Jane and Sam marry November 21, 2009 at MacGregor Downs Country Club in Cary

You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day for a wedding in November. And as everyone was arriving you could see on their faces how excited they were to be coming to this event. Some of the family members on both sides had never met the bride or groom so it was especially touching to watch them gather around Jane and Sam after the ceremony as they were meeting for the first time.

The ceremony was held at the charming MacGregor Downs Country Club in Cary. Angel Myers, the Private Events Manager, was on hand as always to make sure everything went well. She is a marvel of efficiency and I know when she is in charge that everything will go off perfectly. She had even provided me with a flashlight the night before when the rehearsal was delayed and we ended up in the dark on the lawn and I couldn’t read my notes.

Although the ceremony was held outside, the reception took place in the main room that has a large stone fireplace with the club’s crest at one end and some wonderful chandeliers above. I love that room. You feel like you are in the great hall of an old Scottish castle.

The adorable little Flower Girl did not want to wear her flower tiara or even her shoes, so she proceeded down the aisle in her shoe-less feet, dropping autumn leaves as she went. She was just too cute. When I asked her after the wedding if I could photograph her feet, she very obligingly lifted her dress to show me. Made my heart smile.

One unexpected surprise was the whimsical display of fruits and vegetables created by MacGregor Downs’ chef, Frank Boice. In case you are wondering - as I was - the white tulips are daikon radishes, the orange ones are carrots and the green ones are zucchini squash. Each stem is a green onion with a skewer through it that connects the flower to the basket. The basket was a cantaloupe and was full of blackberries. The bird sitting beside the basket is a green apple with a peppercorn for an eye. It is just amazing what can be done with food when someone sees it as an art form.

And tucked among the flower stems was this cute little face.

It wasn’t until much later that I found an assortment of toadstools made from radishes that he had scattered around the cheese tray. I need to take a class from Chef Boice!

This lovely cake and the boutonnieres were all made by Jane, her mom, her grandmother and her sister-in-law. What special memories they must have created as they worked. The ribbon around the cake layers matched the color of the Bridesmaids’ dresses, which were a unique bronzey-olive green. It was a beautiful color on all the girls and perfect for an autumn wedding.

Others on hand to make the day a success for Jane and Sam were;

DJ - Patrick Cooke of PC Productions - a great DJ with a great play list

Photographer - Stacey Balko, a friend from Florida

Flowers - Flowers on Broad Street, an award-winning florist in Fuquay-Varina

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I so enjoyed meeting and working with Jane and Sam to make their wedding special and I heartily add my congratulations to those of their family and friends. It was a sweet wedding and they are sure to have wonderful things ahead in their life together.

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Kim and Brian marry with a classy Halloween style at Barclay Villa, October 31, 2009

So how do you marry on Halloween and, keeping it solemn, still give a wink and a nod to the day... but not let it get campy? You follow Kim and Brian’s lead.

First you find a castle. In this case the wonderful Barclay Villa, an Italian villa with a baroque interior set in the countryside of Angier, NC. Among other amenities, it comes complete with a great hall and a grand staircase that lent itself perfectly to the wedding festivities.

Here is the head table where the Lord and Lady of the castle (Groom and Bride) sat. How perfect is that?!

Barclay Villa has beautiful landscaping throughout the grounds and Kim and Brian used that to great effect as well. The ceremony took place at the gazebo in the back and look how cleverly they decorated the area.

They even made the Handfasting cord that we used for the Handfasting Ceremony after their vows. It was waiting for us to use on the table in the gazebo. Woven of their Halloween colors and with stones sewn onto it, it was truly beautiful.

And what reception theme do you use of all the possible options for Halloween? Kim and Brian chose the haunted castles of Europe. Each table card was the name of a haunted castle in Europe. There was a long information card printed up about each one, standing beside the very clever pumpkin table card holders.

The pumpkin stems were sliced to hold the cards.

And then once you have all that in place, you run with it and have some fun. Like Kim’s bat earrings (check the top photo more closely) and Brian’s bow tie and hankie - an orange ground with bats in a grid pattern.

And the skeleton bride and groom candle holder that stood by the place cards.

And the fun napkins.

Many couples nowadays have photos on display of themselves as children and of special times through their relationship. Here’s how Kim and Brian did the same but kept the Halloween theme.

This is their wedding cake, provided by Donna Ford of Sweet Memories. She picked up the Halloween theme perfectly, complete with bats flying off the sides of the cake.

And this adorable cake topper was actually crocheted by Kim and Brian themselves, each making their own self. Quite clever - and what a fun keepsake to pull out every year for their Halloween decorations. Their children who come alone one day are sure to love the story of how this cute couple came to be!

And of course things just wouldn’t have been complete without some trick-or-treat candy before you left, with black boxes for you to put it in.


It was such a fun and clever wedding celebration and just perfect for a Halloween date. Here is a photo of me with Kim and Brian, taken with my camera by their photographer, Stacy Borelli, of Swank Studio. (Why can she get better photos out of the camera than me? Must be why she’s the professional.)

Also on hand to provide the perfect musical accompaniment was their DJ, Ron Smith, of Ron K. Smith Productions. He must have had a great time planning the music for this wedding!

As I was leaving the wedding that night, I noticed there was a full moon and I could hear dogs howling in the distance...

“Ah, de children of de night.”

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Jenna and Chris celebrate family with their wedding at Parizade in Durham, October 11, 2009

Jenna and Chris are a fun couple and I was very much looking forward to being a part of their wedding. When we got together to create the framework for their ceremony and I was hearing all the things they had been working on, I couldn’t wait to see it all come together. It was all very beautiful, heartfelt and special, just as I had imagined. Jenna’s dad had even written the music to which he escorted her into the ceremony, appropriately entitled, Jenna’s Song.

Their adorable little Jr. Bridesmaid and Flower Girls were waiting to have their photo taken after the ceremony and I couldn’t resist taking this cute shot.

The ceremony was held in the courtyard of the Parizade restaurant in Durham. What an amazing place this is and it would lend itself perfectly to any kind of event. We all stood in front of the statued waterfall for the ceremony and what a magnificent backdrop it was!

Guests lingered in the courtyard while the photos were taken and the Bride and Groom were presented and had their first dance.

One of the Bridesmaid’s husbands had carved this magnificent monogrammed pumpkin to be the centerpiece of the head table. How very clever! The glow it put out in the dim light of the evening was just beautiful.

Jenna is an educator at the Museum of Life and Science so she knows a thing or two about how to entertain children. Since all the children guests were little girls, Jenna and Chris created this amazing kids’ table, complete with balloons, feather boas and fairy wings for each girl. The crayons came out almost as quickly as the wings went on. I even saw one of the waiters flirting with the girls when they got him to put on a white boa to match his uniform. It was just adorable.

Jenna and Chris wanted to celebrate their families - both those who were with them and those who were not - so we included those not able to be with us with a mention of their names and a moment of silence during the ceremony. It was very touching.

Jenna’s parents married in 1975 and Jenna and Chris used the cake topper they had used for their wedding so long ago.

Jenna also carried an exact duplicate of her mother’s daisy bouquet, made lovingly by the woman at a Lowe’s Grocery floral department. Jenna told me the woman had taken so much time to make it exactly right and I am sorry that I didn’t get her name to sing her praises here. I don’t think I ever remember a bride carrying a bouquet exactly like her mother’s before and it was such a sweet and touching homage to her mom.

She also wore her grandmother’s necklace as a bracelet. This necklace was always worn by her grandmother and her two sisters have also worn it at their weddings. That is fast becoming quite an heirloom.

To further show the heart of the event, check out Jenna’s wedding shoes.

The music for the event was provided by Jason Eder of Complete Music. What a great professional for someone so young. During the ceremony, my lapel mic went out and Jason had given a hand mic to a reader. She handed it to the end groomsman and one by one they all handed it up to me so I could be heard. How thoughtful of them all! Many guests came up to me afterwards to tell me how happy they were to have been able to have heard the ceremony so kudos to you all for saving the day.

I think the thing that touched me most about Jenna and Chris’ wedding, though, was their unique take on wedding favors for their guests. Many loved ones have been lost to major illnesses in both their families so instead of a favor, the guests were asked to choose a charity and drop their place cards in one of the boxes provided and a donation would be made in their name to that charity. I lost my dad a few years ago to cancer, so I chose that box, and I must say it was a very moving moment to add my card to the box.

Here is the explanation card they had displayed with the donation boxes.

And these are the boxes with the names of the charities and the family members in whose honor the donation will be made. Very touching.

They had wanted to have their dog, Dieter, with them, but it just wasn’t practical. He was there anyway, though, because someone had taken a photo of him wearing a bandana that said, “Congratulations, Mom and Dad.” (Unfortunately, my camera skills are lacking in being able to read his bandana, but it was really cute.)

It was a magical evening with lots of love flowing all around and many special elements coming together to make it moving on so many levels. It was an honor to be a part of it and I will happily add my congratulations to Dieter’s... WOOF!!

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Meagan and Jeremy get a surprise with the wedding rings, September 6, 2009 at Doubletree Guest Suites in Durham

It was a beautiful day, the bride and groom were both glowing and the ceremony was progressing as planned. When it came time for the rings to be exchanged with the beautiful secret vows they had written, just as Jeremy was putting the ring on Meagan, a bee dive-bombed into Meagan’s ring finger, leaving a sharp sting! Once we all recovered from the shock we had a great laugh about it and after I had made sure Meagan was not allergic to bee stings, we resumed the ceremony. It will be a moment none of us will ever forget and they are sure to laugh about it for the rest of their lives.

The ceremony was held at the beautiful pond behind the Doubletree Guest Suites, which is a lovely, intimate setting for a wedding. Amy Acosta, the Director of Catering, was on hand to make sure all went well for the event - and also helped Meagan deal with her bee-stung finger after the ceremony.

As the guests entered for the wedding, they were greeted by a very clever and beautiful decoration where they were asked to make a wish for the wedding couple and place it in the jar provided.

And then they came to their place cards, which were crystal stones with their names hand-painted on them. Meagan and Jeremy went to Jamaica for their honeymoon so all the decorations reflected the colors and feel of the sand and sea.

Beside the stones were the guests’ cookie favors...

And it all came together beautifully at the tables...

The cupcake wedding cake was provided by Becca Lipscomb of Cakes for a Cause, who donates to research for children’s cancers. It’s a great cause and her work is lovely.

Meagan and Jeremy, with your stinging intruder as an omen, it looks like you are going to have a life of unexpected surprises. I hope you face them all with the laughter and care that you approached the bee sting for you are going to have an interesting life together!
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Others on hand to help make the event a success;

Photographer - Slade Heath of Purple House Photography

Flowers - friends of the couple, Carmen Squadrito and Donnie Bunn

DJ - Taylor Pittman of TaylorMade DJ Services>

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