Wedding Story Writer Debut at Saks Fifth Avenue!

Michelle McMurray de Luces has birthed a very novel idea and quite the entrepreneur! She actually attends the same Unity church I do but I did not get to know her until last year when she wrote the story of the wedding of one of my couples. Her service is to attend your wedding from start to finish and then create a wonderful story of it, all the details, things you may not have noticed or would remember, in fascinating style. She then has an artist of your style and choice illustrate it and eventually it is bound into a beautiful leather book. It is a treasure, a legacy. Truly something very unique to enjoy and pass down in your family.  Her business is called Wedding Story Writer.

Michelle herself with a display edition of a Wedding Story she has done. She will travel all over the globe for weddings. Beautiful floral display by The English Garden.

The launch party for Wedding Story Writer was held on March 21, 2013 at Saks Fifth Avenue in Raleigh's Triangle Town Center. It was quite elegant reflecting the high-end style of  Michelle's one-of-a-kind service and product. I was thrilled to be invited!

Guests were greeted by lovely young women holding examples of the artwork possible and by Bartending Unlimited servers bearing delicious glasses of champagne.

Eric, Michelle's husband, told me that they have illustrators/artists from all over the world. In fact, Michelle is contacted quite frequently by artists wanting to be included in her service to wedding couples. Here are some examples of the different styles that couples can choose for themselves.

 More examples......

 Michelle, your elegance reflects the heirloom quality of your beautiful bound volume. 

 Title page...... 

Had fun chatting with April Maness, owner of The Oaks at Salem, a beautiful wedding venue in Apex, center, Jenna Olender, co-owner of Southern Bride & Groom magazine on the left, and Amanda Scott, owner of A Swanky Affair, wedding planning services, on the right. Brian McGuire, DJ with McSound Productions, Contonna Peterson with Bartending Unlimited were providing the music and the champagne.

A new cake bakery, Artylicious Cakes, was on hand providing these sweets! Their bakery store front officially opens May 1st. It is located at the intersection of Six Forks and Morning Dove next to Vinnie's in N. Raleigh. The owner and chief baker is Iriene Wangsawidjaja.

April, Angie Wright with Chic Details  and Mica Parekh with IWP Photography who was covering the event were trying out these goodies.

 Iriene and her beautiful wedding cake! 

So many artists were represented and each with a different style of illustrating. I am sure that Michelle is going to be in demand more and more as couples discover what a wonderful service she provides. Congratulations, Michelle!

Katie and Matt's Wedding Featured in Southern Bride and Groom Magazine!

I am so thrilled to discover that Southern Bride and Groom magazine chose Matt and Katie's wonderful wedding as a feature wedding for their new issue. Jenna just sent me the photo below so I could put it on this blog. I thank them for crediting me as the officiant. You can see a larger image if you click on it. To see the previous post of Katie and Matt's wedding on this blog, click  here.

Katie and Matt tied the knot this past summer on June 11, 2011 at the beautiful Highgrove Estate in Fuquay-Varina. Brian Mullins was the photographer responsible for these gorgeous images. They capture these two people so perfectly. The creative couple took my ceremony material and made it their own including a reading by a Catholic priest and the breaking of the glass from the Jewish tradition as well as personalized vows to each other. The ceremony started out like this: 

"Welcome! You have all come together to witness and celebrate the marriage of Matthew and Katherine. It was exactly eight years, three months and twenty-seven days ago that Matthew nervously asked Katherine to be his girlfriend." From that point on, the guests were enraptured with their ceremony which included the story of how they met and how their relationship blossomed in to love and then marriage. That sense of excitement and celebration flowed right on into their reception. It was a joy to work with these two love birds!