Ariel and Trey chose Friday March 4, 2011 as their wedding date and
Bay 7 of the American Tobacco Campus as their wedding venue. They met with me in October and we got started on their ceremony. Finally their big day arrived!
Simply Delicious was their caterer and cake baker and the place was all set up for the reception. The ceremony took place up in the loft.
Bay 7 is such a spacious place and a great wedding venue. The whole thing is a dance floor!
Eric Hodgden with
All Around Raleigh DJ Company was on hand when we arrived and we set up speakers up in the loft and got my microphone all plugged in. We did a sound check and everything was fine. But, when he was working with the musicians for the ceremony, my AC adapter conked out or shorted out or something. Fortunately Eric is very adept in handling the sound equipment that he was able to switch his adapter to mine before I needed to speak. Thanks so much, Eric! It was great working with you.
Here are three of our musicians.
Jennifer Paschal and Marshal Carter, vocalists, were accompanied by Jim Barden on keyboard. They were wonderful and sang during the processional and again during the Covenant of Salt ceremony.
Doing prelude music and the music for the entrance of the grandparents and parents were Hilary Attanas and Brittany Pierce. They were so good! I loved their beautiful harmony!
This set up was for the Covenant of Salt ceremony. This is similar to the sand ceremony but salt is used instead of sand. Salt to seal contracts harks back to Biblical days. According to tradition, the wedding contract can only be broken if each grain of salt can be sorted, identified, and then returned to its rightful owner. Trey and Ariel liked this ancient ritual. They also stood under a Chuppah to pay tribute to Ariel's Jewish heritage.
Debbie, owner of
Simply Delicious, just finished decorating the wedding cake with the flowers. Her assistant, Lisa, was busy pinning on boutonnieres on the groomsmen.
A closer view of the cake. The wall behind it is panels of stainless steel that usually has water cascading down but the water was turned off for the ceremony because it can be noisy.
We stashed the groom and groomsmen in the men's room while we got the bride inside and into the elevator. When she was well out of sight, Trey and his groomsman, Chris, and I went to the far end of the area and took our places on the steps. Then our director, Laura, a friend of the bride's, got the grandparents and parents lined up to process in. There were quite a few grandparents present which is so nice to see. These are Trey's paternal grandparents in the front followed by his maternal grandmother escorted in by Daniel, our best man. She was supposed to be escorted in by her grandson and younger brother of the groom, Cash, but unfortunately Cash, got quite ill the day of the wedding and could not be with us. Behind Daniel are Ariel's grandparents.
Trey's mother and father, Doricia and Ben, are ready to walk in. Behind them are Ariel's mother, Lisa, escorted in by her son, Ian. She is speaking to one of the staff at Bay 7.
Now for the bridesmaids. Notice to the far left is our bride in the elevator!
Ariel's father, Joel, is holding that door open as they get ready to walk out.
Isn't Ariel's wedding gown dreamy? So soft and full. To the left is Stacy Borelli of
Swank Photo Studio getting the photos. I wonder what Joel is looking at on the floor? Ariel's red shoes? Nope. Lisa told me later that he was looking down trying to figure out how to NOT step on The Dress!
And so the ceremony begins. Ariel, Trey and Joel together made the lovely chuppah we are standing under. The ceremony contained an explanation of the symbolism of the chuppah.
You can get an idea here of how large this space is and how the loft is positioned around three sides of the space. I had not done a wedding up in the loft space before. There is actually plenty of room and a very long aisle! The guys and I entered from the right side where you see the musicians and DJ seated during the ceremony. Because of the length of the aisle, Marty was not able to get very close to take photos for me.
It is all over! Let the party begin!
She really did float down the aisle!
They look pretty happy to me!
After getting my microphone packed up, I chased after the wedding party that was headed out to take photos around the American Tobacco campus. I had to get Jenny, our maid of honor, to sign the marriage license before they all scattered. Lisa, mother of the bride, on the left, is so happy the way the wedding went. She told me she loved the ceremony and I saw her shed a few tears during the parents' blessing too.
I could not resist putting both of these photos on the blog because Ariel's dress is so pretty and suits her so well. Trey and Ariel, you have a lot going for you and I know you will be so happy! I wish you all the best life has to offer!
