April and Paul Marry in NC State Colors at All Saint’s Chapel in Raleigh, March 5, 2011

April and Paul met at a mutual friend’s birthday party over five years ago and finally started dating about three years ago. Their relationship is all about their love and partnership and everything about their ceremony reflected how much they love each other and their families. It was very touching.

Their beloved NC State plays a large part in their lives so it came as no surprise when they told me their wedding colors were to be the NCSU colors. They did a beautiful job of combining the red, white and black of the Wolfpack. It was everywhere throughout the ceremony and beautifully captured in the Bridesmaids’ dresses, shoes and jewelry, the Flower Girl’s dress and shoes, the bouquets, the suits and ties of the Groomsmen and Ring Bearer, and even the colors of the Sand Ceremony. It really was a perfect use of such radiant colors, made even more radiant that day by all the love that was so much in abundance from everyone.

All the florals and wedding decorations picked up the color theme and were created by the artistry of Gregg Kennedy of Brides and Bouquets. I have been seeing his work a lot at weddings and events lately and his creations have a classic elegance about them that is just lovely. Here are some more examples of his work for April and Paul.

The ceremony was held at the historic All Saint’s Chapel in Raleigh. Built in 1875 and recently moved to its new location, it is a charming little chapel with beautiful stained glass windows that reflect romantic, multi-colored light into the room. It is so reminiscent of an era gone by and I am very happy to see it is still alive today after having been restored to its former glory.

This is the interior of the chapel, lit by all the candles, chandeliers and aisle lanterns April and Paul used for decorations.

Our photographer for the day was April Sirit of Evoke Photography, very capably assisted by her second
shooter, Beth Jarvah, of  b. Jarvah imagery. I have worked with April before at weddings and her photos are just wonderful. Here is a link to her blog post about April and Paul’s engagement photos so you can see her skill as a photographer as well as learn a little more about April and Paul. Can’t wait to see the wedding photos from April and Beth - they are sure to be spectacular.

Our extremely talented musicians for the day were a trio from Arioso Strings, composed of David on cello and Emi and Mary on violins. They created an amazing sound in the little chapel and the musical selections were a perfect touch for the wedding, as always. They are consummate professionals and I always look forward to hearing them play. Mary wrote a blog post about April and Paul’s wedding and you can read it through this link. She has a really nice perspective from a musician’s point of view.

April and Paul, you have built such a happy life for yourselves and I know you are going to have many more happy years ahead of you.

Go Wolfpack!

Erica and Paul Marry with the Splendor of Autumn Colors, October 16, 2010

Erica and Paul wanted an outdoor wedding that was fun, casual and laid-back. They started by choosing The Inn at Celebrity Dairy in Siler City as the location. A working goat farm, it is not a place one would think of for a wedding, but that is actually part of its charm. It is relaxed and rustic and you can even help them feed the goats if you like. (The goat cheese they make is delicious!)

Because it is October, they decided to use an autumn theme for the wedding decorations. Everything was absolutely beautiful and there are so many clever things to show you.

Here are their colorful aisle, arbor and sunflower bouquets.

They even came up with a creative way to camouflage a drainage pipe that was near where the Bridesmaids would stand!

The reception tent was aglow with beautiful autumn colors.

 And the place card holders were these cute little pine cones.

The great room of the Inn is a huge expanse of bright light. Along the walls are colorful paintings and a long table runs down the center. Complete with a stone fireplace on one side, it is easy to see why people like to be there so much.

These are their delicious-looking cookies, made by their friend who owns a bakery named Half Baked (what a great name). Erica made the hand-drawn labels and Paul wrapped and labeled the cookies.

They also had paper leaves laid out for the guests to write them notes upon and then hang the leaves on the branches in the pots. How wonderful that must have looked with all the leaf-notes hanging.

They had placed a photo of themselves between wedding photos of their parents. A heartfelt note to all the guests was another nice touch.

And what an unexpected way to set out their ceremony programs.

Erica and Paul read poems to each other during the ceremony and they were a big hit with the guests. It’s always nice to hear laughter at a wedding because you know the guests are enjoying what is going on. For this couple and their guests, the fun and laughter were going to continue into the wee hours of the morning.

The photographer for the day was Geoff Johnson of Geoff Johnson Films. He took some wonderful photos, a few of which are already posted on his blog and Facebook page. Here’s a link to the great slideshow he put together. I love his style and he captured the feel of the day perfectly. The aisle photo above is Geoff’s work and this photo of Paul twirling Erica is one of my favorites. 

Erica and Paul, I so enjoyed being a part of your beautiful wedding celebration. May your marriage and your lives continue to glow with many happy days of fun and laughter.

Alex and Brian are the perfect mix on December 6, 2009 at The Matthews House in Cary, NC

Marrying in December, Alex and Brian decided to create a Winter Wonderland for their wedding. It was a lovely choice and everything was gleaming in the room; the Christmas trees, the silver chairs, the silver centerpieces on the tables, the wedding cake, and of course, Alex and Brian themselves!

Here is a shot of Brian and his Best Man taken right before the ceremony. What a handsome groom Brian is. He looked every bit as handsome in his tux as Alex did in her beautiful meringue of a dress.

The ceremony and reception were held at the wonderful Matthews House in Cary. I always look forward to weddings there because they are a complete in-house facility and they go out of their way to please their guests. Plus, they are fun to work with. They have a staff of in-house wedding planners and for this wedding, Suzy McPherson was in charge. She took the helm like the total pro she is and everything went off perfectly.

This is a portion of the ballroom where the ceremony took place, and later the reception. It was simply beautiful with all its silver and lights. Although this photo looks gold because of the way the Christmas tree lights photographed, the room in person was actually sparkly white. The Groom and Groomsmen were to have decorated the two Christmas trees but Brian told me later that the ladies in the family decided there wasn’t enough sparkle on the trees with the way the guys did it so they took over and did it up “ladies’ style.”

Here is a close-up of the unique candle-in-water vases placed along the sides of the aisle. Who needs poinsettias when you have this beautiful option?

And this is one of the creative table centerpieces of sparkling silver stems, ornaments and various other shiny items. In the dim light and with the candles lit, it was all aglow and just stunning.

For the wedding favors, Alex and Brian created a powdered cocoa mix and when Alex was happy with the final recipe, she and Brian spooned it into these little corked jars. The label says “A Perfect Mix” (love it!) and they were just adorable. What a clever accompaniment to the Winter Wonderland theme!

The cake was provided by Lynne Loomis of Lynn’s Traditions. I always know when I see her at a wedding that the cake is going to be beautiful AND delicious. They taste like they just came out of the kitchen because they actually did. To follow up on the Winter Wonderland theme, Lynn created by hand all the individual snowflakes on the cake. (They must have been as fragile as real ones.) Then she placed them on the cake individually around the silver ribbon fondant. It was really magnificent.

The music for the ceremony was provided by Arioso Strings, with Mary Page Block on violin and David Oh on cello. What a beautiful sound and my goodness did it fill up the room. Arioso Strings can provide duos and more for weddings and other functions and they are always first class and professional. I love working with them.

The music for the reception was provided by their DJ, Patrick Cooke of PC Productions. I have worked with Patrick before and he is a fun DJ. I think Alex and Brian made a perfect choice in him and he is sure to have been an asset for their celebration.

Alex and Brian, you have so many fun and exciting times ahead of you. May every one of them be a joy to you both and may they enrich your life together immeasurably.

___

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.”

___