Mallory+Ryan // Duke Chapel Wedding

Mallory and Ryan’s wonderful winter wedding closes out our 2016 wedding season! We couldn’t have ended the year with a better couple. Super sweet and wonderful people, they wished every kid on campus good luck with their finals as they walked by during their pictures and thanked us for our patience several times during the day even though there was literally nothing to be patient with because they were so fantastic and cooperative. So we lucked out for last wedding of the year! We also lucked out with the weather. It had been 30 degrees for a couple days prior to this, and the forecast was predicting rain. It did not rain (yay!) and it was in the 60s! Actually, no, it was supposed to be in the 60s but it had to have been colder than that. But the point is that it wasn’t as cold as 30, and we weren’t wet.

This beautiful wedding was held at Duke Chapel and Bay 7 and it was all so, so pretty. Mallory wore a stole that belongs to one of her mother’s friends, and the bridesmaids wore the best shade of green. Their bouquets all had pine in them and so everyone smelled like a Christmas tree. Bay 7 had put up all the lights around campus, and everything was absolutely dreamy. I hear there were animatronic elves displayed somewhere in the hotel where Mallory got ready, but unfortunately we missed those (or fortunately, depending on your opinion of animatronic elves). But there were Santa hats and reindeer ears passed out at the reception, and Geoff delightfully bit off the head of a gingerbread man there as well. This wedding got everyone in the spirit and was just lovely. Thank you, Mallory and Ryan, for sending 2016 off in styyyyle.

  • Date: December 17, 2016
  • Ceremony Venue: Duke Chapel // Durham, NC
  • Reception Venue: Bay 7 // Durham, NC
  • First Dance Song: “How Sweet It Is” – Performed by Affirmative Groove
  • Mallory’s Occupation: International Programs Coordinator at NC State
  • Ryan’s Occupation: Assistant Director of the Duke Parent’s Program
  • How You Met: Ryan and Mallory met a little over 3 years ago after Mallory moved to Minnesota to work at a small liberal arts college. One of their mutual friends introduced them at a young professionals happy hour that the college hosted, and things took off from there!
  • Interesting Fact: Our first date included sushi and a baseball game, and those continue to be two of our favorite things.
  • Honeymoon: German Christmas Markets & Madeira, Portugal.
  • Vendor Credits: Officiant – Rev. Bruce Puckett. Band – Affirmative Groove. Florist – Lyn Graves of Fresh Affairs. Cake – Cinda’s Creative Cakes. Caterer – Angus Barn. Hair – Caroline of Careaux Cartier On Location Wedding|Event Hair & Makeup. Videographer – Jaired Sullivan and Jesse Ashe of Carolina Story Film Co. Coordinator – Karen M. Stone Wedding Consultant and Director, and Jeane Batten. Duke Chapel Director – Blanche Williams. Bay 7 Director – Angel Nicholas.

Lauren+Kris // Duke Forest Wedding.

Lauren and Kris had all the necessary things for a delightful wedding: donuts, a jazz band, an ice cream truck, a crazy little biodiesel bus, and a phone full of pictures of their cat Calvin using Snapchat wearing a fedora and a fake mustache. They were married by a friend in a little intimate spot of grass in the middle of Duke Forest surrounded by trees and fabulous early fall light. Then we all went on to the reception at The Cookery that was adorned with little golden dinosaurs sporting air plants that were standing guard over bottles of liquor holding wildflowers. I really wanted to steal all of them and start a tiny gold dinosaur plant army but I couldn’t do that because Lauren and Kris are so nice and I feel like it’s probably good luck for your marriage if you start out with your own golden dinosaur plant army and I didn’t want to rob them of that.

Did we mention the ice cream truck? We did, but we’re going to talk about it again right now because ice cream. At one point Lauren held a glass of wine in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other and looked so ridiculously thrilled with the whole thing and I thought yes, this is what happiness looks like. Everyone loves The Parlour and we do too, especially when they arrive in a pink and white truck, and I had two scoops of the Vietnamese Coffee because it’s my favorite, even though I don’t like coffee at all. And we ate our ice cream as the fabulous Mint Julep Jazz Band played on into the night and everyone had the best time talking and socializing. Thank you for having a delightful and charming wedding, Lauren and Kris, and we hope you’re up in DC starting that tiny golden dinosaur plant army with your cat Calvin.

  • Date: September 23, 2016
  • Ceremony Venue: Duke Forest // Durham, NC
  • Reception Venue: The Cookery // Durham, NC
  • Lauren’s Occupation: Economist for the federal government in DC
  • Kris’s Occupation: Energy analyst
  • How You Met: Graduate school classmates at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.
  • Interesting Fact: Although they love Durham almost as much as they love each other, the only actual NC native in their family is their okra-loving cat, Calvin (from APS of Durham).
  • Honeymoon: Not sure yet! The front runners are Croatia and Laos.
  • Vendor Credits: Officiant – Zarak Khan. Band – Mint Julep Jazz Band. Florist – Pine State Flowers. Ice Cream – The Parlour Ice Cream Truck. Caterer – Durham Catering Company. Hair/Makeup – Carla White. Coordinator – Gretchen Garrett of Red Bird Events. Ceremony Music – Jordan Nance. Transporation – Greenway Transit. Donuts – Monuts.