Their ceremony was held earlier in the day at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh. After the ceremony, the 200 guests had a little break before heading over to the reception. As the guests arrived they had a live pianist playing for the cocktail hour. The room looked beautiful with floral arrangements by Mel from Dogwood Tree Floral Design! I can’t wait to see the photos by Morgan Caddell Photography. The guests enjoyed refreshments, passed hors d’oeuvres and a cheese and veggie display. After the cocktail hour, planners Kathy and Emma from Sally Oakley Weddings & Events invited everyone downstairs for dinner. I left music playing and went upstairs to line the wedding party up with them.
I introduced the wedding party to “Starships” and Kendall and Ben to “Gangsta’s Paradise”.. LOL!! Love it!! They came to the dance floor and had their first dance to “That’s How Strong My Love Is” by Otis Redding. They took their seats and her Father welcomed everyone followed by a wonderful blessing by Ben’s Grandfather. The salads and enterees came out and I had a mix of standards, classic soul and soft rock playing.
After dinner we had a few toasts, ending with Ben’s thank you that may be one of my favorite Grooms speeches! We sang (a contest to sing as off key as possible) happy birthday to a couple special guests and had the Ashley’s Cake cutting to “Short Skirt, Long Jacket” by Cake (get it??). The chocolate/salted caramel cake was AMAZING!!! While the staff served the cake, we had the Parents dances. Kendall danced with her Father to “What A Wonderful World”. Ben escorted his Mother to the floor for their dance to “Days Like This” by Van Morrison. Even though guests started dancing before the toasts, I officially opened the floor to everyone with “Build Me Up Buttercup” followed by some Motown and Top 40 that kept them dancing for the next 1.5 hours.
We paused for a bouquet toss to “Like A Girl” by Lizzo, garter removal to “Blame It On The Girls” by Mika and toss to “Wild Thing” by The Troggs. The unique thing they did for these was that it wasn’t just for the single people, but for everyone, married and single. The catchers each received a scratch off ticket!! What a great idea!! After the tosses, I finished the night with a great set of sing-a-long songs and finally “Sweet Caroline” in memory of Kendall’s Mother who loved to dance to this song and a last dance to “New York, New York”. Everyone made a huge circle for both songs!!
They had a streamer exit before heading over to The Counting House for an after-party. Thank you so much Kendall, Ben, Angel, Emma and Kathy!! That was such a fun night!!
Photo courtesy of Morgan Caddell Photography
No comments:
Post a Comment