Wedding – Wilmington, NC
On May 11, 2013 was our wedding in Wilmington, NC surrounded by wonderful family and friends. It was honestly the wedding of my dreams, with the man of my dreams!
We had the ceremony at Saint Mary Catholic Church on 4th street in downtown Wilmington. It was absolutely beautiful. The church itself is stunning and the priest, Father Bob, had done my confirmation so it was nice to come back to a familiar face.
Our reception was held at the historic Bellamy mansion on Market Street downtown, such a majestic backdrop to our otherwise laid back BBQ dinner.
Possum Creek played for us, they were an amazing bluegrass trio. If there hadn’t been worry of rain we would have had them down on the grounds with the guests to get people dancing, but everyone was rather busy drinking and meeting so it worked out anyway.
Keepsake Memories Photography took our professional photographs (which you can view by clicking this link). I’ll be honest, one big regret is not getting back to them on exactly what photographs to take – but we did end up with some great images we will have forever. The photographer, Natalie, did a really wonderful job considering I dropped the ball! We went to Greenfield Lake Park (where we actually saw an alligator!) for some photographs with Spanish moss, and then to the side of the highway (yep) to enjoy the poppies which had just bloomed.
Keepsake
Keepsake
Keepsake
We tried to keep everything local, from the flowers to the food. The flowers were done by Castle Hayne Farms which also do flowers at the farmers market in downtown Wilmington on Saturday. My luck, peonies were in season at the time (my favorite flower). They even design and make the arrangements for you. I arrived on the Tuesday before and they were ready to pick up Saturday morning. I cannot tell you how great they smelled, how beautiful they were or how well priced compared to the other options.
L&L Tent Rental did the tables, chairs and lines. Very professional and were familiar with the Bellamy mansion so set up and take down was effortless. The lighting was done by High Performance, who is also familiar with Bellamy and they did a wonderful job with the Edison lighting. They apparently did spot lighting as well but I wasn’t there for set up so I don’t know where it was – but the place looked amazing regardless.
We got the beer from Front Street Brewery, which was incredible. Great beers, and great servers. So much so that no one really even touched the champagne and white wine that we brought (contrary to the photo below!).
The servers, from Cape Fear Community College, were professional, and such a great help. One of them, Heather Batten, acted as my ‘go to girl’ for the day of. She truly saved the day since I had done all the planning and organizing myself. I don’t know what I would have done without her.
We handed around local (NC or USA) cheeses to the crowd at the beginning, and it was important to me to show off how great our cheeses are to the French crowd. Honestly, there was so much talking I doubt they would have noticed. Maybe it wasn’t worth all the work there, but I knew and was glad.
What is NC without Lexington BBQ? We sampled all the BBQ from Wilmington the year before when we were deciding on vendors. Sorry, there is nothing better than Little Richards BBQ in the area and being from Winston-Salem, NC that’s what we had. Driven directly from their location on Strattford Road. SOOO good. On our way to the beach we did stop at the Skylight Inn, in Ayden NC. More on that elsewhere.
Finally, my father made my cake. Which was the best thing in the world. It was beautiful. My mother made the cake topper. The most meaningful parts of the wedding was getting all the help from my family to make it happen and make it special. It was a lot of work on my own before and stress in the immediate weeks prior. Planning anything for 150 people when you live overseas is challenging, with a budget it’s a mission and that’s why all the help meant the world to me. Thank you to my family for taking that time to ease the burden, and my husband for still marrying me when I was about to lose it!
What a wonderful memory. To anyone against big weddings, I say this – there is likely no other time when you are alive that you will be surrounded by so many people who love you. Its worth every bit of stress and money.
Thank you also to Wilmington, NC for the sunshine and coastline and for giving all of our out-of-town guests so much to enjoy!
Rue d'Odessa 