September officially heralds the beginning of hurricane season here in North Carolina, so when Kyra told me they were planning their Southern Pines wedding at the Weymouth Center with no tent I thought it was a bold choice…

As it turns out, there was nothing to worry about!

Though we had rain the week prior to the wedding when Saturday rolled around we couldn’t have asked for better weather.

Besides opting for no tent, Kyra and Peter did a few other things differently than your typical Southern Pines wedding at the Weymouth Center that I loved.

First, they chose to have their ceremony on the North lawn rather than in the garden like is typical at this venue. The garden is lovely, but it is also not very shaded and can be rather hot and bright – especially in the summer!

Second, since they were a dual military couple they incorporated several military traditions into their wedding.

All five of Kyra’s bridesmaids were also in the military so they were introduced into the reception with an all female saber arch.

During the reception, in place of traditional toasts, they held a grog ceremony.

For those of you not familiar with a grog ceremony it is when each participant brings an item (usually alcoholic) to add to the grog while giving a short explanation of why they chose that particular item. It is usually symbolic or tied to a particular story or memory.

The third tradition that Kyra incorporated into her wedding was one that I had not seen before.

Instead of a bouquet toss her bridesmaids all wrote their names on the bottom of her shoe. At the end of the night, the person whose name hadn’t been worn away by dancing is supposed to be the next to get married. It was fun watching the girls strategize over where to place their names and see them all laugh later in the night as they checked the progress.