One of the things I love most about my clients is their ability to “go with the flow.” I’ve witnessed many a wedding day incident. There’s been clients who’s parents accidentally left them at the hotel, the dress break an hour before the ceremony, and the most dangerous culprit to a wedding day, rain.
However, if you have amazing clients like I do, rain don’t bother a thang!
All day long the radar was our best friend. We checked, re checked, and checked again. Amidst the giant storms that pummeled the Raleigh/Durham area that Saturday, there were two perfectly placed pockets of light sprinkles to no rain.
Now most people would choose to go with their wedding rain plan and get married inside. Not Julia and Drew tho! They were totally down for an adventure on their wedding day. Once the rain died down enough the entire wedding, guests & all, grabbed their chairs and setup flash style at the gorgeous Duke Gardens amphitheater! The ceremony was a little shorter than originally designed, but it was still oh so lovely! The light sprinkle in the background adds another layer of beauty to their story.
We literally had just enough time to get through the ceremony and all of the family formals before round two of the epic rain storms started up! Then we had another pocket conveniently open just after dinner, fun rainy formals you say? YES PLEASE!
Julia & Drew just had the most fantastic attitude all day long. They were so excited, determined, and everyone else joined in to make their vision happen! On top of that I don’t think there was a single chair occupied during their epic dance party reception! Everyone was tearing it up thanks to DJ Collin Y!
A special thanks to all of the vendors at this amazing day, everyone really came together and worked like a well oiled machine! Your’e all amazing!
An even bigger thank you goes to Julia & Drew for choosing me & for their adventurous spirits! Your day was just so fantastic! Thank you!
XOXOXO,
Mabyn
– Tell me a bit about the planning process for your wedding (how did you pick the venue, colors, funny stories, etc..): We had actually been engaged for almost a year before starting to plan our wedding, because we bought a house first. You think in that time we would’ve started to look at venues, but of course we didn’t. We knew wanted to have an outdoor wedding with lots of flowers and a natural setting. We were looking in Raleigh since we both went to NC State, but just never found a venue we liked. Julia went to Duke Gardens with her mom and a friend over Easter and fell in love with the Gardens’ amphitheater and pond location. She and Drew came back shortly thereafter and Drew loved it as much as Julia! We called to book, but found out only the two dates that were available were either the day before Julia’s birthday or June 27th. Needless to say Julia was not keen on sharing a birthday with a wedding anniversary, so we booked the 27th almost immediately!
– What was the most memorable moment(s) of your day? The rain. We had been watching the radar all day and saw the rain chances going basically down to zero and got excited. But, as soon as we got to the venue for the first look photos we saw a big storm start rolling in and it started raining the hour before the ceremony. Drew and his groomsmen ran out to the ceremony location and grabbed all of the chairs to keep them from getting wet! We saw a break in the rain in the radar right at 6pm when our ceremony was to begin. We looked at eachother and said “Lets do this!” and all of the guests grabbed their own chairs and carried them back out to the ceremony site! The ceremony had to be cut in half, and it started sprinkling again during our vows, but that only added to the uniqueness of our day. We knew a little rain couldn’t ruin anything!
– Funniest memory from your wedding day? After the ceremony the bridal party was hanging out waiting to enter the reception. We had some time to kill and started playing hangman on the big dry erase board in the room! One of Drew’s groomsmen, Matt, was the penman…Everyone kept getting “hung” because Matt is an engineer, not an English major, and spelled all of the words wrong. (We love you, Matt!)
– If you had to do it all over again would you change anything? NO! The day was absolutely amazing, and we would do it all over again – rain and all!
Hair: Tanas, Kristen Ainolhayat and Aubrey Land // Makeup Artist: Tanas, Kristen Ainolhayat and Aubrey Land // Dress Designer & Store // Location: Mori Lee, Savvi Formalwear and Bridal in Raleigh, NC // Veil or Hair accessories: Mother’s veil // Shoes: Aubrey Brooke // Bridesmaids Dresses: Mori Lee //Grooms Attire: Men’s Warehouse // Ceremony Venue: Duke Gardens, Angle Amphitheater // Reception // Venue: Duke Gardens, Kirby Horton Hall // Florist: Artfully Arranged by Martha Mazur // DJ: Collin Y // Caterer: Catering Works // Cake: Catering Works // Event Designer: Catering Works // Wedding Coordinator: Friend, Kristen Azarelo //Invitations & Stationary: Paperless Post
