Erin and David at Snipes Farm

On Labor Day weekend, we gathered to marry David and Erin at Snipes Farm Retreat. Tucked back at the end of Jo Mac Road just west of Chapel Hill off Highway 54 is this wonderful place to have a wedding and reception. They don't have a web page but they stay busy with weddings and parties. I felt a special connection to this couple because they graduated from the same department at UNC as my Sweetheart, Ruben as well as the many other ways our lives crossed paths that remind me that 6 degrees of separation is way too many in the NC Triangle.

The day was gorgeous and David and Erin decided to marry right under the huge tree on the lawn which slopes down to the pond on the farm. With the large expanse of sloping lawn, Roger Snipe makes it easy for wedding goers by offering to take people who can't walk the distance down in his golf cart. It's a real help.

Erin and David had a wedding with special friends and family. They have known each other eight years and been a couple for three and a half. Through this time they supported each other through graduate school and all those hydrology tests and poster sessions.

They are both close to their families and wanted family participation in the ceremony. Her four sisters were her attendants, and Dave's brother was his Best Man. They did the ceremony of the unity candle to signify the uniting of their families. Their mother's lit the candles before the ceremony. And they lit the unity candle as a symbol of their married life which begins this day. We said, 'As you joined to light this candle, so you will join in the rewards and challenges of married life.'

We said these words of blessing upon their marriage: 'Dave and Erin, believe in what is yours, believe in who you are, believe in the richness and the power of what lies in the depths you share. And go now in great happiness.'

They had this group shot of their families taken after the ceremony. The photographer perched on a ladder to get this fabulous picture.

The wedding photographs were taken by their friend Chip Hammond. Thank you!

They also had a wonderful reception which included the seven piece band with brass, They Are Timeless, which had a great repertoire and a big band sound.

Their catering for the occasion was done by Thrills From The Grill, and it was a perfect day for it. Erin and Dave's friends and family give them the gift of doing their flowers and their cake. It was a wonderful way to begin their marriage.