Professional Wedding Guild meets at Washington-Duke Inn!

On Wednesday, June 30, 2010, about 75 local wedding professionals gathered at the prestigious and elegant Washington-Duke Inn & Golf Club in Durham NC for our monthly networking event of the Professional Wedding Guild (PWG) sponsored by Gail Galloway of the Perfect Wedding Guide. These luncheons are so much fun and I love mingling with people in the wedding industry when we are not working at a wedding and can get to chat and know each other better. I have been attending these events for years and have gotten to know so many great people to refer wedding couples to for their services. Each month we meet at a different venue. I knew this month's attendance would be greater than usual because of the venue. So, I brought my camera because I knew I wanted to put this on the blog.

Here's Gail Galloway, our sponsor. Pretty in pink this month! Gail and her staff put on these luncheons in the Triangle and in the Triad. There is no membership fee nor do you have to join any club or association. Just pre-register and pay $20 at the door will get you lunch and the opportunity to meet and mingle with others in the wedding industry. Thanks, Gail! She also publishes the wedding magazine Perfect Wedding Guide, a great resource of vendors in the area.

Diane Tighe of the Washington-Duke Inn and Sally Oakley Herring with An Elegant Affair wedding and event planning pose for my camera. I love working with both of these great women. I discovered at the luncheon that Diane and I have both been doing weddings for 11 years. We must have gotten started at the same time. Diane helps couples create the most unique wedding settings and entrances. I distinctly remember 3 weddings in which Diane choreographed the entrance of the wedding party for weddings in which the guests sat in a circle around the couple. So different and so elegant. Sally and I just finished up a wonderful wedding together in May at Duke Gardens. It was so much fun working with Sally. We have another one coming up together at the Carolina Inn in October. Thanks for sending these couples my way, Sally.

This is Gina McLean who is photographing this event for Gail. Gina is a wedding photographer I have loved working with for several years now. Note that most photographers are not used to having their picture taken! She is looking a bit uneasy and suspicious of me here! Gina brought her father with her to the luncheon. He is a retired professor from the University of Texas who now lives here in NC near Gina.

Speaking of photographers, here are Kevin Seifert and Jerry Dillard, both wedding photographers. They have covered other PWG luncheons too. The photos are posted on the PWG website. They did not notice me taking their photo from a distance!

Smile, Julius! Julius Carrasco is an amazing classical and Flamenco guitarist! He and I have done several weddings together and I highly recommend him. You can listen to his music here and you can view weddings we did together on this blog. I invited him to attend this luncheon and he told me he really enjoyed it. He also won a door prize! The cupcakes next to him were baked by the esteemed cake baker, Donna Moore, of Sweet Memories Bakery for this event.

And here she is, Donna Moore, who owns and operates Sweet Memories Bakery. I see her cakes at weddings more than any other cake baker and they are beautiful and each unique to the couple.

Look at this table full of sweet goodies Donna made for us. There were not only different flavors of cupcakes but also little containers of mousse and pudding with cake. Delicious! Thanks, Donna!

It was good to chat with Angie Wright of Chic Details, wedding and event planner.  We have done many weddings together. Angie is always such fun to work with and creates a beautiful wedding. Notice in her hand is the first course of our meal. We all went to a salad bar station and had a salad built in a martini glass. So delicious. There were several wedding planners present. Joy Edwards of A Joyful Occasion was there and we chatted a bit but I did not get her photo.

Diane is talking to Michelle Castro of Maggiano's Little Italy, Italian restaurant in Southpoint Mall. I have done several weddings at Maggiano's and it is a great place for a smaller wedding. Michelle and her staff are so accommodating.

So, we all sat down and enjoyed a delicious lunch provided by the Washington-Duke Inn's executive chef Jason Cunningham. The appetizer was chilled tomato soup with avocado sorbet. The entree was spinach and walnut ravioli with basil ricotta, Heirloom cherry tomatoes, chilled sweet corn and citrus herb butter.  Then we indulged in the sweets provided by Donna. When we finished the meal, Diane Tighe and Beth Pendergrass, also with the Washington-Duke Inn, presented our program which was about the impression we leave with our clients and others involved in our events. Great presentation. One of the slides was captioned: "Some days you are the bug and some days you are the windshield!"

The beautiful tablecloths and linens were provided by CE Rental. Some of the table cloths were covered with sequins and others were covered by raised fabric in the shape of roses. Beautiful!  The beautiful floral arrangements were provided by Floral Dimensions. Sotren.net Video Production was doing a video of the event and will be on the PWG website. Bartending Unlimited, Treasured Connections and the Washington-Duke Inn provided door prizes.