fashion vogue: Mel Manning DJ

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Jessica and Brent Wed at The Oaks at Salem!

Weddings at The Oaks at Salem are so wonderful! A truly gracious Southern setting with spacious facility and well-groomed grounds conveniently located in Apex. April Maness, the owner, knew what was the perfect venue for weddings when she purchased the property and built the beautiful manor. Jessica and Brent fell in love with it and had their wedding there on Sunday May 18, 2014.

Valet parking service is routine for weddings at The Oaks.

A view of the back of the manor house from the side of the lake. The tent on the terrace serves as protection for both rain and intense heat of the sun. April even has lighting and speakers installed within the tent.

Plenty of room for seating of guests for the reception and the ceremony.

Jessica and Brent had large cookies as wedding favors for the guests and they are all laid out for the taking!

Just inside the terrace is the bar, food bar and the wedding cupcakes! This lovely configuration is by Bitty Cakes. Thrills from the Grill was catering. Yummy! A Ming Rose was the florist.

DJ Mel Manning was in charge of the music for both the ceremony and reception. Jessica and Brent chose to have their wedding under the tent from the very beginning to avoid everyone sitting out in the sun. Turns out it was seasonably cooler that day with a cloud cover and forecast of scattered showers--which did not happen!

Okay! It is time to begin. Joslin, the wedding director for the venue, cued the music and the processional. You can see her in the background. The seating of Brent's grandmother was first, then his aunt, then the parents of the groom and mother of the bride.

Greg and Justin, the groomsmen entered after Brent and me.

Here comes the bride and her father!

Jessica bids farewell to her father and joins Brent.

The tree in the background is the popular spot for some weddings but serves as a nice backdrop for weddings under the tent.

Our lovely bridesmaids witness the ceremony. The maid of honor is Jessica's sister, Lillian. I did not get the other two girls' names but I know the middle one is engaged to Justin, one of the groomsmen.

It is unusual to get a photo of the guests but it is so telling of the feelings they have for Jessica and Brent. That is Brent's aunt wiping away some tears of happiness. Note up just above Brent's parents' head are a couple--he with glasses and she a blonde with an aqua top. That is Jay and Alyssa whom I married last July at The Cotton Room. I had no idea that Alyssa and Jessica were college roommates. It was so good to see them again. You can view their wedding here.

The blessing of the parents.......

The telling of their story: Jessica and Brent met at work where a lot of love stories begin. Jessica had just been hired and her cube was right next to Brent's so he was the go-to person for all her questions. She said he had immeasurable patience with her. He said he relished in the opportunity to be with her the questions afforded! They never tired of each other and decided to go out to a basketball game after work. Even though Jessica's alma mater UNC beat their opponent, Brent's alma mater NCSU, they had so much fun that the die was cast and there was no looking back.

Brent proposed to Jessica three years later and since then he has earned a graduate degree, they moved to a new city and bought their first house together, all while planning this wedding!

This is where I reveal to each of them what their partner told me in confidence they love about each other. "Brent, along with always letting her try a small bite of your food, killing spiders for her, and many other things, Jessica knew you were a keeper. She loves the way you cackle when you laugh and the way you make her smile...."

They read the vows they had written for each other from my book where the words were printed facing them as they exchanged their rings.

I pronounced them husband and wife and told Brent he could kiss his beautiful wife!

Off into the world, they go!

Photos after the ceremony were on the front lawn. Their photographer, Francis Wong, was getting the family photos so we waited our turn. The couple with Brent's parents, Jane and David.

Aunt Gayle and the groomsmen.

Jessica's parents, Jinn and liHsia.

Brent's grandmother, Nancy, is pleased to pose with the couple.

My turn! Jessica and Brent, what a great couple you are. Loved your story and I know you will be happily married ever after! My best for you always.

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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Beautiful Interfaith Wedding for Tara and Seth at Brier Creek!

Almost exactly a year ago I met Tara and Seth to plan their wedding ceremony. Seth is Jewish, Tara Christian and they wanted traditional wedding customs of both faiths in their ceremony including some Hebrew words. Andrew Weiss canted the beautiful Hebrew words in the ceremony for us. And the weather, aside from being quite breezy, was gorgeous in spite of all the unpredictable weather we have been having in NC lately. The wedding was March 22, 2014 at the Jasmine Courtyard at Brier Creek Country Club. You can see the wind blowing the drapes and the tablecloth in the photo below taken before the ceremony.

The Unity Candle set up, wine and glass and glass to break are in place on the table under the pergola.

Mews Designs was the florist and had these pretty little suspended jars of flowers gracing the aisle. The altar was decorated simply and elegantly with Boston ferns and two pedestals. Simplicity is always refreshing!

Tara and Seth chose to do a "first look" before the ceremony. In addition to being such a sweet moment when they first see each other before the wedding, they could get most of the photos done early too. So when Marty and I arrived, they were taking pictures at the site. Someone must have asked Tara and Seth a question or something they were pondering in the photo above, thus their non-smiling expressions. But I include this photo because it is the only good one I have of Seth's parents, Keith and Adrienne, and his sweet grandmother, Leonor.

Tara and her sister, Kelley, who was also her Maid of Honor. Love the black and white with the pop of red!

In the ballroom, the tables and chairs and our DJ, Mel Manning, were set up and ready. Our photographer was Joe Payne. Videoing the wedding was Olde Road Pictures Videography.

Simply Cakes had just delivered and set up this stunning wedding cake.

I went upstairs to the Dogwood Room to sign the Ketubah, a Jewish marriage contract. After that it was back to the courtyard for Mel to place the microphone on Andrew.

Time to get lined up! This is Terri, mother of the bride waiting for her escort, Nicholas, to return to escort her in. Shelly Keeter was our excellent wedding director for this wedding in addition to being the event manager for the club. Seth and Tara contracted with her to be their wedding director in addition to her other responsibilities and everything flowed smoothly along! Thanks, Shelly!

Seth and his best man, Nick, were feeling fine and ready to go! I wish I knew what was so funny!

Andrew and I led the way for the groom and groomsmen to enter.

Our ring bearer, William, and flower girl, Maddie, were next in and did a super job! Tara and her father, Tom, look cool as cucumbers as they wait for the bride's grand entrance!

Where's the bride? Great shot of the guests who are looking for the bride. Everyone else has entered now and the anticipation builds!

And here they come!

Tom places Tara's hand into Seth's hand and she kisses Dad good bye as he carefully avoids stepping on her dress to take his seat.

The ceremony began with "Shalom aleychem!" Welcome, everyone!

Everyone's head is bowed for the opening prayer.

We remembered those loved ones who are no longer with us physically but are with us in spirit. Then a few words of tribute to the couple's parents sitting on the first row.

Then it was time to light the unity candle which was definitely a challenge in the wind. But above you see the actual evidence that they did get it lit but it took all 4 of us! Yay!

The Seven Blessings were spoken before the couple shared the wine.

Tara went first.

Then Seth, who would traditionally finish off the rest. (I had originally intended to pour the wine Shelly put on the table into a special glass the couple brought for the wine but their glass was too fragile to withstand the wind. Consequently there was more wine than usual in the more substantial glass and I could tell Seth was debating in his head whether to drink it all or not! That's is what is tickling Tara!)

This is the sweet part of the ceremony where I tell the bride and groom what they told me in confidence they love about each other, why they want to marry each other and what they are looking forward to in marriage.

They had written secret vows to each other that they read from my book.

They exchange rings......

To close we had a Prayer based on First Corinthians, then Andrew did a perfect job canting Shehecheyano, A Special Prayer, from the Jewish tradition.

The pronouncement of marriage was next but they could not kiss until....

Seth broke the glass and we all shouted Mazeltov!

Tara really laid one on Seth!!

And another!

Now tell me, doesn't Seth look like he is reeling here? It must have been that kiss!

Okay, he's back to the moment and so happy!

The wedding party and parents followed......then off to the reception for the guests!

One last picture for the road! Wow, what a wedding. It was really gorgeous, Tara and Seth. Give yourselves a big pat on the back. It was great working with you and I wish you all the best in the world!