Fabulous Highgrove Wedding for Jessica and Kevin!

Jessica and Kevin came to see me in June 2010 to plan their wedding scheduled for July 16, 2011 at the wonderful Highgrove Estate. They are two delightful, down-to-earth people who are very dedicated to each other and cherish the closeness they have with their families! They wanted to create their own ceremony and make it personal and meaningful. So they dived into the ceremony material I sent them right away and emailed me the first draft of everything they wanted. I did my tweaking to it, wrote their story from the answers to questions they each sent me, and we emailed the ceremony revisions back and forth until it was exactly what they wanted. Unfortunately last spring, Kevin's father had serious health challenges and so it was questionable whether he and Kevin's mother would be able to attend. They notified me and we created Ceremony B, in case they could not come. Sadly that is the one we used.  But, Kevin and Jessica arranged with Island Sound to video the wedding which they plan to take with them when they visit his parents and watch it together. That will be very special.

There is a little story here that unfolded as I set up my sound system before the ceremony. The ladies from Expressions of Love Florists were putting out the shepherd hooks and hanging beautiful vases of hydrangeas from them to flank the aisle.

But the glass vases tended to slip out of the ribbon holding them. One of the small children brought to me one of the vases that had fallen but not broken, then suddenly one toward the back slipped out and broke on the brick walk. That is Ann Eberle, our wedding director with Highgrove, going to get a broom and dustpan to sweep up the broken glass.

At first it was suspected that the vases were falling because the children touched them but I assured  them that  the children were standing with me and were not near the vase that fell and broke. These kids were so cute. I had my doubts about their ability to stay together and make it all the way down the aisle at the wedding given their erratic, age-appropriate behavior at the rehearsal. But they surprised me!! The little ring-bearer took charge of the little girls, made them hold his arms and brought them down the steps on cue!

Ed Stephenson furnished lovely guitar music for the processional and recessional. I do many weddings with Ed, on his own, and with string ensembles. Turns out, he is a personal friend of Kevin's too.

Simply Cakes made this beautiful wedding cake and it was color coordinated with the royal blue wedding color.

 

The garden ballroom was ready. The tables were completed and there was a frame with the couple's picture in it for the guests to sign like a guest book. They thought of something different too. This frame above says "Bought new shoes to match your dress and now your feet are sore? Please help yourself to a pair of these flipflops so you can dance some more!  Compliments of the Newlyweds!" How thoughtful!

Ryan Pflumm, DJ for Island Sound, was on hand to provide the music and entertainment for the reception. He was at the last wedding I did at Highgrove! 

We are all lined up inside the house ready for Ann to cue us in.

Aren't these dresses spectacular? I love the silver sandals too. 

Since no parents or grandparents were being escorted in, I was the first to take the walk to the "altar." 

Here they are! The little boy, Aidan, is clearly in control of his "girls," Kiera and Kaylee. 

Jessica's parents, Jeff and Pat, are proud to escort her down the aisle. Her dress was so pretty and fit her personality so well. Amazing how bridal gowns can do that! 

I think this photo was taken during the opening prayer. 

 

I put this photo in here so you can see that the solution for the flowers for the aisle was to remove the shepherd hooks and place the vases on the bricks and with some pretty petals, no one knew the original arrangement and it did not matter because it looked just as pretty! 

 

After the story, vows and rings, the guests and the attendants read the Irish Blessing in unison to the couple. All the attendants had the blessing on small pieces of paper they had kept out of sight. Jessica and Kevin had cute programs that were like fans and the Irish Blessing was printed on one side. 

And, now they are married! 

 

The wedding party and parents recessed through to the front of the house while the guests had cocktails on the patio before the reception. Our photographers were on hand to get some wonderful pictures for the couple. Jennifer Kromout of Acorn Photography is on the left and her second shooter, Diane McKinney, is on the right.You can see that they were a lot of fun to work with.  I have done weddings with Diane before but this was my first wedding with Jennifer. I know these two got some awesome photos. 

Jessica and Kevin, what a great wedding! I know you are grateful that it was short and sweet at about 15 minutes because it was rather hot with the sun beaming down on us. You did a wonderful job organizing your wedding and it is a day you will never forget! Congratulations and best wishes forever!

Carolyn and Daryl's Sunset Wedding at the NC Museum of Art!

Daryl called me in July to see if I was available to officiate his and Carolyn's wedding ceremony on October 23, 2010 at the new facility of the North Carolina Museum of Art on Blue Ridge Road, just down the street from the fairgrounds. Daryl had been given my name by Morgan Greer, the events coordinator at the museum.  I was thrilled that I was available and would have my first chance to do a wedding at the new museum. How exciting. It is such a beautiful place and I was curious just where the ceremony would be outside which I found out at the rehearsal the day before.

On that beautiful Saturday afternoon, Marty and I traveled from Brier Creek Country Club where we had just done a wedding at 4:00. I was concerned about getting there in time to set up my sound system and be ready to go by 6:00 when the ceremony was supposed to start. So, we purposely went down Highway 70/Glenwood Avenue to avoid the State Fair traffic on I-40 known to be quite heavy on the last weekend of the fair. I turned right onto Duraleigh Road and we were sailing along until we came to an absolute stand still where Duraleigh and Blue Ridge intersected. Knowing all the back roads, I cut down Blue Ridge towards Crabtree then swung around on Morningside to Lake Boone Trail onto I-440 beltline south. The left lanes were clogged with fair traffic exiting at Hillsborough but we just zoomed right by them and exited onto Wade Avenue westbound and took the first exit for Blue Ridge Road were the only ones going the opposite way from the fair traffic and made it in plenty of time to spare. Whew! When we arrived, we found this beautiful wedding cake by Sweet Memories inside the new museum. Of course the Museum restaurant staff with their fine chefs catered the reception so I know it was delicious!

The table for the sand ceremony had been set up in front of the big statue to the left of the main entrance to the museum flanked by the pedestals of flowers. Don't know who the florist was but they were lovely. Notice how long the shadows are. It was getting late in the day.

Ed Stephenson and his Paco Band set up inside for the reception then Ed and one of his fellow guitarists set up outside to provide music for the ceremony.

This is the view from the "altar" area. So very pretty. The guests were beginning to gather and about 5:45, I asked the groomsmen to start seating the guests. Little did they know that our photographer, John Rodgers, had yet to arrive. He had left the Sheraton Hotel downtown an hour or so earlier and was stuck in the fair traffic. Daryl was in phone contact with him but apparently John had little choice but to inch along with the fair goers! So we waited and waited. I finally announced to the guests at 6:15 that Daryl was not being stood up by Carolyn, but that we were waiting for the photographer to arrive. He finally got there at 6:30 and we were so happy to see him that the guests and wedding party all applauded! Poor John, it was not his fault. We knew some guests were in the same predicament by the number of empty chairs.The best laid plans......

So, we began. John is getting a shot of our line up right before the seating of Daryl's parents. Rebecca Dunn, our wedding director with Events by La Fete, is on the right and cued us all in.

The guys and I went in next closely followed by Daryl and his son, Jake, and the groomsmen.

 

Here come the bridesmaids. I was so grateful to the Museum for providing this soft spongy runner for us to walk on as gravel can be difficult, especially in heels. Thanks, Morgan, a great idea!

Our flower girls sprinkled the petals right before Carolyn was escorted in by her mother, Heather. Wish I had a photo of them.

It is time for the bride to come in as I turned around to cue Ed to start that music.

Isn't this a beautiful setting for a wedding? Quite unique too. Note that the lights inside the museum are showing. It is getting dark. I have lightened these photos quite a bit. 

 

Carolyn and Daryl's friend, Lauren, read to us a beautiful reading about two trees.

After the couple's "love story," the vows and ring exchange, it was time for the family unity sand ceremony. You can see Carolyn and Daryl pouring their sand in after Jake had poured his in. It is really quite dark at this point. Notice that the up-lighting of the trees is really visible.

We got through the ceremony just fine with enough light for me to read by and for Marty to get a few good photos with my simple little camera. Maybe John will send me some of his which are bound to be a whole lot better! After the ceremony Marty and I packed up my sound system and by then it was really dark and Carolyn and Daryl had gone off with John for more pictures and were nowhere to be found. Consequently I did not get the customary photo of the couple and me together. Nor did I get to congratulate them in person as I had to dash off to another event for which I was late! (It was not a wedding though!) All in all, it was a fabulous wedding and the most important thing is that they got married and are sure to live happily ever after if Jake has anything to say about it! Congratulations, Carolyn and Daryl, and Jake!