned. Melissa was back with the guys and me and Jennifer in the foyer with the bridal party. They cleverly used their cell phones to text back and forth to coordinate our entrances into the chapel. Thanks, ladies! It was a pleasure working with you.

 Here comes the bride!

Emilio stepped down to take the hand of the bride from her father, Joseph.

Joseph carefully lifted the blusher veil then kissed Danielle and took his seat as the couple ascended the steps of the altar to join me.

Blusher veils are beautiful and traditional. It is important to make sure that the blusher veil is pulled back and arranged so that it does not block the view of the bride's face for the guests (and her photographer!). Danielle's veil was perfect! Our photographer for the wedding was Teresa Porter. The beautiful flowers were by Flowers on Broad Street in Fuquay-Varina. I want to credit and thank their DJ, Lenny Fritts, for sending this couple to me. I know they had a fabulous reception with Lenny in charge of the affair!

Our first reader was Danielle's Aunt Patty who read a poem "He Never Leaves the Toilet Seat Up" --quite humorous and she did a great job of presenting it.

Barbara, a close family friend, presented a reading from First Corinthians.

Then it was time to share the couple's story--how they met, what attracted them to each other, what they love about each other and why they want to marry. It seems that Emilio used to be a "club hopper" back in NJ but secretly wanted to find the woman who would settle him down. He met Danielle through her friend Ashley and his cousin Roni who knew each other. Danielle was taking a Spanish class and frequented Emilio's family's home so she could learn to speak Spanish fluently. Emilio found himself helping her with her homework more and more and decided he did not miss the clubs! Their friendship grew into love and they soon became a couple. The decision to move to North Carolina was a big move for them both and they have grown closer as a result. They are hoping that more family members will join them in NC! Emilio has started his own landscaping company in Holly Springs, Jersey Landscaping, and is delighted to see it grow and become successful with Danielle's help keeping the books and organizing the schedule.

 Emilio places the ring on Danielle's finger. 

Their sand ceremony included sand that represented their respective families as a foundation for their marriage. The sand representing Emilio's family had been brought from the beaches of El Salvador by his uncle. The sand representing Danielle's family heritage was from the beach at Cape May, NJ, where she spent many summers of her childhood on the Jersey Shore. Danielle's mother, Bari, poured her family's sand and Emilio's sister, Arely, poured for Emilio' family.

 Then the couple poured their sand in layers on top.

 The pronouncement of marriage! 

 Tim sneaks a peek at the kiss! 

 And off they go! 

Emilio and Danielle, congratulations and best wishes always! 

Alison and James Wed in a Private Family Ceremony!

Alison and James came by to see my wedding garden in May because they were looking for an alternative to getting married by a magistrate at the courthouse--not very romantic! They wanted to have their families present and a courthouse wedding could not accommodate that. They loved my garden and so we got busy designing a ceremony for them. They chose the date of July 6, 2012 and all week we had been having pop-up showers in mid-afternoon. We were all very happy that the rain held off that afternoon until the evening. Alison and most of the guests arrived by limousine and James and his men followed separately.   

We hid the bride and her brother, Kyle, inside the house while the rest of us got seated and in position and began humming "Here Comes the Bride" as our lovely bride and her escort entered.

Alison's other brother, Chad, joined Kyle on the bride's side and James' brother, Will, and James' brother's young son, Lucas, whose father is deployed stood in his father's place for him while the mothers looked on. James' father was up and down taking pictures.

"And when you have been together for a long, long time, you will look at these rings and you will feel the impression they have made on your fingers and you will know these rings contain all the memories of your lives together, beginning with this day." 

 

 

 

"By the love that has brought you here today, by the vows you have exchanged, and by the integrity of your commitment, it is my pleasure and my honor to recognize you as husband and wife!"

 

 

 

Let's see, how many certified copies of your marriage license will you need? (If you get your license in Wake County, I can include your request for certified copies and check to the Register of Deeds when I send the completed license back in and they will mail out your copies when they have recorded your marriage.)

 The bride's family came from Pennsylvania for the wedding...

 The groom's family came from Colorado and Texas for the wedding...

Alison and James, congratulations! I am so honored to have been a part of your special day. I send you blessings of love and happiness! 

Hot Lavender Home Wedding for Sarah and David!

This wedding was so much fun despite the 100+ degree temperature on June 30, 2012. Sarah and David were a great couple to work with to create their unforgettable wedding. They live in Myrtle Beach and we did not meet in person until the rehearsal the day before. Sarah's mother, Cheryl, contacted me by email in April and evidently had so much confidence in me that she hired me sight unseen before I even had any contact with Sarah and David. She really put together the whole wedding celebration so well she could go into the wedding planning business herself!   Cheryl and Mark's lovely home in Wake Forest was the perfect setting for their daughter's wedding. The reception in the back yard was so nice around the beautiful pool. She thought of everything! 

 

 

Now, I ask you, have you ever seen the groom and the groomsmen dress in pants color coordinated with the bridesmaids dresses (other than black of course)? Well Sarah and David managed to find lavender pants and ties for the guys. Really a fresh idea!  

Conrad, brother of the bride and groomsman, played the guitar for our wedding. The young lady in the red sang during the processional. They were quite good!

Heather, a friend of Cheryl, acted as our wedding director and she did a fine job. She got us all lined up inside the garage from where we processed in for the ceremony. David and his brother, Ryan, escorted in their two grandmothers and Sarah's two sets of grandparents escorted themselves in. So nice to have so many grandparents in attendance.

Then it was time for the Mother and Father of the Groom, Linda and Ray, to make their entrance.

Cheryl and Mark were next then Mark returned to the line-up to escort in his lovely daughter. Aren't those the sassiest little shoes Cheryl has on?  

 

Another very large wedding party with seven on each side. 

 

 

 

Amanda, sister of the bride and Maid of Honor, waits her turn to go down the aisle which was actually the sidewalk from the garage to the front door. Adorable and unique bridesmaids dresses and do note that they are all wearing cream satin Tom's shoes. The groom is wearing gray Tom's shoes he found the day of the wedding. Perfect! Tom's are great shoes and for every pair of shoes you buy, a needy child somewhere in the world gets a pair of shoes for free. I love my Tom's! You can get them at the Vertical Urge on Six Forks Road in Raleigh where they have a huge selection.

Ethan, brother of the bride and groomsman, was drafted at the last minute to carry the bride's train so that it did not snag on the concrete walkway.

After Mark answered the question and placed Sarah's hand in David's, they started up the steps to join me. It took Sarah both hands to lift up the front of the dress and ascend the steps with David right behind ready to catch her if she faltered.

The wedding began at 7:00 and the entire front yard was in shade and there were fans blowing a nice breeze on the guests. At the rehearsal the day before, I asked Cheryl if she and Mark had built this house and front entrance with this wedding in mind. She laughed and said that they had not built the house themselves but they had redone the entrance with new stone work after buying the house. It was just perfect for all the bridesmaids and groomsmen to frame the couple.  

Conrad was our seventh groomsman but he remained seated because he had hurt his back and besides he needed to be ready to play the recessional music.

The ceremony began with a warm welcome and ringwarming ritual where the rings that are tied to a ring warming dish are passed among the guests to be infused with their warm blessings and happy thoughts. Ryan is stepping down to start the rings with the mother of the groom.

The couple paid tribute to their parents and then I shared their love story which began when they were freshmen in college. These two had lots of fun telling me all about themselves and their romance and we included a lot of humor fitting the personalities of the couple which the guests loved.

Sarah and David liked the combination of the Blessing of the Hands and the Handfasting custom that they saw in the ceremony material I provided them. They made their own lovely handfasting cord of braided multi-colored ribbon and pearls. As their left hands were joined, I wrapped the cord with each verse of the hand blessing.

Then they joined their right hands forming the symbol of infinity and made their vows to each other which they read from my book.

 I called for the rings and Ryan retrieved the now blessed rings from his mother. In the meantime, I removed the handfasting cord and looped it around the back of David's neck.

  The ring exchange......

 The pronouncement of marriage.....followed by........

  Stepping into their new life as husband and wife!

As they went down the aisle the guests showered them with rice! It has been so long since I have seen rice thrown. Most wedding venues won't allow it because of the clean up. Not a problem in your own front yard!

The wedding party and parents followed the couple toward the street while I invited the guests to go around the house to the reception for refreshments. Cheryl did not use a caterer but made or had prepared all the delectable goodies herself.

 Congratulations to the newlyweds! 

Sarah and David, it was such an honor to be part of your wedding. I am so happy you loved the ceremony and that it was everything you ever wanted for your wedding ceremony. Have fun in Europe and I will be checking on you on Facebook!