Cynthia and I had the wonderful honor of spending time with one of the best human beings on the planet - who is also a wonderful artist. Maggie Hayes, of Maggie Hayes Photography met with us at Mordecai Historical Park on Saturday evening to chase the sun and take some wonderful pictures of us. 

Here's a sneak peak of the shoot!

Thank you so much Maggie! You always bring me peace and laughter. You are a delight to work with. 

There are some people you meet and you know in an instant you are drawn to them because the qualities you like most about your insides are expressed on this person's outsides - for me, this person is Erica Greenwold Reisen. 

Erica is the owner and operator of Folie à  Deux Events, a wedding planning and event design service based in Chapel Hill. 

I met Erica and her fantastic husband, James, when I officiated their first wedding. Yes, they had two weddings. Life is complicated and Erica is someone who knows how to cut through the complications and do what needs to be done. 

Instantly, I fell in love with Erica's impeccable style, her kindness, her passion for all things wedding, craft beer,sewing, and sci-fi. We share these passions, and while I'm all in for craft beer, she and James took it a step farther and let me create a black-and-tan unity ceremony for their beautiful wedding at Motorco Music Hall. It was the bomb, yo! 

I have worked with Erica professionally on many weddings and each time the couple has been so excited and thrilled with her services. Beyond being a classically trained wedding gown designer, Erica is a master plate spinner. She specializes in the alternative and unexpected and is always up for a challenge. Her organizational skills are legendary and she helps couples with everything from seating plans to vendor coordination to out of town guest accommodations. It is my great pleasure to introduce Erica to all of the couples I work with because I know they will be in very competent and loving hands.

Personally, I appreciate Erica's dedication to secular wedding professionals. She has created a network of vendors who share similar world views and we meet to talk about everything from how we can best serve our clients to how we can make a difference in the world. 

She has a great blog and website. Check her out at folieadeuxevents.com; you'll be so glad that you did. 



 
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It's wonderful to meet new people in the wedding industry and share them with you. It's really great to meet them again, and again, and again - it reinforces that you are working with people who others trust and rely on. This happened to me online today. I'd like to introduce to you: Tamisha Diaz. We met last year on one of North Carolina's hottest days. You would never know that Tamisha even felt the heat at all. She is an amazing professional who made the bride and groom completely at ease and captured precious moments throughout the day. Here is her blogpost from that day - check out the grand shot of the bridal party and guests. Each guest had a pair of sunglasses in their chair. This was really cool!