October 3rd with Caroline and Tim

October began as a busy wedding month. Luckily the weather held for much of the month. And luckily we didn't need to worry about that for Tim and Caroline' wedding at the beautiful Franklin Hotel in downtown Chapel Hill. We did need to plan around game day traffic for UNC and Duke, but everyone was warned so all went well. But it was to honor Caroline and Tim's color scheme of light and dark blue that I wore a Carolina Blue stole.

Caroline and Tim both are in the visual arts so their sense of aesthetics is keen. You'll see how The Franklin and especially the wonderful pictures of photographer Robin Lin of Robin Lin Photography captured the elegance of their day.

I tend to discount black and white photographs until I see expressive ones like this one, of Tim and his Best Man, Aaron, watching Caroline enter during the processional accompanied by the wonderful music of Arioso Strings, supremely professional musicians from Cary.

Now we see why Tim was so intent upon the moment. In this photograph we see Caroline entering into the ceremony with her father.

In a typical ceremony the couple only speak to each other during the exchange of vows and rings. But Caroline and Tim decided to also read poetry to each other as part of their ceremony. Tim chose to read 'Sonnet XVII' by Pablo Neruda to Caroline. Caroline chose to read 'i carry your heart' by e.e. cummings to Tim. Both are beautiful poems written in the first person to a beloved and both poems fit these two creative and very different people wonderfully.

This was the first time The Franklin had set up their banquet room in just this way for a ceremony and it was lovely, giving the room a very spacious feel with the symmetry of the large picture windows.

This configuration of the room also enabled the videographer, Jessica Hoffman, to have a great spot from which to capture the ceremony. (We all met a week before the ceremony at The Franklin with their catering manager, JoAnn Sullivan, to work all the spacing out.) After the ceremony the guests had cocktails in the atrium of the hotel where the first picture was taken, while the seating of the room was changed for the reception.

I wish Tim and Caroline all the best as they begin their marriage. We ended their ceremony with a lovely blessing: 'May your way be blessed, may wisdom's light shine upon you, and may your journey bring you peace.' I offer these words again to this loving couple.