Aaron and Alina at The Proximity Hotel in Greensboro

Living as I do in Hillsborough, I feel lucky that I can officiate weddings in both Raleigh and Greensboro. That is how Alina and Aaron found me. I had the privilege of marrying them on April 16th at The Proximity Hotel. They were navigating a long distance relationship at the time, Aaron living in Utah and Alina living in Greensboro.

Alina and Aaron's wedding was scheduled for mid-April and her move to Utah in early May. A busy time, especially when you add in family traveling from Michigan, Canada, and Romania to be with them for their wedding.


Their ceremony was held on a small balcony at the hotel with the small family dinner afterward in a banquet room right off the balcony.
They wanted a simple ceremony which was a testament to their love and commitment to each other. And they wanted to make sure it wouldn't be stern in tone. It was a treat for me to assure them that stern wasn't my style at all. Alina's mother doesn't speak much English so we had the ceremony translated into Romanian for her. It was sweet to see her following the words of the ceremony in her text with tears flowing down her face as we celebrated the amazing grace of Alina and Aaron's love for each other.




It was a windy day and we struggled a little to light the unity candle. But it stayed lit long enough for us to pronounce the symbolism complete. The Proximity had done all that they could to help us with the wind, even setting up this beautiful screen to shelter the candles. Then when the screen threatened to blow down, a staff member at The Proximity hid behind the screen during the ceremony to hold it in place. They were wonderful.

I try to move out of the way so that photographers can get the couple kissing without my head in the picture. But in this case, our photographer, Rob Brown, a colleague of Alina's, included all of me in the shot. I knew from Alina and Aaron that they felt so blessed to have found each other. It was a special treat to be able to perform their ceremony and witness their joy and gusto in this kiss.

They chose well. You can see it in their consideration for each other. I wish them all joy possible in the wonderful adventure of a well loved life.