Elegant Wedding for Erin and Dean!

 Julie Lee contacted me earlier this year to see if I could officiate for her sister, Erin, and her fiance, Dean, on October 1, 2010. Of course I was delighted to do so. Julie is in charge of booking events at the Crabtree Marriott here in Raleigh and we have worked together for years. In fact, in 2003, I did a baby blessing ceremony for her niece and Goddaughter, Gillian, who, now age 7, was at the wedding with her parents, Melissa and Skip! Here is her photo! What a pretty and bright little girl she is. I loved seeing them all again!

In fact, here is a photo of Skip, Melissa, Gillian, Ed and Julie (Godparents), and me on that day in 2003.  

Back to the wedding! This is the reception in Salon C. It is really spectacular. What a transformation of the ballroom!

And this is the bride's face when she saw it for the first time right before she processed in with the bagpiper. 

This is probably the groom's cake. Dean is from London. I am guessing at this but it is probably his family crest. 

The ceremony was held across the hall in the meeting rooms all opened up to form one large one. There were approximately 130 guests. There was a nice long aisle for processing in which was good because a bagpiper escorted Erin in and then escorted the wedding party out at the end of the ceremony. 

These are Dean's children who were the attendants. There is Harry, Danny and Charlotte. Lexi, Erin's daughter, is somewhere behind them.

After we were all inside the ceremony room except for the bride, the doors were closed by Kelly, our coordinator from the Marriott. 

Meanwhile Erin had taken a look at the ballroom and then was ready to follow the bagpiper in. Don't have a good photo of that but I am sure our photographer, Brian Mullins, got a good one so watch his blog! 

That is Lexi, Erin's daughter, on the far left, then Charlotte, then Julie, the Matron of Honor. On the right is Jeff, the Best Man, Danny and Harry. The ceremony was quite sentimental and combined elements from both Dean's heritage and Erin's family. For the prayer, we played a recording of Erin's late grandfather singing The Lord's Prayer which is a custom in their family to play at weddings.

After the vows and rings, we had the family unity sand ceremony which included all four children and the couple mingling their sand together. 

This is what it looked likeafter all the sand was poured in. 

The pronouncement of marriage and the kiss! And it was time for the bagpiper to escort the wedding party out. 

Erin and Dean, I am so happy you found each other. I was honored to officiate your lovely and meaningful wedding ceremony. I wish you all the happiness and love in the world! 

Our Vendors

First of all, the Crabtree Marriott Hotel. A great place for a wedding and reception. All the amenities and plenty of parking too! Julie, thanks for asking me to officiate. Kelly, many thanks for running the show!

Brian Mullins, photographer, one of my very favorite photographers and such fun to work with. Thanks, Brian!

Fresh Affairs did the spectacular florals and decorations for the ceremony and the reception. Always breathtakingly beautiful! 

Blue Moon Bakery did the gorgeous wedding cake and groom's cake. Great job!

Jesse McPherson, Highland Bagpiper, provided the bagpipe music. He was great! He is from Sanford. 

Celtic Wedding for Michelle and Sean at All Saints Chapel!

Michelle and Sean wanted to incorporate elements of Celtic traditions in their wedding ceremony on May 15, 2010. So, they created a handfasting sash of Sean's family tartan which we used during the ceremony to "tie the knot." The men in the wedding also wore their kilts. They also arranged for a bagpiper to provide the ceremony music as a sweet surprise for Sean's father, Michael. It was a bonny good morning for a wedding at All Saints Chapel in downtown Raleigh. The majority of the guests were shuttled from the hotel to the chapel and we had to delay the start of the wedding mainly because Artsplosure was also happening about 3 blocks away and traffic was slow.

When we were satisfied that all the guests had arrived, it was time to start. Michael began by escorting in the mother and the grandmother of the groom.

As soon as the mother of the bride was seated, Sean, his best man Joe, and I entered and took out places on the altar.

Our sweet little flower girl, Deanna, niece of the groom, did a great job sprinkling petals down the aisle.

Then it was time for our beautiful bride, Michelle, and her father, William, to enter and float down the aisle.

This historic chapel is such a beautiful setting for a wedding and has become very popular for weddings since it was moved to its present location in 2008. It will accommodate up to 200 guests.

Michelle and Sean put together a very sweet and touching ceremony that reflected them perfectly. We included not only the handfasting and tying of the knot, but also the blessing of the hands. They wrote their own wonderful vows and read them to each other from my book while they were holding hands. We closed with a blessing and the pronouncement of marriage.

And now they are married!! Michelle and Sean, I am so happy for you. Congratulations and best wishes forever. When your wee one arrives in October, let me know and we can plan a blessing ceremony!

Our Vendors: 

All Saints Chapel--On hand was Drew to help me get my sound set up and make sure things were handled. It was good to see you again! There were two weddings this Saturday and Sarah was due to come in for the other wedding.

I thank Sheena Johnson and Donald Webster of Carl Johnson Photography for covering the wedding. They were everywhere!

Daniel's Florist did the pretty bouquets and boutonnieres.

Our bagpiper was John Schodtler and he was very good. While we were waiting for the guests who were delayed, he came inside the chapel and entertained the guests who had already arrived.

After the wedding, Marty and I stopped in at Caffe Luna for the reception to get a photo of the wedding cake. This beautiful cake was by Cinda's Creative Cakes and it was very creative. In the second shot you can see that the ribbon of icing was actually colored like the tartan plaid. How did she do that??