Melissa and Ryan Have a Sunny Wedding at The Sutherland in Wake Forest

So how do you know for sure that your fiancé loves you? There are many signs, obviously, but for Melissa, her fisherman fiancé showed her by selling his beloved bass boat to buy her an engagement ring. For those of you with avid fishermen in your lives, you will fully understand how huge this is. Ryan wanted her to know how much he loved her and what better way than to sell a prized possession to buy something for her.

Both Melissa and Ryan have had wonderful examples of long, loving marriages in their families so it was not too hard for Ryan to know how to show his love. Ryan’s parents have been married for 28 years,

photo by Brian Anderson

Melissa’s parents have been married for 27 years,

photo by Brian Anderson

and Melissa’s grandparents have been married for 61 years!

photo by Brian Anderson

Ryan and Melissa have some mighty big footsteps to follow! During the ceremony they wanted to make sure their parents and grandparents were honored for the great examples they had set for them, followed by Melissa and Ryan surprising them all with roses for their moms and grandmother. Many tears were seen as they presented the roses. Such a touching moment.

photo by Brian Anderson

Melissa and Ryan chose as their wedding location the beautiful The Sutherland Estate and Gardens in Wake Forest. What a wonderful location this is for a wedding. Tucked off the highway, it is all enclosed and private and they include skilled wedding planners in their packages. Ashlee Adams was in charge of making sure everything went well for Melissa and Ryan and she was certainly a professional in all she did. It was great working with her.

Here are some shots of this most impressive wedding and event venue;

the main house where the Bride and her Bridesmaids dress and the Settler’s Cottage where the Groom and Groomsmen dress

photo by Brian Anderson

the brick area where the ceremonies take place, the wedding garden lawn as it extends back toward the house, and the large brick patio behind the house, perfectly suited for setting up a large dance floor

photo by Brian Anderson

photo by Brian Anderson

the rustic dining room that leads into the bright, airy anteroom where the cake and some of the refreshments were served

Melissa’s beautiful wedding dress had been copied by her Grandmother for one of Melissa’s childhood Barbie dolls and I couldn’t resist getting a photo of Melissa and Barbie together.

Barbie also had a place of honor down in the traditional dining room where the gift table was set up and she later joined the revelry out by the dance floor in the evening. 

photo by Brian Anderson

The accent colors for the wedding were aqua and yellow and what a happy, cheery combination that is. Melissa and Ryan used it to perfect effect for the Bridesmaid dresses, the bouquets and boutonnieres,

the pomanders they made for the aisle chairs, 

the table settings and centerpieces under the reception tent,

 the jelly beans they made themselves (!!) for guest favors,

the wedding cake and table,

even Melissa’s wedding shoes were a cheery shade of yellow!

Their gifts for their Bridal Party were engraved beer mugs for the men and yellow and aqua polka dot glasses for the ladies.

Here you see Melissa’s brother and Ryan’s best man with the polka dot glasses in hand, no doubt going to get refreshments for the ladies.

photo by Brian Anderson

It was a sunny day with sunny decorations and it all matched perfectly the sunny dispositions of this happy couple and their families and guests. It was quite a special event and I know everyone there was having a marvelous time. Even Barbie herself, who must have been privy to some special moments in Melissa’s childhood, must have been enjoying every moment.

The photographer for the wedding was Hilton Pitman, of Hilton Pitman Photography. Some of his wonderful photos are included here with his watermark embossed. (Thanks, Hilton) He also did some wonderful engagement photos of Melissa and Ryan and I wrote a blog post about it a few months ago. Here’s a link to that post if you’d like to read it.

My thanks also to Melissa’s cousin, Brian Anderson, who provided most of the photos used here. 

Melissa and Ryan, it was such a joy to get to know you and to be a part of such a special day in your lives. Thank you again for the beautiful birthday flowers and sweet card you gave me on my birthday. I was so touched by your thoughtfulness. (My birthday was on their rehearsal date and they gave me flowers and a card signed by everyone at the rehearsal.)

May all your dreams come true in unique and wonderful ways - and may Ryan’s new bass boat (when it comes along) be a joy for you both.

Update 9/1/11- I have just learned that Melissa and Ryan’s wedding will be featured in the Spring / Summer 2012 issue of The Knot North Carolina, which will be on sale in stores starting Dec. 27, 2011. Can’t wait to read it!

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Update 1/23/12 - Here is the link to the blog post I wrote when their wedding was featured in The Knot North Carolina magazine.

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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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