Kate+Parag // Indian-Fusion Wedding at The Rickhouse

Kate and Parag have never met a curry they didn’t like. And it’s a good thing too as their wedding ceremony food was some of the best we’ve ever eaten. They had an American buffet with barbecue! They had an Indian buffet with curry and some other stuff I couldn’t pronounce but was absolutely delicious! They had cake! They had puddings! They had a sundae bar! They had a tater tot bar! This is the first wedding (and potentially only wedding in the foreseeable future) where we literally left so full that we did not eat nachos when we got home. That’s right. No nachos. I don’t know how to explain to all of you the significance of that, only to say that we’ve shot at least 200-some weddings at this point, and we eat nachos after ever single one. So their food was good. SO good.

And Kate and Parag are also SO GOOD. They are perfect for each other and make each other laugh often. Kate has a wonderful set of perfect teeth so it’s good that Parag keeps her laughing so we can admire them. This was their second wedding to each other. Their first was a traditional Hindu ceremony, and this was their American and Indian fusion wedding. Kate sent me the pictures from their first one which were amazing, and Kate wore a really incredible nose ring that was so large it defied the laws of gravity. Their Indian-fusion wedding was lacking in the nose ring department, but it made up for it with amazing henna designs in the shape of little elephants and brilliant colors sprinkled all over their ceremony and reception. There were traditional Indian dances and American popcorn next to the Durham Bull’s old baseball field. The little kids dismantled their incredible floral altar during the reception and threw repeatedly threw the flowers down Parag’s suit jacket, and they danced away the night with their fabulous family and friends. We are thrilled to have been part of Kate and Parag’s awesome fusion wedding, and so glad they came down from DC to celebrate in Durham!

– Date: September 30, 2017
– Ceremony + Reception Venue: The Rickhouse // Durham, NC
– First Dance Song: “There She Goes” – The La’s
– Kate’s Occupation: Graduate Program Coordinator at George Washington University
– Parag’s Occupation: Director of Pharmacokinetics at the National Institutes of Health
– How You Met: Online! Back when OkCupid was a thing.
– Interesting Fact: This is our second wedding! We had a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony this past June – Kate wore an enormous clip-on hoop nose ring. Parag wore Aladdin shoes. It was baller.
– Honeymoon: India and Thailand
– Vendor Credits: Officiant – Rev. Sue Hudson. DJ – Alex from Vox DJ Company. Florist – Tre Bella Florist. Cake – Edible Art Bakery. Caterer – Southern Harvest Catering Company and Raaga. Hair/Makeup – Bella Trio Studio. Videographer – Elegant Imagez. Coordinator – Kelli from The Perfect Plan. Lighting – Get Lit. Photobooth – ZimZoom.

Lindsay+Austin // Just Married.

Lindsay and Austin are just wonderful and let us drag them all over the place on a very humid, buggy night and made them climb on rocks and move pieces of old boats for us. They were super good looking while doing all of that, too. And A+ attitudes for also sitting on rocks and putting feet in the water and swatting away hordes of gnats and climbing up and down sandy embankments in formalwear. They were really, really happy to do all of this, and maybe it’s just because they’re positive, happy people, or maybe it’s because they were just married on Sunday, July 23rd and are madly in love, or maybe it’s both. Either way, we enjoyed working with them immensely. Although they did answer that It is their favorite movie and I totally forgot to make a “They all float down here” reference despite being surrounded by water and a place that Pennywise could totally, definitely live. A little disappointed in myself.

These two met through a mutual friend who became Austin’s roommate. And this friend is actually the husband of a lovely lady named Meg (Hi, Meg!) that we’ve met because she’s attended the weddings of a couple of our clients and made me delicious gluten-free cupcakes at the one. Lindsay also knows other past client-friends of mine and it’s all very much a small world here at CSP and we do love it. Together, Lindsay and Austin have made Durham their home despite Linsday having once lived in a mud hut in Africa and Austin having once lived in South Dakota. They enjoy their furry companion friends, hiking, and disliking Little Finger on Game of Thrones. We are so happy we got to meet them and document their faces forever and ever.

Julia+Erik // Duke Chapel Wedding

So happy to have worked with the real Julia Roberts and Erik Johnson. Our first celebrity wedding of non-celebrities with celebrity names. They are two incredibly kindhearted people who were so excited to get married and we were so happy we were there. We also got to work alongside friend/college Janice of Big Dog Little Bed Production Company who did the videography, and whose footage we frequently photobombed. The rest of their vendors were equally great, and so was their bridal party! The groomsmen helped Erik to practice the first look with the help of a 21C Museum Hotel penguin (it kind of looks like a scene from Weekend at Bernie’s) and a bridesmaid assisted with amplifying the music from someone’s phone speaker by putting it near her open mouth (which somehow worked). They were a very helpful and endearing bunch.

The ceremony was held at Duke Chapel which is always classic and timeless, and waded through a sea of 99% humidity for their pictures. We laughed, we cried, we gave Erik a hard time about identifying body parts for poses because he’s a doctor. At one point we were warned about “a group of 700 campers” that were approaching the campus and got the heck out of there… although if there’s a great excuse to be late to your ceremony, 700 campers is probably the best one. Their ceremony was lovely, and afterward we all proceeded to The Cotton Room where colorful paper cranes folded by Julia adorned all the plates with their guests’ names. I love paper cranes. I think because they’re happy, but also because I can’t fold them, so they impress me. In addition to their lovely paper cranes, they also had adorable husband+wife bulldog cake toppers. I believe these bulldogs were affiliated with their college but anything related to college mascots gets thrown aside by my mind in exchange for the obvious cuteness of bulldogs in tiny top hats and veils. I can’t even. It was a beautiful summer wedding with two amazing people, and we were so excited to be a part of it!

• Date: June 17, 2017
• Ceremony Venue: Duke Chapel // Durham, NC
• Reception Venue: The Cotton Room // Durham, NC
• First Dance Song: “She’s Got a Way” – Billy Joel
• Julia’s Occupation: Recently minted PhD in Chemistry
• Erik’s Occupation: Ophthalmologist
• How You Met: Summer Physics class. Erik asked Julia to do a problem set with him and the rest is history.
• Interesting Fact: We spent our first Valentine’s Day together in Edinburgh at a restaurant called Angels with Bagpipes.
• Honeymoon: Cozumel, Mexico
• Vendor Credits: Officiant – Father Brad Heckathorne. Band – The Finns. Florist – Bloomin’ Rose Flowers. Cake – Guglhupf. Caterer – The Cotton Room. Hair/Makeup – Abby Lassiter. Videographer – Big Dog Little Bed. Coordinator – Summer McInvaille.