Over a year ago in March of 2010, I met with Kerry and Joe to plan their wedding ceremony for May 14, 2011 at 5:00 at
The Sutherland in Wake Forest. One of the great advantages to having your wedding at The Sutherland is that you can choose which of several areas to have the ceremony and the reception and in the event of adverse weather, tents are available for any of the locations. We usually have the ceremony in the Walled Garden and the cocktail hour on the Groom's Terrace with the reception in an adjacent large tent. At the rehearsal the day before, the tent erectors were busy putting together the tent above in the walled garden. When Marty and I arrived on the wedding day it was all set up and the tables looked so pretty. It was not raining at that point.
The beautiful wedding cake was by
Swank Cake Design. It was kept safely in the house until time for the reception so the humidity did not ruin it.You can't see it in this photo but hanging above the cake was a large stag deer head that appeared to be keeping watch over it!
Our fine musicians have become buddies of mine: Craig Hanemann (violin) and Ed Stephenson (guitar) with
Arioso Strings. I think we have done 5 weddings together so far just this year! They are great and play so well together.
Right before the ceremony was to begin the rain began in earnest. Thankfully there was not much of a gap between the tent and the house and only a few drips, hence the black rubber mats on the steps to prevent slipping. My good buddy, Lenny Fritts, was their DJ (
Touch of Class DJ) and on hand early to set up his main unit on the back porch adjacent to the reception tent and a mobile unit in the ceremony location to plug my microphone into. Lenny is always a great help to me and all the vendors at weddings. He has done so many weddings he can see any mishaps coming and avert them. He helped Ashlee Adams (one of the owners of
The Sutherland) round up and lay out rubber mats to make the transition from the house to the tent dry for the wedding party processional. And, he helped Ashlee get everyone lined up for the processional. At one point during the prelude music, a fuse got tripped and he knew right where the breaker box was and quickly turned the power back on..
Time for Joe and I to start walking down the L-shaped aisle.Kerry and Joe switched things up a bit and planned their ceremony on the Groom's Terrace and the reception in the Walled Garden which turned out to be a great decision as we did have very adverse weather that late afternoon.
Our two bridesmaids, sisters of the bride, processed in with the groomsmen.
Then it was Lizzie's turn. She did so well! Don't you love the bright yellow dresses? We had sunshine despite the rain!
Notice the background does not even look like it is raining.
Note the background of this photo and how dark it had gotten. In fact, the rain became so heavy and thunderous during the ceremony that I could not hear myself speaking and I knew the guests could not hear me despite the microphone/speakers being turned up to maximum volume. So, I decided to pause and wait it out. Joe and Kerry's love story was just too good for the guests not to hear. I have never paused a ceremony that long--I did not time it but it must have been at least 5 minutes. The other few occasions I have paused during a ceremony were once or twice for a train passing close by and another time for a helicopter flying low overhead. Those things pass quickly but the rain on this afternoon was pummeling. When the rain abated a bit, the guests really enjoyed hearing how Kerry fell for Joe's car before she fell in love with Joe!
They exchanged their vows then their rings.
We all remained dry and toasty although the sand in the sand ceremony did get a bit damp to the extent that Joe and Kerry had to thump the bottom of the containers like a ketchup bottle to get the sand to pour out! That was funny!
Finally time for the pronouncement and kiss!
And the ceremony is over as Kerry and Joe walk into their new life as a married couple. Our photographer for the wedding was Megan Kime of
Megan Kime Photography. Always love working with Megan. I will be looking for some of her photos of this wedding on her blog.
Catering by Design was the caterer and the food sure smelled appetizing as Marty and I left to go home after the picture taking.
Kerry and Joe, you planned a fine wedding and despite the rain it was beautiful and truly a day you will never forget! I wish you all the love and happiness in the world!
