whimsical magazine

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Beautiful Interfaith Wedding for Tara and Seth at Brier Creek!

Almost exactly a year ago I met Tara and Seth to plan their wedding ceremony. Seth is Jewish, Tara Christian and they wanted traditional wedding customs of both faiths in their ceremony including some Hebrew words. Andrew Weiss canted the beautiful Hebrew words in the ceremony for us. And the weather, aside from being quite breezy, was gorgeous in spite of all the unpredictable weather we have been having in NC lately. The wedding was March 22, 2014 at the Jasmine Courtyard at Brier Creek Country Club. You can see the wind blowing the drapes and the tablecloth in the photo below taken before the ceremony.

The Unity Candle set up, wine and glass and glass to break are in place on the table under the pergola.

Mews Designs was the florist and had these pretty little suspended jars of flowers gracing the aisle. The altar was decorated simply and elegantly with Boston ferns and two pedestals. Simplicity is always refreshing!

Tara and Seth chose to do a "first look" before the ceremony. In addition to being such a sweet moment when they first see each other before the wedding, they could get most of the photos done early too. So when Marty and I arrived, they were taking pictures at the site. Someone must have asked Tara and Seth a question or something they were pondering in the photo above, thus their non-smiling expressions. But I include this photo because it is the only good one I have of Seth's parents, Keith and Adrienne, and his sweet grandmother, Leonor.

Tara and her sister, Kelley, who was also her Maid of Honor. Love the black and white with the pop of red!

In the ballroom, the tables and chairs and our DJ, Mel Manning, were set up and ready. Our photographer was Joe Payne. Videoing the wedding was Olde Road Pictures Videography.

Simply Cakes had just delivered and set up this stunning wedding cake.

I went upstairs to the Dogwood Room to sign the Ketubah, a Jewish marriage contract. After that it was back to the courtyard for Mel to place the microphone on Andrew.

Time to get lined up! This is Terri, mother of the bride waiting for her escort, Nicholas, to return to escort her in. Shelly Keeter was our excellent wedding director for this wedding in addition to being the event manager for the club. Seth and Tara contracted with her to be their wedding director in addition to her other responsibilities and everything flowed smoothly along! Thanks, Shelly!

Seth and his best man, Nick, were feeling fine and ready to go! I wish I knew what was so funny!

Andrew and I led the way for the groom and groomsmen to enter.

Our ring bearer, William, and flower girl, Maddie, were next in and did a super job! Tara and her father, Tom, look cool as cucumbers as they wait for the bride's grand entrance!

Where's the bride? Great shot of the guests who are looking for the bride. Everyone else has entered now and the anticipation builds!

And here they come!

Tom places Tara's hand into Seth's hand and she kisses Dad good bye as he carefully avoids stepping on her dress to take his seat.

The ceremony began with "Shalom aleychem!" Welcome, everyone!

Everyone's head is bowed for the opening prayer.

We remembered those loved ones who are no longer with us physically but are with us in spirit. Then a few words of tribute to the couple's parents sitting on the first row.

Then it was time to light the unity candle which was definitely a challenge in the wind. But above you see the actual evidence that they did get it lit but it took all 4 of us! Yay!

The Seven Blessings were spoken before the couple shared the wine.

Tara went first.

Then Seth, who would traditionally finish off the rest. (I had originally intended to pour the wine Shelly put on the table into a special glass the couple brought for the wine but their glass was too fragile to withstand the wind. Consequently there was more wine than usual in the more substantial glass and I could tell Seth was debating in his head whether to drink it all or not! That's is what is tickling Tara!)

This is the sweet part of the ceremony where I tell the bride and groom what they told me in confidence they love about each other, why they want to marry each other and what they are looking forward to in marriage.

They had written secret vows to each other that they read from my book.

They exchange rings......

To close we had a Prayer based on First Corinthians, then Andrew did a perfect job canting Shehecheyano, A Special Prayer, from the Jewish tradition.

The pronouncement of marriage was next but they could not kiss until....

Seth broke the glass and we all shouted Mazeltov!

Tara really laid one on Seth!!

And another!

Now tell me, doesn't Seth look like he is reeling here? It must have been that kiss!

Okay, he's back to the moment and so happy!

The wedding party and parents followed......then off to the reception for the guests!

One last picture for the road! Wow, what a wedding. It was really gorgeous, Tara and Seth. Give yourselves a big pat on the back. It was great working with you and I wish you all the best in the world!

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To contact me:

mailto:kayelily@aweddingminister.com

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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Melissa and Chris' Beautiful Wedding in the Jasmine Court at Brier Creek Country Club!

Melissa and Chris are a dynamic couple who have definite ideas about what they want in life--and in their wedding! They were a blast to work with and we had to be mindful of keeping their ceremony to under 30 minutes in anticipation of the hot weather of their wedding day of July 6, 2013 at Brier Creek Country Club. When all was said and done, all the very important elements were included.

So, here is the Jasmine Court awaiting the arrival of the musicians--Arioso Strings--and the guests.

Their reception was held in the Palmer room and all decked out with their color called "guava." The English Garden did the florals for the wedding.

Their lovely cake was by Ashley Cakes.

Our musicians from Arioso Strings arrived and got set up 30 minutes before start time and began warming up--the instruments that is! It was plenty warm for us humans already.

Their DJ and Videographer, Damien Maas, put the video microphone and body pack on me so that my voice would be clear in the video.

Nicole with Premier Party Planners was on hand to be in charge of the day. Nicole and I have worked together in the past and she is really good and I really appreciate her expertise. She had gotten the guests from the lobby where they were congregated staying cool down to the garden and seated. Then she rounded up the wedding party. Here comes the groom!

Everyone entered down the center aisle from the pergola where there was shade.

Chris' parents, George and Belva, were the first to process down the aisle and take their seats.

Melissa's mother, Rita, was next. She was escorted in by her son-in-law, Clarence.

Now our pretty bridesmaids in their guava dresses.

Before the bride entered, our two Ring Bearers, Bryson and Avery, made their way down the aisle.

The guests stood in honor of the bride as her father, Jim, escorted her in and placed her hand in Chris' hand.

Their photographer is Christian Del Rosario with Attreo Studio.

Before they were seated, each guest took a stone from a basket to hold during the ceremony and infuse their blessings for Melissa and Chris into it then return it to the basket after the ceremony. The stones will be displayed in their home as a reminder of all who were present at their ceremony.

The parents stood as we paid tribute to them for all their love and support of Chris and Melissa throughout their lives.

Melissa's friend, Kelly, presented a reading from Richard Bach's book, Bridge Across Forever about soulmates.

Then it was time for their love story. They first met when salsa dancing in 2010 but both were too shy to ask each other out. Later on they both happened to sign up on e-Harmony and were matched up! It was just the jumpstart they needed. Their first official date in July of 2011 for the non-committal one-hour coffee date lasted 6 hours! Chris was smitten with Melissa's vibrant beauty, her bright smile and pleasant demeanor. Melissa was relieved to finally meet a man who was both very intelligent and handsome! It did not take them long to become a couple and embark on their lives together which included planning this wedding.

They chose the contemporary "I do" style vows and then exchanged rings.

After the vows and rings, Nanette Geiger, sang "Come What May" while the couple poured their sand together.

They added a unique twist to the sand ceremony by having a third bottle of sand that represented their future children and pets.

Melissa and Chris, it was my pleasure to work with you to create your dream wedding and officially join you in matrimony. I know your marriage will be enduring and immensely happy because you are such a good match. I wish you all the fun in the world!