Denise and David's Lovely Wedding at King's Daughters Inn!

Like many good love stories, Denise and David's began at college, Rice University in Texas, to be specific. Denise had grown up in Venezuela and David in Louisiana. They met each other at freshman orientation but it took them almost 3 years to connect romantically despite the fact that they both sort of had secret crushes on each other, David from the very beginning! When Denise went to Madrid for a semester of her junior year abroad they skyped for hours. When she returned, David surprised her with a chocolate chip pancake brunch and a viewing of Gone With the Wind and she was hooked. They graduated and eventually ended up in North Carolina while David pursued a graduate degree in Math. About a year later, David popped the big question and they began planning their wedding for June 29, 2013. I met them in September of 2012 when they booked me as their officiant. They also decided it would be a good idea to take my Marriage Optimization course to make sure they were best prepared for a successful, satisfying and happy marriage. Then I got to really get to know this delightful couple.

The King's Daughters Inn in Durham, right across from Duke campus, has a juliet balcony and when Marty and I arrived, Denise and David were meeting for the first time on their wedding day on the balcony. It was almost like a "first look" except that David was blindfolded! It was a great photo op that was probably staged by their photographers from Suggs Photography. Tre Bella provide the flowers.

Inside I met with Chelsey Morrison who owns Gather Together Event Planning. Her assistant Katherine Hollander was assisting her. We were running through the processional since I was not present at the rehearsal.

Denise loves coconut and David loves chocolate! These yummy cakes were baked by Hayes-Barton Cafe. They also had pies baked by Scratch Bakery. Durham Catering provided the meal so I know it was delicious!

The lovely dining room was all set up for the sit-down reception for about 70 guests.

Each napkin had a different photo of our couple.

 Almost time to start! 

Denise's sister, Christine, was her Maid of Honor. David's friend, Colin, was his Best Man.

Sophia and Nicholas were ready to walk down the aisle and be done with their duties! Nicholas was a blur of activity that day!

Denise's father came all the way from Spain to walk her down the aisle! What a beautiful bridal gown! 

And so we began, illuminated by the filtered sunlight streaming in the windows.

Of course everyone, including the couple enjoyed hearing their story and the special paragraphs they had for each other telling what they loved about each other.

"Do you, Denise, vow to give David the best of yourself, to work together and not against each other in all the challenges that life presents? Do you promise........"

"I give you this ring and pledge to love you today, tomorrow and always." 

Then we had the "cup of wine" ceremony where they each drank 3 times from the same glass.

In the Christian Orthodox tradition of circling, Denise and David walked around me three times signifying their oath to preserve their marriage bond forever. The circle symbolizes eternity and the triple circling honors the Holy Spirit.

We closed with the words of First Corinthians about love then I pronounced them husband and wife!

Happy couple! Denise and David, your love and sweetness for each other will bring much happiness and peace in your lives! Thank you for giving me the honor of joining you in marriage.

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Snowy Winter Wedding for Jennifer and Robert at the King's Daughters Inn!

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Robert and Jennifer chose the lovely, warm and cozy, King's Daughters Inn for their wedding and reception on December 18, 2010. It was an added bonus that they and their families could stay there overnight as well. This was my first wedding here although I had been to another wedding networking event here this past summer. This 17 room Bed and Breakfast is simply charming and elegant. A wonderful place for a small intimate wedding.  As Marty and I were en route to the wedding this afternoon, the snow flakes started falling as the weatherman had predicted. I think this is the first wedding I have ever done when it was snowing. After we arrived the snow had slowed down and the ground was on the warm side so it did not accumulate. It was so pretty though and gave a special flavor to this beautiful Christmas season wedding.

We went downstairs to check out the reception area and find the wedding cake by Benisha Newell of Cakes Unlimited.

 

They also had these small custom engraved glasses filled with candy.

Then we went up to the second level and ran into Sonia and Jonathan whom I had married two years ago at the Second Empire. I knew they would be there because Sonia is Robert's (the groom) sister. They are looking mighty fine and told me they were very happily married. Here is a link to their wedding on this blog.

I located the groomsmen and Denice Ray, our wedding director, on the main level and we were ready to start. However, not all the guests had arrived, probably because of the weather. So we delayed starting for 10 minutes  to give them more time to get there. A few did and were grateful they had not missed the start of the wedding.

 The bride and her maidens were ready and waiting on the upper level landing!

Okay! It is time to start. Denice gave the signal for me and the three groomsmen to process in. This is Ken, the best man, walking with me. The other two, John and Brendan, followed. Then Robert escorted his mother, Anne, in followed by his father, Rene. Denice then sent in the two bridesmaids, Logan and Denise and Maid of Honor, Julie. Julianne, our flower girl, did a great job sprinkling rose petals for the entrance of our bride.

Jennifer and her father, Donald, coming down the hall and then down the aisle as all the guests stood in her honor. She was so beautiful floating down the aisle on her father's arm.

Then we began the ceremony with words of welcome, a prayer and words to remember those who were no longer with us in body but were there in spirit. Robert and Jennifer placed stones in memory of his grandparents and her mother into a container which later would be filled with blessing stones that had been given to each guest as they arrived to infuse with their blessings for the couple during the ceremony.

Jennifer and Robert and their guests loved hearing the story of how they met and fell in love. There was lots of humor too. The story was followed by the vows that they had written and read to each other from my book where I had printed them facing the couple. Jennifer kept that hankie I gave her handy too!.

After the ring exchange and a closing blessing, I made the pronouncement of marriage and we applauded their kiss. I think they had been practicing! Our photographer, Robert Filcsik, and his second shooter got some great shots too.

And away they go, now married and so happy to be together.

A parting shot with the newlyweds and then Marty and I left before the weather turned treacherous. Jennifer and Robert, you are a great couple. You planned your wedding so carefully and it paid off. I wish you all the happiness in the world!