Sunday, July 31, 2011

TIP- Beach Weddings

Just wondering we have the sun, we have beautiful sea and we have summer all year around but never attended a beach wedding in Dar!!
......love this setting for wedding ceremony!! isn't it romantic? 
.....This below setting for reception ... 
picture somewhere like White sands Hotel or Malaika beach
.....this one below like many resorts in Zanzibar by night.... 
the candle lights too romanatic
Simple and Sweet beach theme wedding cake
....the sound of water is very refreshing... 
it can be even by swimming pool side like this one below
Just the dreamy dream

Michaela and Josh's Beautiful Interfaith Wedding!

Mary Page Block who founded and operates Arioso Strings referred Michaela and Josh to me. Michaela's parents are neighbors of hers in Cary. Mary sat down with the couple in the Spring of 2010 and went through this blog to choose their venue and other wedding  vendors. I am really delighted that brides and grooms use this blog as a resource! I met with Michaela and Josh in May of 2010 to plan this wedding to take place on July 30, 2011. Michaela and Josh chose the beautiful Renaissance Hotel in North Hills. All the weddings I have done there have been done in the long narrow end of the ballroom. Michaela and Josh were expecting more guests than that could accommodate so they chose the wider configuration as shown below by opening up an additional segment of the ballroom: It is huge! 
The photo above shows the long narrow configuration for a wedding I did there on New Year's Eve. 
See how spacious this area is?
There was plenty of room for the Arioso Strings Trio headed up by May Page Block and our vocalists.
Valeri and Megan are relatives of Michaela and came down from Ohio to sing in the wedding. They sang "Hosea" which was sung at Michaela's parents' wedding. It was beautiful. I don't know which is which but the young lady on the left is also the mother of our flower girl, Lulani.
Josh is of Jewish heritage and Michaela was brought up Christian. They wanted to blend the two faiths in their wedding ceremony. We included the Chuppah under which we stood for the ceremony. Josh and Michaela constructed this lovely Chuppah and Michaela made the canopy covering the top of it. We had two prayers, the Wine and Seven Blessing Ceremony, scripture readings, and the breaking of the glass.
Behind the partition the band, Shine, was warming up when we arrived to set up my microphones. We also found the cupcake wedding cake by Cakes for a Cause.
Fresh Affairs did the lovely florals. Their theme was sunflowers. 
So, here we are standing around while the last guests took their seats. On the right is Josh's grandpa, Murray, who canted the first of the seven blessings in Hebrew. Josh and I are already in line and behind us are his best man, Justin, and his brothers, Dan and Adam.
Here come the bridesmaids: Anna, the maid of honor, is on the left and Michaela's sisters, Kateri and Lizzie, are on the right.
Okay....we are ready to go. Our director, Terry, a friend of Michaela's family, served as our wedding director and cued us in. In the front of the line are Grandpa Murray who graciously escorted in Michaela's Grandmother, Anne. Our ring bearer is Jacob, son of Josh's aunt and uncle.
Once the wedding party got inside, it was time for the bride and her parents and our flower girls to get in line to enter. Lulani did a great job walking down the aisle by herself and standing with the bridesmaids.
Terry is waiting for Lulani to make it all the way down the aisle before sending the bride and her parents, Denis and Connie.
 
And there they go! I was so delighted to see that Michaela had found a white carpet runner for the wedding. That is about the only type of runner that will work on carpet. It did tend to move a little bit with the nap of the carpet but it was not dangerous or wrinkled.
 
Michaela and Josh live in Atlanta. They met at Emory from where they did their undergraduate work. Josh is a teacher at a private school and Michaela is a speech therapist for the public school system. Theirs is a wonderful love story and I had the pleasure or sharing it with their guests during the ceremony.
These photos are really grainy. The room was darkened and the zoom feature left a lot of quality to be desired!
After the pronouncement, Josh stomped the glass breaking it the first time, we all shouted "Mazeltov," and then they kissed. Sorry, don't have a picture of the kiss! You can see David Teeter with Story Photographers zeroing in on the scene. Ashley Stephenson with Story Photographers was on the other side getting more good shots.
They were beaming as they recessed out into their new marriage!
Michaela and Josh, congratulations on your marriage and your wonderful wedding! Your hard work and diligent planning sure paid off. I wish you the best always!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Tunzi Dereck Send off

Get a sneak peek
Congratulations on your Sendoff Tunzi 
Wedding Bells loves YOU

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Stacey and Anthony from New Jersey Wed in Cary, NC!

Stacey and Anthony live in Cranbury NJ which is close to Princeton NJ where I just happened to be last week giving a memorial service. Small world. They have been trying to get married for a couple of years now. But, every time they planned the wedding, something came up or happened to postpone it. So, taking the bull by the horns, Anthony called me today while he and Stacey, her 15 year old daughter, Rae Lynn, her teammates on the Central Jersey Lightning girls fast pitch softball team, and some other parents were in town for the national girls softball playoffs. When I asked about the wedding date, he said "hopefully tonight if you are available!"  I was delighted that I could if they had their marriage license. He told me that they had gotten it that morning figuring they would either marry here or along the coast of NC where they are heading after the playoffs. They asked Rae Lynn if she would prefer to have the wedding with all her teammates present or wait until they got to the beach. Rae Lynn voted for tonight and she and her teammates got busy planning the wedding. My husband, Dave, and I arrived at the Homewood Suites in Cary where they were all staying about 7:45 and met everyone then commenced with the ceremony on the hotel patio.
Stacey is escorted in through the softball bats! I forgot to ask who her escort was. Maybe someone who knows will comment on this blog and let us know! 
Because the wedding was planned quickly and over the phone instead of email, Stacey and Anthony did not get to preview the ceremony. Anthony voted for a 5 minute ceremony versus a 10 minute one so I wrote a very "short and sweet" ceremony for them. At this point in the ceremony Anthony was listening very intently to me ask him the "I do" questions and made some comment that he needed to pay attention to what he was promising which got a good laugh from everyone.
After the pronouncement I told Stacey she could kiss the groom which she certainly did.
Then, Anthony moved in to kiss the bride! They were so happy to be married at last.
The softball team with Rae Lynn and Stacey in front!
Congratulations, Stacey and Anthony! Thanks for the opportunity to meet and marry you. I hope all your dreams come true!

Tunzi and Bitus Wedding

Ni tajiri mukubwa wa mujini bwana Bitus aka B2C tie the knot with a not only beautiful but also intelligent Wedding Bells BrideTunzi Dereck
Tunzi is Master's student, hard working and respected girl now living a Cinderella dream
...dressed by Wedding Bells head to toe, She wore a stunning Cinderella dress perfect for a princess
She looked absolute stunning and elegant!
They said their vows...
....on the way to reception...
 that day Mlimani city parking was so full even shoppers were shocked of what is going on ;)
....as they enter the reception...
Groom and best-man suit direct from France... real tuxedos' no Joke! 
Champagne :)
Decor..... 
.....the cake sweeeet kama ya princess Kate!
Ndufu... yummy yummy!!
.....MC's exchanging views
Gadna G Habash... handsome!
Jokate.... Beautiful
Burudani ya kutosha from THT
and Twanga Pepeta band was there to make it happen!
....real watches was given
Pictures Momento... famous faces
JB au best Actor of the year (ZIFF AWARDS 2011) 
Ray, Kanumba and Steve Nyerere
....Bling bling kama Lil Wyne :)
Waigizaji maarufu wa Kike bongo movies Anti, Sajenti, Jacky Wolper and Johari
Kina dada wa mujini.... 
Steve Nyerere akitumbuiza...
Pedejhee akimwaga zawadi 
...many more....kwa kweli ilikuwa ni burudaaniii...
Very many Congratulations on your Wedding Bitus and Tunzi  
Wedding Bells loves YOU
 
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