Brooke and Al marry in Chapel Hill at The Carolina Inn, March 27, 2010

Brooke and Al are a terrific couple and each has twinkling eyes - a sure sign that they both enjoy life to the fullest. As I write, they are just finishing up a three week honeymoon in Europe and must surely have  filled up every moment, creating lots of special memories.

Al has two lovely daughters who were a part of the wedding party and here is a photo of him with his oldest. How proud she looks standing with her dad.

She was so into the wedding that she had her braces done in two of the colors Brooke and Al chose for their color scheme!

Speaking of the color scheme, things were a riot of bright, cheery colors all over the place - in the bouquets, provided by Preston Flowers;

the aisle flowers;

the Bridesmaids dresses;

even the Sand Ceremony they included during the wedding;

And Brooke looked elegant through it all in her beautiful and unusual gown. I’m sorry my photo of it doesn’t do it the justice it deserves.

The ceremony was held in the intimate Bryan Courtyard of The Carolina Inn and the exquisite harp music was provided by Laura Byrne, a warm personality and a musical genius. I always love working with her because she is such a special person and her music is superb.

Two more special people helping make the event a success were Martha Manning, the photographer, and Cori Stocum, the wedding planner. As you can see here, not only was the wedding covered professionally, but because Brooke and Al set a fun and friendly tone, everyone could relax and have a great time together.

(Unfortunately, this will be one of Cori’s last weddings because she is retiring to be a full time mom now that her daughter is starting school and getting involved in more activities. Cori and I have one more wedding together before her “retirement” and I am going to miss her cheery face and efficient ways.)

Outside the reception hall was this wonderful creation by Brooke’s mom - a towel cake with one of Brooke’s old Barbie dolls as the cake topper. I was told by a guest that Brooke’s mom is famous for making these and I’d say she outdid herself here.

 Inside, the reception area was beautifully appointed with the wedding colors artfully displayed...

including the charming wedding cake, provided by Donna Ford of Sweet Memories Bakery.

Two others on hand for the event - and equally important to its success - were Scott Russell, Martha Manning’s photographic assistant and second set of eyes, and the reception DJ, Jeff Simpson, of Simp Sound (great name!).

And of course I have to include these two adorable Flower Girls who stole everyone’s hearts.

It was a great wedding with lots of love, fun and memories for the couple with the twinkling eyes. Can’t wait to see those honeymoon photos!
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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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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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Anann and Peter marry at her parents’ home in Carrboro - May 23, 2009

Anann is Canadian, raised in America. Peter is Danish. They met in Buenos Aires, currently live in Copenhagen and came to Carrboro to marry at her mother’s friendly and welcoming southern home. What a fun and interesting life they must lead!

The lovely wedding dress was designed by Anann, a jewelry designer by trade, and it was made for her by her Maid of Honor. Simple elegance with a touch of the unexpected is a great combination here. The detail on the skirt was striking in its simplicity and reminded me of butterflies flitting around in a garden. The little accenting pieces of cloth were attached to the dress in such a way that they remained free to move as Anann moved, or even as a breeze might catch them. Hopefully you can see it in these photos for it was a beautiful effect. 

I love the veiled hat and it looked wonderful on Anann. This look is starting to make a comeback after decades of neglect and I am happy to see this ultra feminine style beginning to make its return. I suspect we will start to see it more and more in the next few years and it makes perfect sense that a fashion-forward designer would decide to use it for herself.

The wedding took place in the front yard of Anann’s parents’ home with lush greenery everywhere. In the area where we stood there were two urns of elaborate spring flowers on each side of us and hanging from the tree between them were the most clever flower arrangements I had ever seen. Suspended from branches were small, antique bottles of many shapes and each contained a flower of varying colors and types. It made for a charming and colorful backdrop and it was just stunning. Simple beauty showcased again in an unexpected way. 

So here in North Carolina, within a garden setting of floating flowers and lush, green plants, Anann in her “butterfly” dress and Peter in his grey suit without a tie (that had just the right sense of casual refinement), said their vows among friends and family from all over the world. It was wonderful to be a part of it.

There are sure to be many adventures ahead for Anann and Peter around all the corners of the world and I have no doubt they will enjoy every one!

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