life-and-living-under-coulds: Triangle Catering

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Heather and Zack Tied The Knot at The Cotton Room!

Heather had her eye on Zack from a distance years ago when they were in high school, but he was a senior and she was intimidated by upperclassmen back then. So, she "semi-stalked" him until one day in the parking lot when her car wouldn't start. He happened to walk by on the way to his car which was conveniently parked next to hers and she asked him if he would help her with her car. He did not of course tell Heather that he knew practically nothing about cars and lucky for him, it started on first try. At that point he became a bit suspicious that this pretty girl maybe liked him? Soon afterwards they went on their first date on January 13, 2007. It was not long before they became inseparable. Many years later, after both finishing high school, college and grad school, they could finally marry and reap the benefits of all their hard work and dedication to school and careers. They chose their wedding date of June 8, 2014 at the fabulous venue, The Cotton Room in Durham. They are such creative people and loved the opportunity to write their own ceremony with my guidance so we were a great fit and soon after our meeting in December 2013, began crafting their sweet and funny ceremony.

The beautiful wedding day arrived and Marty and I feasted on all the artistic touches for this wedding. It of course was a given since Heather is an art teacher! And then there is Pinterest!

Triangle Catering provided the food, the decor, and their director, Amalie Sarnecki-Ackley, who also did the pretty florals for them.

Shannon of Maxi B's Bakery in Greensboro made this pretty cake.

Love the topper of the bicycle built for two with their names on the front wheel!

Their story in brief--details to be filled in by the ceremony!

Wishing tree....

Guest book!

Ran into the guys at the elevator. They were in fine spirits! On the left is Justin, our best man. On the right are the two fathers, Mark and Jeff. Standing with me is Zack! They are ready for the festivities to begin!

Isn't this simply gorgeous? Love the fireplace filled with candles and the strings of large hanging bulbs. These all belong to Triangle Catering/The Cotton Room. The chandeliers too. In fact they also have black ones that go with black chair covers.

Michelle Allred, owner of Triangle Catering and The Cotton Room, has thought of everything a couple needs to have a fabulous wedding at The Cotton Room.

Alex Choi with VoxDJ Company provided the sound for me and music for the reception.

Udeshi Hargett, a very talented musician, provided the heavenly music for the ceremony. She also wrote up the story of Heather and Zack on her blog!

Amalie got us all lined up to process in. The bride is hidden away in the hall.

Our Best Man, Justin, and Maid of Honor, Hannah, and our flower girls, Anna Grace and Rachel are ready to go.

Jeff, Father of the Bride, transferred Heather's hand into Zack's hand and we began!

After the ceremony, drapery is pulled open and the tables and chairs arranged around a dance floor. You can see Thomas Whited with It's Pronounced Films videoing the wedding in the back.

The story has begun!

The story of the proposal.....

Looks like they are having a good time and really enjoying themselves, as they should be on their wedding day!

"Although it sounds corny, Zack, Heather is so ready to be called your wife!"

They read their vows to each other and exchanged rings.

Probably the only real traditional part of their ceremony was the Unity Candle.

The big moment.....

Our photographer, MaryBeth Clouser, led us through the second floor hallway of the building out around behind onto a platform next to the railroad tracks for photos. Heather and Zack, you had your dream wedding and all your hard work, artistic ability and diligence really paid off. Thanks for letting me be part of your big day! Congratulations!

***********************************************

To contact me:

mailto:kayelily@gmail.com

919-345-4608

My Website

Facebook

Or leave a comment below!

************************************************

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Fantastic Wedding for Rachael and Victor at The Cotton Room!

It was such a delight to work with Victor and Rachael. We hit it off right away when they came to meet with me last May. They are mature and knew what they wanted--and laid back and easy going! At the rehearsal, one of their groomsmen told me they are the last of "their crowd" to marry and so everyone was pumped for this wedding. We had a good time constructing their story and ceremony and were really looking forward to this fabulous wedding day of November 2, 2013 at The Cotton Room in Durham--a really wonderful wedding venue.

Their wedding planner/director was Amanda Scott with A Swanky Affair. Amanda and I have known each other for years but had not done a wedding together since she started her own wedding planning business. It was a pleasure to work with her on Victor and Rachael's wedding and every detail was handled with finesse and ease! Thanks, Amanda! let's do lots more!

These pretty tables were hidden behind the flowing draping for the ceremony then the drapes were pulled and the reception set up while the guests enjoyed cocktails after the ceremony.

Triangle Catering caters all the weddings at The Cotton Room.

Eric Hodgden was our very fine DJ. We actually had just done a wedding together the weekend before at Caffe Luna. Love working with Eric. The sound was perfect!

This pretty cake was in place. It was baked by Cinda's Creative Cakes as was the groom's cake below.

Victor attended the University of Alabama and is a huge fan (now Rachael is too!) and so of course the groom's cake had to reflect his loyalty!

Tre Bella was the florist. This is the bride's bouquet!

For the guest book, the couple asked them to sign the matt around photographs.

One of the tables flanking us for the ceremony. Simple elegance with their chosen color of purple.

So, this is how the ceremony set up looks on the side of the room with tall windows pouring in the daylight and the expansive length of the hardwood floors. This building has been re-purposed from being a cotton manufacturing plant and warehouse.

Here is the view from the back of the room.

Amanda has gotten us all lined up for the processional. It was a long processional.

A quick shot of Amanda holding Rachael's train waiting for the time for her father to escort her in!

And there they go!

And so we began!

There was a warm welcome, an opening prayer, remembrance of those who have passed on and a sweet tribute to their parents.

Then we had fun with their story! Here is a brief excerpt: "They met for the first time at Coquette’s, a French restaurant in North Hills, in February of 2012. They had so much fun talking and getting to know each other at dinner that they ended up spending most of the weekend hanging out together. They were both very comfortable and relaxed and the conversation flowed so naturally. Rachael was intrigued by Victor’s calm, easy going presence. Victor loved Rachael’s smile and laughter.
For their second date, they decided to go hear one of Victor’s favorite bands, “Alabama Shakes.” Although Rachael was not a big fan of concerts, she wanted to go just to be with Victor. They met at a local shopping center to carpool to the concert. Rachael is directionally challenged and assumed Victor was good at directions because he was so confident about it. On the way to the concert he asked her to look at the map on his phone and see if they were going in the right direction. He had no clue then that maps are useless to Rachael. He wanted her to look and see if they were headed for the red dot on the map. She was taken aback because she thought he knew how to get there. His style was simply to drive in the direction of the red dot on the map instead of following street by street directions. Thankfully they didn’t really get lost at all, just one wrong turn. Since then, Victor has been in charge of getting them where they want to go."

They exchanged their vows and sealed them with their rings.

We closed with a blessing then I made the pronouncement of marriage!

Great kiss!

They were so thrilled to finally be husband and wife! (In the aisle is Randall Hill their photographer. He is based in Myrtle Beach so I had not met him before. I liked him a lot. He was at the rehearsal and asked me then if I had any restrictions about photography during the ceremony. I told him that I only ask that photographers not get behind me during the ceremony and distract the couple and the guests. He said he would never even consider doing that!)

Rachael and Victor, congratulations! You are a great couple, very well matched and it was wonderful to get to know you and have the honor of joining you in marriage!