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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Sam and Tesh marry on October 23, 2009 at The Umstead in Cary

It was a beautiful October day, the sun was shining, the weather was perfect and their family and friends had come in from all over to celebrate this beautiful couple and their multi-cultural family. The whole celebration has been designed to honor all the cultures involved.

Sam and Tesh are both from Great Britain and have been living and working here in the RTP for quite some time. Hitesh is Indian descent and their infant son, Alfie, was wearing a traditional white Indian wedding suit with burgundy and gold brocade around the neck and wrists. Unfortunately none of the photos I took of him came out, but he was just adorable. His big sister, Lola, was one of the Flower Girls and looked beautiful in her Western-style white dress.

Their friends and family, most of whom came in from Britain, were a fun bunch. Here are all the guys in the hall, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

And here is Sam, waiting in her room. She had the traditional henna on her hands and feet and it was just beautiful. Henna is quite an intricate art form and an ancient Indian tradition. Her dress was most unusual in that it had something akin to flat pompoms all over it and every time she moved it moved with her. It was a lovely effect.

And they found a very clever way to entertain the Flower Girls while they waited - bubble wrap! What is it about that stuff?! It will turn you into a kid immediately. The little girls were having a great time popping the bubbles and were totally content with that. It was all I could do to not go over and join them on the floor doing the same thing! So if you ever need a way to entertain kids (and adults too, it seems) take along some bubble wrap.

The ceremony was held in the beautiful wedding garden of The Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary. The very capable and unflappable Social Catering Manager, Ami Wheeler, was on hand to make sure everything went off well for them and to keep them all on schedule.

The floral decorations for the ceremony were provided by Steven Taras of The Watered Garden. Steven oversees all the magnificent arrangements for the hotel itself and his work is very special. You can see his use of the unexpected in the placement of a bowl of magnificent flowers on the ground on one side and on a pillar on the other. I had never seen that done before and it gave a unique perspective to the already beautiful setting with the cascading water fountain in the distance.

At the end of the ceremony, the guests were to shower flower petals onto Sam and Tesh as they went back down the aisle and all the chairs had their bags of petals waiting.

It was a wonderful celebration with incredibly beautiful people everywhere you looked. As Chris Azul, of Azul Photography, was getting everyone set for a group photo, I took this happy shot. I just loved how happy they all were and how beautiful their colors looked in the setting.

My congratulations to you, Sam and Tesh. It was a joy to help you put together such a fun celebration to share with your family and friends. I hope you’ll stay in touch from time to time and let me know how you are doing - and so I can see your handsome children grow up over the years.

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Liz and John marry in Chapel Hill at the Barn at Valhalla, October 17, 2009

Liz and John live in New York but met each other 10 years ago in Chapel Hill, when they were both students. Her parents still live in the area so it seemed the perfect place to come back to marry and invite their dearest friends and family. It was a small, intimate wedding and so much love was in evidence both to and from the couple. Liz’s Uncle Tim even played electric guitar for the wedding! It turns out that October 17 is John’s brother’s wedding anniversary as well, so they were having a fun celebration on many levels.

They chose as their ceremony location The Barn at Valhalla, a great location for events of all types - especially weddings that want to be out in Nature. The Barn has rooms for sleeping upstairs, a huge reception room and a wrap around deck that overlooks a pond where ducks and geese were swimming the day of the wedding. Canadian geese mate for life so that seemed a particularly appropriate omen for Liz and John.

Because autumn was in the air and the trees were beginning to turn, the decorations were a riot of oranges, browns and greens, so appropriate for the day. Here is the interior of The Barn all set up for the dinner.

And this is the long walkway through the woods, out to the fireplace where the ceremony was held.

University Florist in Chapel Hill provided all the beautiful florals for the day and did a particularly exquisite job with the fireplace. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it looking lovelier.

On the deck of The Barn was the seating chart, cleverly made of a cloth-covered board set up on an easel...

and beside it was a table set up for the guests to leave a special note to the couple.

There was a bar set up at one end of the deck...

and chatting tables were set up along the rest of the deck. Heaters were thoughtfully provided and they were sure to be very welcome on such a brisk autumn day and night.

The beautiful cake was provided by a Chapel Hill baker, Sugarland, who does some amazing work. It was also festooned with glorious autumn colors.

Others on hand to make the day a success for Liz and John were;

Photographer - Johnny Wells of Johnny Wells Photography

Caterer - Durham Catering

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This interesting pair is the set of fire irons at the fireplace. I just love their cheery feel and they always look to me like they are waving at you. So I join in their wave and wish Liz and John all the best that Life has in store. Have a great time you guys!

Linda and Marshall exchange vows amid autumn color, October 11, 2009

Autumn has always been my favorite time of year, when the brilliant color play of nature catches my heart with its beauty every time. Apparently Linda and Marshall feel the same because they had autumn colors in abundance everywhere you looked - and it was stunning. From the bouquets to the table and wall decorations, it was a feast for the eyes. Linda is an event planner and you could see her hand in all the details of the ceremony and reception.

Linda and Marshall live in Maryland but have family here, so they decided to have a NC wedding and chose the rustically modern Rigmor House in Chapel Hill. Although only a few miles from my home, I had never done a wedding there before and I fell in love with it immediately.

When you first drive up, you are greeted with a rather plain exterior that belies the airy expanse you find when you walk inside past the porch - which is huge and perfect, complete with rocking chairs.

On all the tables on the porch and the centerpieces of the tables inside, were these beautiful autumn arrangements made by Linda. She said she had been working on them for a year and how fun for her to be able to keep some for use through the years at their homes.

When you enter the house from the porch, there is a welcoming foyer they had set up with the table cards on one side...

And the guest book table straight ahead.

These incredible floral arrangements on the guest book table were done by Jeff Pipkin of A Floral Event.

And I love the simple bowl of flowers and stones.

This beautiful cake was provided by Sweet Memories. I have been seeing a lot of their cakes recently and they are all just exquisite.

Others on hand to make the event a success were;

Photographers - Mike Strauss of Strauss Studios, who was also the Best Man and Linda’s Uncle John, who is a photo hobbyist

Caterer - Deb McCartney (has no website, but she can be reached by phone, 919-247-6536). I don’t know what Deb was cooking in that kitchen, but it was making my mouth water!

Linda and Marshall found me through their friends, Kim and Travis, whose wedding I had done 5 years earlier. Happily, Kim and Travis were able to be at the wedding and we got to reminisce for a while. It was great to see them again and catch up on their lives. It’s always nice to run into old friends.

This wedding was about family, friends and loved ones here and departed and it was heartfelt all the way through. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Linda and Marshall to create their special ceremony and will miss not seeing them anymore. I hope we run into each other some of these days.

On the table by the cake was this great photo collection that says, “Live well, laugh often, love much, dream always.” I’d say that pretty much sums up everything about Linda and Marshall’s relationship. With this as their game plan they should sail through life having a grand time all the way.