Josh and Adele at Haywood Hall

On April 17th, Josh and Adele had such a wonderful wedding at Haywood Hall. They had planned it from their home in Savannah, Georgia making the trip up when they had to but relying on wonderful professionals like Beth from The Irregardless Cafe who coordinated the planning and the rehearsal as well as provided the catering and the reception music by Ed Moon and The Stars (the Irregardless house band.)



The photographer Martha Manning took all these wonderful pictures, except the one of the house just above which Beth took during the ceremony from my Droid. (I love my Droid!)

Lindi Wang was the violinist. She was on the balcony above the couple which was a great spot for a single musician in this venue. Once in a Blue Moon provided their cake and Fresh Affairs was their florist.

They chose Raleigh as the central location between Washington, D.C. and Savannah. Everyone had to travel to be at their ceremony, but no one had to travel really far. I love the Haywood House. Even though the city is busy of any given day. New Bern Avenue is shaded and available. And we did have to content with a busy spring day in Raleigh. Harley Davidson was having a convention so our ceremony was dotted with the roar of motorcycles and the sound of the emcee of their events.

But Josh, Adele, and all of us blocked out the occasional roar and just focused on the beautiful ceremony taking place, and the clear devotion of Adele and Josh to each other and to their moment of wedding.

I loved the way they made the day theirs. It was a delight to celebrate with them. And I felt a special kinship to their honeymoon since they were going to San Francisco, my home for so many years. I heard they had a great time.


They told me later that I had helped to make their ceremony one which was stress free and reflected them. Wonderful words to me because that's just what I had hoped for them.

And I wish them a lifetime of joy!

Melanie and David, with family and closest friends

I've always loved a December wedding. My parents were married on Christmas Eve in 1937. So for all my life, Christmas and weddings have been intertwined.

It was a treat to see the festive white Holiday lights surrounding the Celebrity Dairy in Siler City as I drove down the long driveway on the already dark Saturday evening of December 12th.

I've officiated lots of summer weddings at Celebrity Dairy over the years. I've always loved the cats rubbing your ankles, even during the ceremony, and the contented clucking of chickens in the background. But this evening, it was all about the warmth inside.

After having worked together for over seventeen years, and after each had each gone through a divorce in the last few years, David and Melanie's friendship caught fire.

For their wedding David and Melanie wanted to emphasize the future and to unite their families: Melanie has two daughters and David has two sons, and the four were their attendants.

Here David and Melanie and their children are looking up to the balcony while their professional photographer, Wendy of Wendy Savage Studio snaps a shot from above.

These are just my photographs taken by my Droid. Pardon their quality as I get used to its eccentricities.

This is the small room off the main dining room where the ceremony was held for about 12 close family members and friends. It was just the right size for this group so that the wedding felt intimate and close, but not crowded.

Melanie and David chose to include their children in their vows. I'd never done this before and it was lovely and powerful. The first words of their vows were: 'I love you and choose to share my life with you and your children.' I enjoyed meeting the children to whom these words applied, and they were all great!

David and Melanie's reception dinner was held in the big dining room and was catered by Celebrity Dairy staff while their cake was created by Once in a Blue Moon Bakery in Cary. Celebrity Dairy has wonderful art work all over its walls and with the added Christmas decorations it sparkled.

















Melanie and her daughter's bouquets were created by Blossom in Pittsboro.

I left as family and friends were being called to the table for dinner to drive back to my home and my Sweetheart, Ruben. As I did, I delighted that these two people and these two families were now joined.

I've always believed that you can never have too many people in your life who love you. And that the blessing of divorce and remarriage, if we can remember that love takes many forms, is the power of new bonds being formed and the possibility of new love arising.

I wish this new family all the best, and a Happy Christmas!