Katie and Chris Exchange Vows in the Raleigh Rose Garden, October 2, 2010

Some people know how to find enjoyment everywhere in life and Katie and Chris are just such a couple. They share a love of live music performance and their relationship developed traveling to and from concerts. This has become such a big part of their lives that they came up with the idea of making their Save-the-Date card into a VIP ticket for their wedding. Looking exactly like a concert ticket, it was a very clever idea.

Their ceremony took place in the Raleigh Rose Garden amid hundreds of roses. I had not realized that roses would bloom this late in the year, but there were glorious colors as far as the eye could see.

They set up the chairs in the center part of the garden with the beautifully simple arbor standing in front of the cherub fountain.

This was the view looking up through the top of the arbor. Despite its being so open, it still provided a charming sheltering feeling.

The colors of the Bridesmaid dresses and the matching accents in the Groomsmen's ties and vests were a beautiful compliment to the glorious colors of nature all around us. The flowers, provided by Jeffrey Surles of Jeffrey's Florist Limited (910-891-7000), were a beautiful mix of summer sunshine and autumn accents.

The day was beautiful, Katie and Chris were radiant, their vows were heartfelt and love was in abundance everywhere. Everything about this wedding was simple and elegant and I was so happy to be a part of it. My congratulations to you both. I wish you many great times ahead, attending concerts, living life to the fullest and enjoying each other's company as you know how to do so well.

Others on hand to make the event a success for Katie and Chris;

Photography - Martha Manning of Martha Manning Photography, assisted by Brad Matthews
Wedding Planner - Jeffrey Surles of Jeffrey's Florist Limited, 910-891-7000
Music - Matthew Kanon on classical guitar
Hair - Marigold Parlour, 919-833-0146
Make-up - Julie Hafer of Beauty Ethics
Limousine - Vern Bullock of Classy Transportation
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Penny and Aric exchange vows at Martha’s Chapel in Apex, January 16, 2010

Penny and Aric met in a most unusual way - they met at the airport waiting for the same flight to Boston. Or at least Aric thought it was the same flight. He found out later that he had been waiting at the wrong gate, but what a lucky mistake! A long distance romance quickly followed and eventually Aric moved south to be with Penny, who is a local wedding photographer (Penny Noell Photography).

Penny and Aric are all about family and kids, even though they don’t yet have any of their own, so they decided to have their Bridal Party made up of the children of their family and friends. It was the first all-child Bridal Party I have ever witnessed and they were just adorable and probably stole the show. In the first photo Penny and Aric are shown with their Jr. Bridesmaid and below is a photo of all the Bridal Party in the gazebo outside the church. What a bunch of charmers.

The beautiful bouquets and altar arrangements were provided by Rachel at Tre Bella Florist. Here is a close-up of Penny’s wonderful bouquet.

The altar flowers were placed to honor family members who had passed on.

The wedding took place at the historic old Martha’s Chapel in Apex. In the photo above you see the serene mural painted at the back of the altar area that gives an added charm to the little church. Built before the Civil War, it saw its share of sorrow and pain during that war and has weathered many a strong storm through the almost 200 years that it has stood. One hurricane even took the bell tower off so they shortened it afterwards to keep that from happening again.

After the wedding, everyone went outside for the formal photos and it was quite an effort to gather all the Bridal Party around, especially when the piled up leaves were spotted. I don’t think there’s a kid alive who can resist those, no matter how they are dressed.

Waiting to take everyone to The Carolina Inn for the reception was this limousine, courtesy of Blue Diamond Limos in Raleigh. Now that’s riding in style!

The reception was held in the famous Old Well Room of The Carolina Inn and it was a sumptuous feast. The tables all had floating candles and flowers and the candlelight flickering off all the glassware was a beautiful sight.

Their amazing wedding cake was provided by Chuck and Wayne of Swank Cake Design. It was one of the most elegant cakes I have ever seen and I have tried to capture some of the intricate details in these photos.

Here’s the Groom’s cake - bet all the sports fans in attendance were smiling at his design.

The wedding planner for the whole event was Barbara Clark of An Elegant Affair and as usual, she did a superb job of keeping everyone on track and helping Penny and Aric create the magical day and evening they had envisioned. Here she is on the left, chatting with Joan, one of the charming guests at our table.

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Other vendors on hand to make the day and evening such a success were;

Hair and makeup - Margo Williams of Belloviso

Music - for the ceremony and cocktail hour - Arioso Strings

- the band for the reception, Black and Blue

Photography - Amanda and Rachel with Millie Holloman Photography

Videography - Melissa Davis with Life Stage Videography

Photobooth - Shutterbooth

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It was a wonderful wedding and a great celebration of love all around. I enjoyed meeting Penny and Aric and helping them create such a special wedding celebration. How lucky they had to wait for their flights that first day!

ps.... Aric, thanks for the tip about Stargate Universe.

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Leah and Brad exchange vows June 20, 2009 at the Park Alumni Center on NC State Campus

Leah and Brad are both graduates of NC State so of course the Wolfpack was going to play into the wedding in some way. They chose to marry at the beautiful Park Alumni Center on the Centennial Campus of NC State and my goodness, what a beautiful and elegant location for a wedding that is. As you approach the Center, it looks like any other nicely-appointed office building, but as you enter the lobby, you step into a two-story, expansive gallery and your jaw drops. It is a building that lends itself beautifully to special events like this one and is sure to be a huge hit with graduates of NC State looking for a perfect place to marry.

On the outside of the building are two groupings of amazing wolf statues...

and a photo op with one of them was of course obligatory.

The nuptials were carried out under a beautiful, white satin chuppah, laden with flowers. Leah and Brad are an interfaith couple and we wrote their ceremony so it would weave in elements of both their Christian and Jewish backgrounds. It was a beautiful and respectful blending and I am sure their guests enjoyed it very much because they put so much heart into its creation.

The reception was amazing! The Bride and Grooom were both very much involved with the planning of the wedding and it was clear in everything they did. The obvious choice of color for this event would have seemed to have been black and red, in honor of NC State, but that would have been like everyone else so they decided instead to go with black, white and hot pink. What a great combo! Here is a shot taken from the balcony of the 2nd floor, looking down into the reception area.

Leah and Brad are big sports fans and Brad, being a transplanted New Yorker, especially loves the New York Yankees. So the unexpected and charming table names and place cards reflected that in a very clever way. The place cards had the Yankees logo on one side and the seating location on the other.

And the table names were all famous players and their numbers from the history of the Yankees. My husband and I sat at the Babe Ruth table and the lovely smile in this photo belongs to Leah’s grandmother, who I was lucky enough to sit beside for the evening. What a charmer!

Leah wanted to include their dogs for the wedding, but it just wasn’t practical so they found ways to include them; they were mentioned in the ceremony, there were photos of them at the Bride and Groom table, and they were shown in the adorable topper of the wedding cake. Here again is another shining example of the great work done by Cinda of Cinda’s Creative Cakes. How did she ever do that topper... and also pick up the exact style of Leah’s dress?!

Naturally, an event like this needs a great DJ and Lenny Fritts of A Touch of Class Djs is exactly that. I have worked with him many times before and he is always a true professional in everything he does. His assistant that day was KC Harmsen and they both were dressed in stylish tuxes, most appropriate for the evening. Lenny even brought along a bubble machine to make the atmosphere more romantic for Leah and Brad’s first dance! Nice touch.

It was a fun evening and a great time was had by all. Leah and Brad, your life together is going to be the best ball game you ever play and you are sure to continue to hit ‘em out of the park.
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Other vendors on hand to make the event a success were;

Photographer - Bella Rose Photography

Limousine - White Horse Transportation

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