Gorgeous Garden Wedding for Mary and Jason!

Mary inquired of my wedding officiant services last August. She and Jason were planning a wedding in her family's neighbor's garden with the reception at the NC Museum of Art on April 20, 2013. She and Jason were both raised Catholic but did not want a church wedding and preferred a non-denominational type ceremony with the focus on love and marriage. We met in September and got started on their ceremony. Jason and Mary were a delight to work with and we had a lot of fun crafting the perfect ceremony for them. And, their love story was a good one! When I went to their rehearsal, I was delighted with the beauty of the neighbor's garden which backed up to a lake with a fountain. It was gorgeous. Morgan Greer with the Museum stepped up to the plate and volunteered to be their wedding director and did a super job. I loved working with Morgan and the wedding went so very well. Here are the highlights!

 Such a lovely spot and Mary must have seen this sign on Pinterest!

Setting up my sound system and doing a sound check. That's Morgan on the right.

As we were getting ready, the Saturday afternoon sounds of leaf blowers and weed eaters in the neighborhood were quite distracting so the parents of the bride sent someone to ask them to suspend their work for an hour while we had the wedding. They were very cooperative for which we were all grateful!

Elegant Ensembles is a musical trio that played for us. They are excellent.

I love this picture that Marty snapped just after the "First Look" that their photographer, Kate Pope with Craven Creative Photography, had set up in the garden.  Always a pleasure to work with Kate again!

So now the couple was free to pose with their wedding party for some excellent photos. This is Jason's niece, Maddie, our sweet Junior Bridesmaid.

 The whole gang! Love the black with purple.  

Guests kept trickling in but finally it was time to start. I entered from a back deck.

 Jason and his men entered from the garden behind them.

Ann, mother of the bride, was escorted in my her two sons, Matthew and Andrew, who then stepped up and joined the groomsmen.

 

The bridesmaids enter..... 

 Maid of Honor, Laura, sister of the bride makes her entrance!

 The bride and her father, Bob, come in as Kate gets some good shots of them.

The parents' blessing honoring the bride's mother and father and Jason's father, Peter. We remembered his mother in the memorial section.

There were definitely some funny moments in the ceremony as I told their story!

Mary and Jason chose the tree planting ceremony for their unity ceremony. They planted two different species of Japanese maple saplings.

 And off they go into their future! 

The wedding party gathered next door at the bride's parents home while the guests went to the museum for the reception. Jason's aunt, sister of his mother, was saying how unique and touching the ceremony was.

Marty and I headed over to the Museum afterwards to check out the beautiful cake which was made by Cinda's Creative Cakes.

The reception was in full swing......

A great space for a wedding reception! 

Lenny Fritts, DJ, was there handling the music. I had just done a wedding with him the weekend before. That lavender vest of his fit right into the color scheme!

Jason and Mary, what a delightful couple you are. I enjoyed getting to know you and co-creating your wedding ceremony with you. May you find happiness making each other happy and love loving each other!

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kayelily@aweddingminister.com

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Wonderful Winter Wedding for Neko and Garrett!

Neko and Garrett are a laid back, forward thinking, and non-conformist couple who first found Rebecca Dunn of Events by La Fete who helped them narrow down their venue to the NC Museum of Art on Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh for their wedding on December 15, 2012.  From there Rebecca and the couple assembled an amazing team of vendors: Watered Garden Florist, Arioso Strings for the ceremony, GiGi's Cupcakes, Walters and Walters Photography, and Steve Stowe with Joe Bunn DJ Company for the reception. Rebecca referred them to me and we met in September to start planning the actual ceremony. They were excited that they got to choose what I would say at their ceremony and that the ceremony would be very specific to them.

The NC Museum of Art is a beautiful spot for a wedding. I have done one wedding outside just to the left of the entrance to the West Building which is right ahead of me in the photo above. Neko and Garrett's ceremony was originally planned to take place in the original museum--East Building--but when the time came for their ceremony, the facility was all decked out with Christmas decorations which did not mesh with their decor for the wedding! So, the Museum gave them an "upgrade" to use the new building gallery for the ceremony, something that may never happen again, I was told! The reception was always slated to be in the new building from the beginning. Rebecca called me the day of the rehearsal to tell me the new arrangement.

So, this is the beautiful space for the ceremony. The wedding color was "sapphire blue" and the artwork on the wall could not have been a more perfect match. Rebecca and I are talking back and forth right before I set up my sound system and did a sound check.

Mary Page Block, violinist, owner and master organizer of the amazing Arioso Strings, was on hand taking some photos with her cell phone for the Arioso Strings blog. She is so personable and her musicians are so professional and reliable. I love having Arioso Strings provide the ceremony music.

 Kinsley, our flower girl, is making a trial run down the aisle before we started!

 GiGi's cupcakes were on display in the reception area which was near the entrance to the right in front of the Iris Cafe and gift shop. Steve Stowe was set up in front of the amazing moving tree. 

Okay, the guests have arrived and been seated. The bridesmaids and bride have been whisked over into the reception area from the East building where they got ready. Rebecca has the parents and groomsmen all lined up in the adjoining gallery.

Garrett's parents, Tammi and Greg, start in. Tammi is saying to Greg "you are really going to walk down the aisle with a tripod??" He did! During the ceremony I saw why he needed the tripod as he was taking a video of the wedding.

The guys and I entered. That is Neko's mother, Laurie, and her grandfather in the front row and my sound system to the right. I love it because it is light and easy to set up and the sound was perfect.

Time for Kinsley to sprinkle her petals down the aisle--right! Mom did it! So sweet! She was very quiet during the ceremony and I was not aware she was even there.

Waiting for the bride....

Neko's father, Lance, proudly answered my question by saying "Nicole Joy brings herself with our blessings."

Neko and Garrett have a great story about meeting on match.com but the real highlight was Garrett's spectacular proposal at the Dorton Arena during Winterguard trials when he proposed to Neko in front of everyone! 

Garrett is having trouble getting his candle to stand up in the candleholder after the lighting of the unity candle! But he made it work!

 The pronouncement of marriage!

 Not a great shot of the kiss, but......it was a good kiss, or two! 

 And they are married!  

Neko and Garrett, you were wonderful to work with once we got started! What a great wedding you had. I know you are so happy to be married and on your honeymoon at last!