Real {North Carolina} Wedding in Greensboro: Ashleigh + LeMar

Ashleigh and LeMar have an old-school kind of love – in the best possible way! They began their relationship as acquaintances and quickly became friends. Eventually, LeMar did the sweetest thing: he picked up the phone and asked Ashleigh’s dad for permission to “court” his daughter. Like I said, old school in the sweetest possible way. :)

Their Greensboro, NC wedding was photographed by Glessner Photography.

Bride: Ashleigh Taylor
Groom: LeMar Prestin Hargrave
Occupations: Bride – Marketing Specialist; Groom – Mechanical Engineer
Wedding Date: 09.08.2012
Location: Ceremony – Hannah Finch Chapel, Greensboro College; Reception – The Elm Street Center

How They Met ….. “We first met when LeMar’s cousin and my friend invited him to a church service. We all went out afterwards for lunch. After that, we all began hanging out as a group and began building a friendship. About a year later, I had car trouble and LeMar offered to take me to the mechanic. We ended up sharing a long ride home and, during the ride, it was just the two of us; LeMar told me that he’d begun to look at me differently. A couple of months later, he called my dad to ask if he could court me.”

How He Proposed ….. “We had tickets to the annual Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, NC. We’d decided to see a play called The resurGents, performed by the Obsidian Group. I’d been excited for about two weeks leading up to the play because we had great seats and I’d heard really good reviews.

During the play, the cast picked me from the audience to participate in a monologue that honored women. At the end of the play, they called me to the stage to thank me for participating in the play, and also invited Prestin to the stage. As I turned to leave from the stage, they asked me to wait and take a seat on stage. As I turned around to find my seat, I saw Prestin on one knee. He started talking and I started bawling, but I know that I said yes! :)

Through my tears, I thought I saw the mirage of my parents and his father in the audience. However, it wasn’t a mirage. They couldn’t attend the show because it was sold out but, when LeMar proposed, they were able to come into the theater. He had worked with the director for about 3 weeks prior to the play to coordinate the proposal. We both enjoy the arts and cultural activities; so, for him to propose like this, was amazing. To top it all off, the name of the theater was the ‘Ring Auditorium’.”

Planning the Wedding ….. “The theme of our wedding was “The Power of Love”. We wanted to honor God and have everyone in attendance see the love that we had for each other, and the ultimate love of all – Jesus Christ. We also highlighted the importance of love, faith and our family. We took about a year to plan, so that we could fully capture the things that we wanted in our wedding and not add undue stress. We were blessed to have a great team of vendors who kept us on schedule and even prayed for us during trying times. During our engagement, Prestin was hospitalized with an infection which took a toll on our relationship and on our wedding planning process. This tested the strength of our faith and relationship, but also showed us how many people were in our corner praying and rooting for us.”

Wedding Details ….. “We wanted to incorporate our family as much as possible into our wedding; thankfully, we were able to do so. Our wedding started with a beautiful dance tribute to Prestin’s mother, who had passed two years prior. The tribute was done by three precious and adorable elementary children. LeMar’s mother was an elementary school teacher who loved children and we thought it fitting to honor her in dance and by having the girls dance to one of her favorite songs, ” I hope you dance” by Gladys Knight. We also were honored to have a stirring and poignant original poem performed by my cousin. The highlight of our wedding was the prayer given by our parents before the announcement as husband and wife. The atmosphere in the chapel was so beautiful as they prayed and blessed our marriage. Instead of a traditional unity candle, we decided to tie a three-strand cord to represent the meaning of Ecc 4: 9-12, where God is the center of our marriage and holds us together.

Our wedding was followed by a fun reception at The Regency Room at the Empire Center. We welcomed our guests by doing an original, choreographed 1st dance that incorporated us and our wedding party. It was so unexpected for our guests, and it got the party started. We also had a photo booth because we love photography and pictures, and wanted our guests to get as much time in front of the camera as possible. My husband and I love red velvet cake; s,o our wedding cake was a blend of red velvet and 5-flavor pound cake with additional cupcakes to match. I also surprised him with a Groom’s cake in the shape of Kobe Bryant’s jersey, because he is a huge Lakers fan. We were also blessed to be able to take pictures at the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, NC a place that holds so much history for us as African-Americans, as well as the history of North Carolina A&T State University where LeMar graduated from.”

Unforgettable Moments ….. “The most memorable part of the day for me was seeing LeMar at the end of the aisle. Prior to the wedding, I was nervous about having to walk down the aisle with everyone staring at me; but, when I took the first step, all I could see was LeMar waiting at the end of the aisle. I also loved my father/daughter dance. Me and my dad are both silly people, and so, we didn’t want to have a traditional slow dance. Instead, we did a dance to Stevie Wonder and just laughed it up as we glided across the dance floor.” – Bride

“The most memorable part of the day was waiting for the doors of the church after the wedding party entered, and finally seeing my bride, Ashleigh. I would follow that by the parents praying over us during the wedding ceremony.” – Groom

{You Make Loving You So Easy}

He loves ….. ” I love her loyalty. I love that Ashleigh has high expectations and raises the expectations of those around her. I knew, but it was confirmed after going through the challenges before the wedding, that I had a partner that was ready for battle and would stand fearlessly beside me, no matter the situation. Plus, she’s beautiful!”

She loves ….. “I love how LeMar loves. Once you are his friend, you are his friend for life. LeMar sees the good in everybody. He will not only go the extra mile for family, friends and sometimes, strangers, but he’ll go an extra three. When I saw that, I knew I’d never have to doubt his love.”

[divider]