Anthony and Jessi at the Franklin Hotel in Chapel Hill

Jessi and Tony were such an easy couple to plan with.  They were playful and easygoing in all of their planning.  I knew they'd have a good time at their wedding and they did!  Their neutral colors were elegant at their reception at The Franklin Hotel in downtown Chapel Hill.

Most of these photographs were provided by Mike Phongsa of MP Photography, a fabulous photographer who's relocating to San Francisco in just a few months.  Thanks, Mike!  We'll miss him here but I sure do understand the call there. 

The other amazing thing about Anthony and Jessi's wedding, besides them, was the flowers!

The atrium at The Franklin is a neutral space and this really created a lush resplendent atmosphere.  On my form they put Richard Grille as the florist but not who he's with.  I just have to laud him for an amazing piece of artistry.

Before the ceremony.... looking out from where the DJ, Eric Hodgden, of All Around Raleigh DJ had his equipment. 

And here's Eric.

Jessi was so casual about the music that Eric, Katie and I were deciding on what we thought would be best a half hour before the ceremony.  Thanks to them both, it turned out wonderfully!

These flowers were on the end of each row....

I loved marrying these two.  Jessi has a bubbly high energy personality that infuses everything, and also has the generosity of spirit that makes it infectious.  Anthony is low key in balancing Jessi's ebullience.  

Katie at The Franklin Hotel was the perfect staff member to make sure all went as planned.

The only oddness that happens with weddings in the atrium at The Franklin is that other non-wedding guests may have their hotel room off this space.  That means the during the ceremony someone may be coming back to their hotel room and if they're not really all that thoughtful or set to patiently wait, they will be unlocking and entering their room as the ceremony is happening.  Luckily they rooms are at the back wall so the distraction can be minimal.  It's just an odd feeling.  This happens at The Embassy Suites near Crabtree Valley Mall, too.


This was taken while pictures were being organized.  It was one I took.

And then their reception was elegant in one of the ballrooms on the second floor.

Bonnie with Miel Bon Bons made their cake and their food was catered by Catering Works.  

I love doing ceremonies at The Franklin.  Their staff does a great job and they're right in my neighborhood,.  Just be aware that if it's a football weekend in the fall with a home game, that you have to let your guests know beforehand.  Luckily it wasn't!  I'd just been caught up in that confusion the Fall of 2009.


Mike captured this wonderful photo of Anthony and Jessi after the ceremony.  It fits them to a 'T.'
I wish them all the best for a wonderful life.  I don't doubt they'll have one.

Matt and Alli Light up the Day at the Horace Williams House

Alli and Matt wanted a small wedding and the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill provided the perfect venue for the 50 plus guests of friends and family.  I've done lots of ceremonies there over the years and it adapts well to many needs.  ( I even did a ceremony years ago under the branches of the Magnolia tree on their yard.  We all climbed into the little cave created by the massive branches, about 9 of us, and felt that we were in a chapter from Tolkein's 'The Lord of The Ring' trilogy.)

Matt and Alli chose the front porch of the house in the sunshine, and it was a gorgeous day.  Almost everyone had traveled to NC to be with them.  They're both in, or have been in science programs at UNC so Chapel Hill is their home now.  They met in 2004 at a summer internship together.

Alli and Matt both have a dry easy low key wit.  They connected over cooking and their shared senses of humor so decided to have a quote from Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' because, as Julia says, 'Cooking is like love; it should be entered into with abandon or not at all.'

I also loved their music choices and their musician.  Local classical guitarist, Matthew Kanon was wonderful, and he played 'Grow Old With Me' by John Lennon for the processional and 'Here Comes The Sun' by The Beatles for the recessional.

They had their cocktail hour at the Horace Williams House ...

 

and then everyone walked downtown, or rode, to The Franklin Hotel for the reception with Greg Ramsey from Joe Bunn DJ Company and I'm sure a wonderful cake by Sugarland Bakery in Chapel Hill.  Alli's and her attendant's flowers were made by Charles House at University Florist.


  
Carisa Chee was their fabulous photographer. .Here's the link to the slideshow of 9 of her pictures for Matt and Alli's wedding on WeddingChannel.com:  Enjoy.  http://galleries.weddingchannel.com/Wedding-Details/87562/view.aspx?id=87562&type=18

I loved having Matt and Alli in my life for that short time.  They are easy low stress people.  They even had their photos taken before the ceremony so they could relax and enjoy their guests after the ceremony.  Their ceremony was a sweet moment on a lovely NC spring day.  I'm so glad I was there with them.  I wish them many many blessings!

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.