The Cotton Room Hosts the Fabulous Wedding of Megan and Ben!

Megan and I started emailing last January about her wedding on October 30, 2010. She originally planned to have the ceremony in a church or chapel but the times did not work out so she decided to have the ceremony at The Cotton Room in Durham where the reception was going to be. When that decision was made she mailed the contract to me and the wedding and rehearsal were reserved on my calendar. Megan and Ben live in Atlanta and so I did not meet them in person until February when they were in town visiting her parents in Cary and checking out other vendors.

This is the historic Golden Belt textile manufacturing plant in which The Cotton Room is located. The old building has recently been renovated and The Cotton Room is owned by Michelle Aldred with Triangle Catering (located downstairs in the building). Michelle, who has been in the catering business for many years, jumped at the chance to have her own venue. She has created a wonderful space for weddings and other events. It is truly stunning! The Cotton Room opened a year ago this month. This was my first time to do a wedding here and I was so thrilled to have this opportunity.

The center portion of the huge space is cordoned off by wispy billowing sheets of sheer curtains to create the space for the ceremony. They were hanging the beautiful chandeliers for this event when we were there for the rehearsal.

 Tre Bella was the florist for this wedding and this is the altar area where the wedding party and I will stand during the ceremony.

Behind the curtains on both sides were the long tables ready to be moved into the center space after the ceremony for the reception. Megan and Ben chose black, white with apple green for their color scheme. It was striking!

Also striking was the fabulous music created by two of my very favorite musicians, Gregory Dixon on keyboard and Philip Jefferson on oboe. Megan and Ben hired them on my glowing recommendation.  I got to hear them play longer than usual at this wedding because the shuttle picking up guests at the hotel was 20 minutes late and so we waited and enjoyed more music. The combination of piano and oboe is simply magical music.

This beautiful wedding cake was provided by Cinda's Creative Cakes. Another masterpiece, Cinda!

Kent Bloms with Joe Bunn DJ Company was our DJ. He furnished the amplification for me and the reader for the ceremony and then provided the reception music. I know they had a great time after Marty and I left!

When the shuttle finally arrived, we started. The grandparents and parents were escorted in, then Ben, his best man, James, and I entered from behind the curtains at the altar area. Then the bridesmaids processed in. Here we are all waiting for the bride and her father to enter as the music changed.

Megan was escorted down the long elegant aisle by her father, David. It was such a grand moment! You can see one of our photographers on the left alongside the musicians. Our photographer was Nicole Faby.

And so we began. Ben and Megan and I together created a warm welcoming ceremony sprinkled with humor and their story of meeting as students at Ohio University. Ben grew up in Ohio. All his family and all his groomsmen traveled to NC for the wedding. His grandparents, mother and stepfather are in the foreground here.

Megan's cousin, Laurin, presented a reading during the ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

And they are married! What a wonderful wedding, Megan and Ben. I know everyone loved the beautiful ceremony and the great location. The guests were invited to go downstairs to the LabourLove Art Gallery for cocktails while the event hall was transformed into the reception area and dance floor. In the meantime, the couple and wedding party and family took some photos.

All your hard work and planning really paid off, Megan and Ben.What a fabulous wedding. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! I wish you a lifetime of happiness and joy! 

Wow, this is what I missed at the reception...just posted earlier on Facebook by Nicole Faby, the photographer! They are really "getting down" to Shout! What fun!  That is Joe Bunn in the foreground with brown pants! I can barely see Megan's white dress and I recognize Judy, Ben's mother, in the green strapless dress!