Jamie & Ryan’s downtown wedding at Merrimon-Wynne in Raleigh on May 2nd

Jamie & Ryan chose downtown Raleigh’s historic Merrimon-Wynne House for their cocktail hour and reception on a beautiful May 2^nd.  The ceremony was held at St Mary’s Chapel with minister Kayelily Middleton.  As the ceremony ended, guests made their way to The Merrimon-Wynne house for cocktails & games in the tent and the side lawn.  During the cocktail hour I had a mix of soft rock, classic soul, beach, reggae and country playing.

Jamie & Ryan arrived with photographers Rachel & Seth from Blue Barn Photography and were ready to be announced.  I invited guests into the tent and asked them to find their dinner table assignments on filled champagne glasses.  As guests were finding their glasses, I went into the house to line up Jamie & Ryan with help from their planner Elise from Sante Events and Kaila from The Merrimon-Wynne. I introduced them to “How You Love Me” by 3Lau and they came into the tent to thunderous applause!  Jamie’s father Peter welcomed everyone and showed a short slide show before I invited guests back in the house for the 5 course dinner by Irregardless Café. 

After dinner, guests made their way back out to the tent for the cake and dancing.  As soon as the guests came out they started dancing to beach music.  Jamie & Ryan joined them soon and had their first dance to a special edit I did of Kygo’s acoustic version of “Firestone”.  It’s such a beautiful song!  They danced like they were the only two in the room.  Jamie’s father joined her on the floor for their dance to a slide show he made of her and the song “She’s On Her Way” by Phil Vassar and  Ryan then danced with his mother to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man”.  After toasts by Ryan’s father and Jamie’s Maid of honor we had the Ashley’s Cake cutting to “Grow Old With You” and opened the floor again to Ryan’s request of “Pump Up The Jam” that filled the floor.

After dancing for a while to 80’s, techno and some current hits we paused briefly for the bouquet toss to “Love Is A Battlefield”, garter removal to “Sensual Seduction” by Snoop, garter toss to “Raise Up” and then the garter catcher put the garter on the bouquet catcher’s leg to “Freek_A-Leek” both by Peter Pablo.  I opened the floor again with “Wagon Wheel” that packed it again til the end of the night with sing-a-longs, hip-hop and techno.  The night ended with “You Shook Me All Night Long” and a sparkler exit from the front of the house.  What a fun night and an awesome crown.  Congratulations Jamie & Ryan!