Billy and Allison Marry at the Rand Bryan House in Garner

On March 19th, I had the privilege of marrying Billy and Allison at the Rand Bryan House in Garner. You never know what it will be like in March but they had a fabulous day as evident by all the phlox in bloom. And I only have my few pictures taken with my Droid but I wanted to celebrate them and help you celebrate their love, too. Katy Warner from Cary was their wonderful photographer and when we get her pictures I'll add some to this post.


As always, the Rand-Bryan House is a wonderful intimate venue. Our musicians, led by Gregory Ortiz were on the right side on the porch and we stood right at the top of the steps. Then Ken Holmes with Joe Bunn DJ provided the music for the reception to be held indoors. Thanks too to Catering Works for the catering, the flowers, and the wedding cookies.

Here's the side yard of Rand-Bryan. They could use all of it on this pretty day.

They're very different folk which is always fun to affirm. She's from Northern Jewish roots and he is from Southern Baptist roots. They describe themselves as polar opposites.and so their love has been rich in discovery. They've been dating six years and met through an acquaintance who kept saying to Allison, 'You have to meet my best friend's son.' I love it when this works. It always amazes me how often our friends are right.

Allison says that Bily has great passion for life and she sees the world differently now through his eyes. She's more accepting of others and she's a better person from knowing him. Billy said his choice was between a 'fast food life' and 'Allison's way' and he chose Allison's way and it taught him to care more about his future. With their border collie, Jonah, they are explorintg life together.

We called upon the divine, in all the ways it is known, to bless Allison and Billy's marriage. They chose the hand ceremony as part of their wedding ritual which I love, which ends...'and lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged will still b reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.'

I wish them many blessings and know that, many years from now, they'll still have the same twinkle in their eyes that they do today, inspired by their love for each other and the largeness of life they experience together. Hallelujah and Mazel Tov.

The Rigmor House, The Highgrove Estate, The Matthews House, and The Rand-Bryan House

Sometimes I get photos of venues that I'm unable to use because I don't get pictures from couples of their wedding. I thought you might like a closer look at four of them - all lovely - all in the Raleigh Durham triangle. I have other blog posts on some of them with more pictures.

The first is the Rigmor House (in the picture above) just off of I-54 going west out of Chapel Hill. I've done several ceremonies here but this is the first time I got pictures. It's a great location for an intimate lodge wedding. It's off the road, quiet, with a large center room and rooms to stay upstairs. It has a big well stocked kitchen, a large veranda and a large lot. While the lot isn't all that scenic it is spacious and easy to use with room for a tent and lots of different possibilities. It also has great parking and a fabulous kitchen. They turn the place over to you and you either cater in or do it yourself.

Their website is a really good one, too. At Christi and William's wedding below, they did the decorations themselves with the help of family and friends and did a fabulous job. Both grad students at UNC, their families all came up from Mississippi and pitched right in. They've been together 7 years so everyone worked well together to make the place literally sparkle.

The main room at the Rigmor is two stories high and is in wood paneling. The upstairs rooms rim this two story room. There's an inset in the front wall, behind this wall in the entry foyer and the front porch. This inset is a great place for a buffet. Christi and Williams' guests faced this wall. They had a slide show of pictures of them before the ceremony, then this decoration, with the unity candle for the ceremony.

They used silver metallic wide ribbon for the table decorations. Here is the head table set up right after the seating was removed after the ceremony as they're setting up long tables for the reception dinner.

Here's the well stocked kitchen they relied on.

And here is the main room looking toward the back wall while folks are setting up tables for the reception. At this time William and Christi were having pictures taken.

You can see the trellis that Christi and William entered under as they walked down the aisle.
Since their wedding was only two weeks ago I hope to get more pictures to show you of this great couple and their charming hands on wedding. And I'm glad to finally have some pictures of Rigmor House to share with you.

The Highgrove Estate in Fuquay Varina is also a great venue. Their staff is fabulous is helping everything run smoothly. Justin and Kerry married on a busy Saturday in June and I needed to leave right after the wedding. This front porch is a favorite location for pictures.


This is the long hallway where the wedding party gathers before they process straight out to stand on the brick patio facing the lake. The couple and their attendants can dress in the house, but receptions are held in a tent behind the house. As you look out this door the tent is to the right. The website for The Highgrove has great photos of the tent for several different weddings.

This is the room where you can get dressed. Gotta love that mirror. It's a huge room with a private bath of course and it is roomy enough for lots of attendants.

The final picture is the lower patio which is the ceremony site. The upper patio to the left of the outside door is where guests go for the cocktail hour. My only concern ever with this great location is that at 5:30 on a hot summer NC evening the sun is shining directly on the ceremony site. It hits the couple full force. They're facing away from the sun but it's still pretty hot. At The Highgrove Estate we make an effort to keep everyone in the cool of the hallway as long as possible. Yet the site is so lovely that it's a great venue. And many days it's just perfect. And the tent is air conditioned.


The Matthews House in Cary is an elegant house in which to stay and/ or have cocktails, a walled lawn with a trellis that's great for an outdoor ceremony and a side building connected to the house via a covered patio. Both the patio and the side building can be used to suit your needs.


The above pictures is from Ryan and Jenna's wedding in May of 2010.
On October 1st I married Jim and Debbie here. I'd never officiated a wedding in the reception room before so I wanted to show you those possibilities. I got a couple of fun pictures that might help. BTW - the web site for The Matthews House is really spectacular.

In the picture below you see at the right where Brian McGuire set up the DJ equipment for both the ceremony and the reception. He is a consummate professional and lots of fun. It was a delight to work with him again.

Here are the place settings for the reception in keeping with her colors of Hydrangea blue and silver gray. The Matthews House also did the catering.


This is Debbie and Jim's cake made by Miel Bon Bons in Chapel Hill. Their desserts are delicious as well as gorgeous.

This is the where Debbie dressed with Graham Terhune the photographer taking pictures of Debbie dressing. A fun part of being a female wedding minister was getting to visit Debbie while pre-wedding pictures were being taken.

I never got a pictures of Jim and Debbie together after the ceremony. It must have been a busy day. I loved this couple. They exemplify all that falling in love a little later in life can bring. The amazing joy of finding someone just right for you and the playfulness that brings out in you.

Below is a picture from Tim and Kristina's wedding in 2009 at The Matthews House. Another wonderful picture. This one by Diane McKinney Photography.



The Rand-Bryan House is another versatile and lovely venue. Set off the road in Garner it's a restored house with a wonderful openness. Every wedding I do here carries the unique stamp of the couple since the white on white decor and the amazing large picture window. Martha Liles and her husband are gracious hosts, very knowledgeable and very helpful.

They have a big front porch with rocking chairs that's perfect for the cocktail hour. And I've done beautiful weddings on their side lawn, but my favorite room is the one in the picture below which is stunning.

Here it is decorated for Lauren's and Brian's November wedding on a gorgeous day. You can see the lush green side lawn outside the window better from the picture below.


The next picture is taken from that window looking back into the main room. This room would be transformed for reception seating after the ceremony. At the back right is the entrance to the kitchen and there is a door to the back yard from the back right, too.

The large double doors go into a square room that is off the front hall which is a great room for displaying the cake or for smaller weddings for serving hors d'oeuvres.



This couple used only two of these wonderfully creative decorations in the front of their ceremony. It was plenty and lovely.

This couple got their delicious food catered by Whole Foods in Raleigh and served by The Happiest Hostess. They found that this was a much less expensive way to have excellent food catered for their size reception.

These weddings all went smoothly and elegantly - in large part because these venues are so suited to the needs of a wedding and are so well cared for and loved by their staffs. It's a treat to be the minister at a wedding at any of these locations. And I hope you enjoy these pictures.

Lindsey and Jordan at The Rand Bryan House

I always love the Rand-Bryan House in Garner. It looks fabulous in any season and it's just the right size to feel intimate and warm and yet spacious. I was glad that on October 9th it was all that and more for Lindsey and Jordan. And it was a beautiful fall day besides.

Jordan and Lindsey had been together four years after meeting on a blind date. They were grateful for the love they shared in that they didn't try to change each other and delighted in who they are together. I really enjoyed meeting them. They're clear and thoughtful people who love the home they have and their family of animal companions around them, Rusty, Thumper, and Blizzard.


I especially loved the processional music, 'Wonderwall' by Oasis, and Lindsey's processional music they chose was 'From This Moment On' by Shania Twain. And of course those great dresses for Lindsey's bridemaids and flower girl. Lindsey's sister, Caiti, who is only 13 months younger was her Maid of Honor.

Jordan and Lindsey loved the spiritual ceremony on my website and that's how they came to contact me. I'm glad they did.

We have photographer Michael Lentz to thank for these wonderful photographs. He was great to work with and provided me with these photographs, after getting the couple's approval, only two weeks after the ceremony. That was a treat for me and for Lindsay and Jordan.

The Rand Bryan house has all these wonderful windows in their main reception room that made the fall light sparkle. And their theme of fall colors of really sparkled.

Lindsey's mother was her Wedding Planner. She did a fabulous job and I was grateful for her, too. This picture is of Lindsey and Jordan with her parents.


John from Anything Music was their DJ and did a great job, Cleveland Florist did her flowers with wonderful calla lilies, Swank Cake Design did their cake (pardon my not very good picture of her cake) and Soup To Nuts was their caterer. Also Martha, the owner of the Rand Bryan House, as always, was a huge help.

Here's my other not so good picture of her friends preparing for the reception. I just wanted you to see how lovely the lighting and their decorations were.



They are young people who have their heads on straight as some of their guests told me. I could tell that, too. Mature beyond their years, with a twinkle in their eyes, I have no doubts that they will have a wonderful future. I wish them all the best!

Susan and Bob Light Up The Rand-Bryan House

Last weekend seemed to be the most glorious weekend of the Spring. But beaming even brighter on Saturday, April 10th, were Susan and Bob. All the way down from Maryland for a wedding among close family and friends, they were radiant in their happiness. I could feel it all around them. Susan's Uncle Joe escorted her down the aisle as they were greeted by cousins, siblings, Bob's grown children and Susan's aunt. Bob's brother-in-law, David, was his Best Man and Susan's cousin Rachel, her Maid or Matron of Honor.


The Rand-Bryan house in Garner is a wonderful location with all it's springtime glory shining in the windows. For a group of thirty guests, there was plenty of room for a seated lunch and enough room to dance to a jazz quartet. All these beautiful pictures were taken by a friend of the family who's also a professional photographer: Gary D. Knight. You can reach him for his services at: 919-661-6566 or garydknight@earthlink.net. For all of us who want our pictures fast, he generously emailed me these photos the very evening of the wedding.

For the words of wisdom to be said upon their marriage, Bob and Susan chose the words from 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran that he wrote on marriage. They're so wonderful as is the whole book. I use Gibran's words on children for Baby Blessings and they're timeless, too.

Few know that Kahlil Gibran was Lebanese-American and Christian and lived in Boston and published his most famous book in 1923. He's considered the most widely read poet in history after Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu. If you don't now his words on marriage, Google them. They're lovely any time you read them. They never age. They certainly seemed to fit Susan and Bob who are wedding in mid-life filled with the grace and delight that love found anew brings out in us.

We did the Celtic Hand-fasting ceremony for their wedding, with a cord woven of three colors by Susan. They are blue, gold and white. It was lovely and just the right size. When you do the ceremony with the knots you must have enough cord. I like about 4 or 5 feet of cord so that I can tie the cord in the shape of infinity on your hands, then tie each knot easily.

These are powerful words of promise and binding, each said with consideration. I understand why this ancient ritual is still used. It holds power.

I got to say a beautiful blessing upon their marriage: "God, bless them with the inner gifts of trust, compassion, forgiveness, and truth that they may live and grow together in love and peace. Amen." It's an honor to even get to say these words.
After the ceremony there was time for pictures, followed by warm and funny toasts. (Who knows you better than your brother-in-law, lunch, and then the jazz combo and dancing.)

I wish I could have stayed to celebrate but a Saturday in April is a busy day for a minister who officiates weddings. So I could only wave good-bye as I dashed to the car to drive to Chapel Hill.

Bob and Susan are off to new adventures now. They promised each other their life together would never be boring. And I don't doubt that at all. I wish them lots of love and many blessings. As peers, we share an appreciation for each day that comes more easily with each passing year.

There's a sweetness to the realization that each moment is a joy to be savored with that special someone you love. I know they'll be doing just that.

The Rand-Bryan House in Garner Decorated for the Holidays

On December 19th I had the joy of performing the marriage ceremony of Kristin and Adam at the Rand-Bryan House in Garner. In my next post I'll show you pictures of their ceremony.

But I wanted you to see the beautiful Rand-Bryan house on its own. It was the childhood home of Martha Liles and she and her daughter, Audrey were wonderful hosts for the wedding, ensuring that all went smoothly.

It's an elegant and open space, warmed with holiday decorations, and perfect for a small wedding.


The broad expanse of windows and the simple architectural elements maximize the light and the natural beauty, making you feel as if you're outdoors when you're much more comfortable inside.



As you enter into the front door, the stairs are in front of you to the left. The room to your left is the room that you can dress in. As you can see it has lots of room for all the stuff needed for the day.












It was a chilly day so we stayed inside. But I imagine it's even nicer when the day is warm and sunny and you can take advantage of that wonderful front porch and the wide expanse of lawn. Oh, and they have lots of parking.

Enjoy these pictures and see if it's the right place for you.