Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill

I just wanted to let you know how much we truly enjoyed having you officiate our wedding. You made it so easy, helping us every step of the way ... from the vows down to the little details such as the music. I think it would have been disastrous without you and I must say your voice has a calming presence that put us at ease. We were both so nervous about everything being perfect but you thought of everything and the ceremony was absolutely beautiful, memorable and touching. 

Thank you! 
Trish and James Hill

Well, less than a week before the wedding, Kayelily emails and tells us she's worried that she doesn't have our final ceremony yet. WHAT?!? We look all through our files and somehow the computer didn't save the final draft, even though we know we saved it several times while working on it for hours. So, at 11pm , just days before our wedding, we had to piece together our ceremony. Let me tell you why we were able to do it--we loved our ceremony that we had put together, it was so meaningful to us, that we had no trouble remembering it. Once you sign a contract and pay her, Kayelily gives you all of her ceremony material. We printed it all out, front and back, and it's about 3/4 inch thick! With this, we were able to put together the perfect ceremony for us. Guests came up to us after the ceremony and loved it. Some even asked for copies of it because they thought it was so beautiful. Here's my advice--your ceremony, the words you speak to each other, what you choose to share with your guests, are what the wedding is all about. It matters so much more than the table linens. If you are able (I know sometimes you can't if you marry in a church), choose it carefully and make it special to you. This is what the day is all about.

Wedding of Tonya and Gregg at Duke Garden  

Kayelily gave us a ton of great ideas to help us put our ceremony together. I had many guests compliment us on our unique and beautiful ceremony afterwards. Kayelily is the kind of person I'd describe as a soft place to fall. She has the kindest spirit.

Wedding of Mike and Christy at Fletcher Park/Borden House

Kayelily helped us create a ceremony that was absolutely perfect for us. Over everything else, I think the ceremony was the best part of the whole day (as it well should be!). After meeting with her in her Raleigh home (such a calm, cozy place), she sent us gobs of sample readings and ceremonies she had done in the past. Using these and other resources, we constructed a ceremony, then sent it off to her for fine tuning. She made very subtle, but effective adjustments. My first time seeing her on the wedding day, she came to me where I was hiding behind the foliage and ready to walk down the aisle, and asked me if I had the marriage license. Hmmm....no, I didn't. Turns out it was accidentally left in the hotel room. My mom was sent to retrieve it and the ceremony started about 25 minutes late because of this. Eek. It was pretty funny, actually, and Kayelily, though perhaps annoyed since she reminded us more than once to have the license that morning, remained completely calm throughout. When the ceremony finally started, she delivered it with lovely intonation and grace. The next day, she sent us some pictures from the ceremony by email, a very thoughtful touch. Oh, I should say that our ceremony was not explicitly religious and she was willing to go with whatever we felt comfortable with. If writing your own ceremony (or being married by a woman) is important to you, you should contact her.

Wedding of Dottie and Greg at Coker Arboretum in Chapel Hill

Kayelily did an excellent job during our ceremony. The materials that she gave us to help us design our ceremony were truly amazing and gave us a great place to start—they in themselves were worth every penny we paid for her. Just be forewarned that Kayelily is NOT your family minister. In other words, though she’s always kind, she’s also very businesslike (after the ceremony is over, she's out of there!). She’s a wedding vendor, not a spiritual advisor. That’s what we were looking for, and we were pleased with her.

Erin and Sean, Lake Johnson, Raleigh

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