Alyssa and Alex Celebrate Love of Family at Their Wedding in Greystone Inn of Durham

 So how do two Ph.D students manage to find time to meet, much less marry? They used the scientific method - Match.com! And they do seem excellently matched.

They met in 2006, while they were still in school in Pittsburgh, and have been together ever since. Schooling has taken up most of their time as they worked through their studies at colleges around the nation, so wedding planning had to take a back seat until now.

They chose as their wedding location the stately Greystone Inn and Conference Center. Once the home of the venerable Washington Duke family, it is now owned and lovingly kept by Leslie Brame, who has restored it and furnished it with period pieces. It is fun to walk through the rooms imagining what it must have been like to have lived there.

Alyssa and Alex wisely chose Elana Walker of Savoir Faire - Event Planning and Management as their wedding planner. Because they currently live in California, wedding planning was doubly challenging from so far away and Elana was a very capable go-to person to make sure everything went off as planned. She certainly did a beautiful job of it and I will be looking forward to our working together again.

Alyssa and Alex wanted to have a green wedding and they did everything they could to make it a reality. They used Green Planet Catering of Raleigh because they use crops grown by NC State students as well as other eco-minded local growers. Their motto is “Saving the planet, one plate at a time.”

Alyssa and Alex would not use flowers because of the pesticides so Alyssa made bouquets for she and her Maid of Honor from family heirloom brooches, filled out with other old brooches she had found at yard sales. The bouquets were amazing.

They made their own pomander decorations from recycled paper and used them to good effect at the altar and on the aisle chairs.

Because it was important to Alyssa and Alex that the ceremony be about the work and commitment that sustains a marriage and the love and support of their family, there were a lot of sentimental touches. Their parents and grandparents had set fine examples of love and marriage and the family who were no longer with them were remembered with photos set up along the edges of the front porch of the Inn, where the ceremony took place.

Alyssa was wearing her tributes, not only in the family heirloom bouquet but also in her veil and jewelry;

pearl bracelet - from her Great Aunt, handed down to her Aunt, and borrowed for the wedding

pearl necklace - from Alex’s grandmother

veil - her mother’s wedding veil

She looked like a bride from the 1920s and it all went together beautifully. Her dress, hair and make-up were of that period and it suited her soft, quiet manner perfectly. Greystone Inn was the elegant backdrop that looked like Hollywood casting.

The DJ for the day was Brian Fore of DJ B4. He is shown here on the right and he sure kept things going musically. Also in this photo are Elana and her excellent assistants, Joella, shown on the left and Donnell, standing next to her. It was great working with all of them. Nice job, everyone. Very nice job.

The videographers for the event were the amazing husband and wife team, Philip and Mackenzie Henry of Ink Spot Crow Films. I have worked with them before and can’t wait to see how this video turns out. There are a few videographers whose work I can’t stop watching over and over again when I see it and this is one of them. Excellent work always. .

(Update 10/7/11 - Just got an email from Mackenzie that the wedding highlights video is now online. It is a great video that really catches the personalities of Alyssa and Alex. It is also a perfect example of why it is such an asset to have professional videographers for your wedding. Here is the link, if you would like to check it out. Love those Krispy Kreme hats!)    

Their photographer for the day was Beatrice Yaxley, of Beatrice Yaxley Photography. I have never worked with her before, but judging from her website, she is quite a talent. Looking forward to seeing the photos when they are online.

Alyssa and Alex, I enjoyed meeting you and working with you to create such a charming and heartfelt wedding. I hope your future together is filled with the bounty of nature and all the good things that come from caring about and giving back to the earth.

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Shannon and Steven marry at the Greystone Inn in Durham, April 3, 2010

Shannon and Steven met years ago when they were working together at a summer camp in Pennsylvania. A year later, he finished college and moved to NC to be closer to Shannon while she finished her degree.

They are a fun, romantic couple and as I write this post they are honeymooning in Paris. Ah romance. They wrote beautiful wedding vows to each other and I love the story of how Steven proposed to her; she loves to play Scrabble and he gave her a Scrabble game as a gift. While she wasn’t looking, he had pulled out tiles to spell “marry me” and put them out on his tray, exclaiming, “Hey, I’ve already got a word! You should come look at this.” When she came around to see his word, there she found his proposal, complete with a gorgeous ring. How can you not love a guy like that?!

Here’s the photo from that day, framed and displayed at the wedding. You can see her ring sitting on a Scrabble tile in the front.

They chose the setting for their romantic day to be the wonderful Greystone Inn and Conference Center. Sitting in a quiet neighborhood just outside of downtown Durham, it was originally the home of Washington Duke and now functions as an elegant event location. The owner, Leslie Brame, and her assistant, Theresa Writz, were on hand to make sure everything went smoothly for the happy couple. The wedding was held on the front steps of the house and the refreshments were served in the rooms of the first floor. Quite the elegant setting, it lends itself beautifully to so many different styles of weddings. 

The front of the house

the grand piano room

the sunlit foyer coming down from the main staircase

Their wedding cupcakes and cakes were on display in the dining room which, judging by the amazing smells wafting through the house, was sure to be laid out with delectable treats in short order. Here are photos of the cupcakes and cakes, but I neglected to get the name of the bakery that made these beautiful confections that looked almost too good to eat.

Photographing the event were the team of Courtney and Josh Gray of Courtney Gray Photography. They were all over the place taking shots and I can’t wait to see their photos when they are online. Here are two that are currently on their blog;

For her “something old,” Shannon stitched an old wedding photo of her grandparents to the hem of her wedding dress. I have never seen that done before and found it incredibly touching. I got all choked up seeing it.

Shannon and Steven, I hope your life together is a wonderful string of romantic interludes and crazy adventures, starting with your Parisian honeymoon.

L'amour toujours!
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