Somehwere Over the Rainbow

Well folks, it was a fabulous wedding. That's the great thing about weddings, every one is different and it's just a matter of making it work for you. Ours was complete with a 45 minute rain delay with a loud clap of thunder during the outdoor ceremony. In my opinion, this was the icing on a perfect day. While dad and I sat excitedly in a car waiting for the clouds to clear, our guests sipped prosecco under a big white tent and listened to Mozart across a manicured lawn.


The day started out at a blistering 97 degrees of North Carolina humidity. I planned a morning of "wedding yoga" to help de-stress any wedding jitters I might have had. A bunch of other folks joined in on the fun. But as we began our yoga class in the loft of the house, the air conditioning went out and our relaxing yoga morning turned into a sweaty Bikram class. This ended up being amazing because we all sweated out any hangovers we may have had from the rehearsal dinner the night before. The intense heat threatened to turn our wedding day into a sweaty mess.

About 20 mins before the 5pm ceremony the storm clouds rushed in with a flurry of cooling wind and shade. You can see pictured a large patio umbrella that went for a swim in the lake. The showers came and cooled everything down with delicate drizzles and it couldn't have been more perfect.
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At 5:45 with wedding guests a little looser thanks to the prosecco we started the ceremony. Nicholas and I were actually married in the lightest of rains and it was perfect. A family friend, Mary Gayle Green, who just happens to be a professional Opera Singer sang out over the balcony as dad and I walked down the aisle. After the ceremony we were showered with rose petals from above. We walked back down the aisle to "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by the late Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole. A fitting song for our Maui honeymoon where we saw rainbows daily.

Before we get to the party, I'd like to mention a few of the details about my handmade wedding. The dress was actually just a simple BCBG white dress that my mom doctored with some vintage lace. I wore red ruby shoes because I'm the bride and I can do whatever I want; and there's really no place like home.



All the flowers were done by my talented best friend Emily. My bouquet was so stunning that even the fabulous photos can't capture it. She put some pears in it that were growing on a tree out back of the house. The house by the way is a beautiful Italian Style Villa my parents have flipped on and it's for sale.
The programs were made by my friend Elizabeth Turnbull and the adorable birdcage veil by talented Etsy artist Marisol Aparicio



Our dear family friend Wally Turnbull performed the ceremony. We are so honored that our wedding was his first! There is a beautiful image is of Wally outside just before the ceremony praying away the storm.


You can see images about my wedding ring here in a previous blog posting.

I told my hair stylist that I wanted her to do whatever made her happy with my hair. I wanted her to have creative license and she really came through with something stunning. The little silk flower clips were also made by Emily on the day off the wedding. The pearls I'm wearing were a lavish gift from my late Aunt Becky. She knew she was dying of cancer and wrapped these pearls up as a gift for the day I was married. She even included some pearl studs for my future husband which Nicholas wore on our wedding day.
The gorgeous photos were taken by local photographer Annemie Tonken of Megapixie Photography. Her work is, as you can see, stunning. I asked her to capture moments rather than staged pictures and she really came through with fabulous work.





The party afterward was a joyous blur of sparklers and dancing late into the night with the talented band Boomerang. There was an improptu late night limbo contest. It wasn't until I was one of 3 left that I realized everyone had been cheating for me. And the whole time I was excited to be doing so well as I'm terrible at limbo.



As I mentioned before, it was a wonderful wedding. Two days later we were off on our honeymoon. A 5 day stay in Alaska and then 8 days in Maui. A special thanks to Nicholas who took the traditional bride's role and essentially planned the whole event. I just got to enjoy it all.

In 8 days I’ll be a Mrs.

Basically everything is taken care of, mostly thanks to my efficient fiancé. He’s been busy putting this wedding together while I’ve been focusing on getting my last minute orders out the door (and insanely agreeing to do a craft show today). I took care of the “fun stuff” the photographer, the wines and champagnes, music, flowers, rings…those sorts of artsy tasks. Nick got stuck with tent and table rentals, food ordering, technical music set-up--the logistical tedious parts. This is just one reason why we work so well together, he does all the hard stuff.

I find myself in a unique position, being 8 days away from a Mrs. There’s no stress or nervousness about actually getting married. That’s the part I’m ecstatic about. It’s the pleasing family, friends and expectations that are stressful. As an artist who works with brides-to-be daily I now better understand their messages and custom requests. These girls aren’t being “Bridezillas” they just want everything to turn out perfectly, and for a good reason. It’s a special day and everything about it should be special, down to the particular shade of green in their peacock toasting flutes.

There is a light at the end of the planning tunnel (besides the "I do's"). The honeymoon! Nick jokingly says that our honeymoon is great wedding insurance. Even if I get cold feet I wouldn’t back out. Not with Alaska and Maui just 10 days away. We aren’t yet sure exactly how one packs for glacier hiking and snorkeling in the same suitcase—but that’s what the day of the flight is for. We’ll have about 4-5 hours to creatively cram snorkel gear, parkas and trousseau pretties into a bag before for the 12 hour flight to Anchorage. I’m looking forward to the 12 hours of nothing--nothing in my hands to paint, nothing on the computer to check, nothing on my to-do list to prepare. But back to the wedding….

My dress(es) have been an adventure. My grand plan to have an artist make them backfired. After two attempts I finally gave up and bought one at a store from BCBG. It’s adorable and with a little added lace that my mom stitched on it’s just darling. My two “disaster dresses” will be put to good use. But I don’t want to spoil any surprises so you’ll just have to wait for the photos on how I plan to use them. The ceremony music will be performed by a professional Opera singer Mary Gayle Greene, who just happens to be a close college friend of my mother’s. Everyone attending will be spoiled by this musical treat. Not many of us have the chance to visit an Italian Opera Hall. So the opera is coming to Durham and will be sung from an outdoor balcony overlooking guests sipping Prosecco with raspberries and a very nervous bride hopefully not biting her newly manicured nails. It will be one of the rare days that my hands aren't covered in paint, I hope.

The flowers, thankfully, have not been on my mind one bit. My best friend and professional florist is flying in this Sunday to take care of everything. I’m just going to set her loose and see what magic she comes up with.
I'm mostly nervous about leaving my shop for so long. Owning and running your own business certainly has some cons to go along with the many pros. I'll worry about customers not being able to reach me, I'll worry about the amount of work I'll have waiting on me when I get back. I'm hoping all this preemptive worry will be for naught. Etsy what? Etsy who? I'll vaugley recall something about glasses and packages 10 feet under turquoise water with a bright red and yellow fish lazily swimming by.

Wedding Ring

My wedding ring is finished! I'm very excited about how it turned out. Wren, the artist-owner of Goldworks in Chapel Hill hand-crafted my ring based on some shaky sketches and a description of my vision. She called me to say she'd worked on an example--she wasn't sure it was exactly what I wanted but she was pleased with the piece. So I went in for a look. I fell in love with it instantly and wouldn't you know it, she made it in my size. It fit perfectly and Wren didn't even know what my ring size was. I picked out this cute elephant ring box. The poor little guy has lost an eye but he's still got the goods.



The ring is made of all recycled metals. Palladium white gold intertwined with rose gold. The effect is meant to be an abstract twist of metal vines intertwined with some textured leaves.
Nick loves it because the two different metals represent the two of us. He's such a romantic.


This last image is of my tree-bark engagement ring made by Etsy artist Beth of bcyjewelry and my wedding ring together. I wasn't planning on wearing both the rings when I got married, but after seeing them together I'm reconsidering. Thank you to both fabulous artists for creating such beautiful, special pieces for me.