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Local venues host weddings
STAFF REPORT
While most people look back
fondly on their time in college as
a blur of classes and parties, some
happy couples remember it as the
time when they met The One.
Many choose to marry in their
hometowns or exotic destina
tions, but some UNC alumni
might choose to hold their special
day where they spent their college
years.
Each year, many graduates
make plans to walk down the aisle
in Chapel Hill, and local organiza
tions to their part to help in the
wedding-planning process.
The Chapel Hill/Orange
County Visitors Bureau recently
published its 2005 Wedding
Guide.
The 24-page booklet which
includes information on wedding
venues, accommodations, bed
and-breakfast inns and historic
sites can be used for planning
a wedding in anywhere Orange
County.
Guides are available at the
Visitors Center, located at 501 W.
Franklin St., or can be requested
online at Chapel Hill/Orange
County Visitors Bureau Web site
at http://www.chocvb.org.
The center is open from 8:30
a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and from
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.
One popular campus location
is the Carolina Inn, located at 211
Pittsboro St., which has played
host to weddings for Chapel Hill
locals and UNC lovers for genera
tions.
With two full-time wedding spe
cialists on hand, the Inn’s staff will
help couples customize a reception
Concert spots offer weekend entertainment
STAFF REPORT
As couples finalize plans for
the perfect Valentine’s Day cel
ebration on Monday, take some
time this weekend to relax with
shows on the local entertainment
scene.
On Saturday, Cat’s Cradle,
located at 300 E. Main St. in
Carrboro, will host Thad Cockrell
at 9 p.m.
Cockrell, a North Carolina sing
er-songwriter whose motto is “put
tin’ the hurt back in country,” aims
to keep his music firmly rooted in
tradition and often collaborates
with other artists from across the
state.
The opening band, The Old
Ceremony, is a pop-noir musical
association hailing from Chapel
DTH FILE PHOTO
Employees of Traditions of Chapel Hill model bridal gowns last year at the Carolina Inn's Bridal Fair 2004.
The annual event attracts hundreds of people looking for local services and samples of champagne and food.
to fit any needs.
Wedding package prices range
from $57 to $129 per person,
including all service charges and
taxes.
Reception costs vary depend
ing on the season, ballroom and
time of day, but all packages
include perks and services such as
a champagne toast, white-gloved
servers to pass hors d’oeuvres and
beverages, bartending service and
complimentary linens and votive
candles.
Hill.
With an ensemble of bass,
drums, piano and organ and a
rotating cast of musicians on violin,
cello, sax, trumpet, accordion and
saw, the group creates a sound that
is “distinctly American and faintly
exotic,” according to the band’s
Web site.
Tickets to the show are $8 in
advance and $lO on the day of
the show.
Also on Saturday, The
Arts Center located in the same
shopping center as Cat’s Cradle
at 300-G E. Main St. in Carrboro
will offer mellow tunes at the
Carrboro Wind and Brass Festival
at 11:30 a.m.
Wind and brass ensembles from
across the Triangle will perform
Dating on the Hill
Recently, the Inn also played
host to Bridal Fair 2005 on Jan.
30.
Sponsored by the Inn, The
Chapel Hill Herald and Traditions
of Chapel Hill, the annual event
presents a wide array of vendors
for hundreds of families and hus
bands- and wives-to-be to peruse
as they sampled hors d’oeuvres and
wedding cake, washed down with
champagne served by the wander
ing Inn staff.
Each of the rooms features
concert marches, show tunes, clas
sical transcriptions, traditional
band music and contemporary
compositions.
One performer The Village
Band features amateur musi
cians from Chapel Hill, Carrboro,
Durham, Hillsborough, Raleigh
and Cary whose backgrounds vary
from doctor to pilot to software
engineer to retiree.
Ages of individual performers
range from the 20s to the 80s,
and their skill levels run from
near-professional to those who
haven’t played since high school
or college.
Tickets to the festival are $6 or
$5 Arts Center Friends.
The Arts Center will offer a dif
ferent flavor at 7 p.m. Sunday
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2005
various vendors from Chapel Hill
and surrounding areas, including
Hillsborough.
To receive an information
packet about holding a wed
ding at the Inn, send your name,
address and phone number in an
e-mail to weddings@carolinainn.
com.
To arrange a personal consulta
tion, call 918-2749.
Contact the Features Editor
atfeatures@unc.edu.
with a taste of the theater in “The
February 48.”
The show will be presented by
One Song Productions, a local
youth-run theater company funded
in part by the Orange County Arts
Commission.
Local teens will join together to
create new theater works, with four
teams that will have 48 hours to
write, rehearse and perform origi
nal one-act plays.
The culmination of the groups’
work will be the Sunday eve
ning performance. Tickets for
the students’ show are $8 or
$5 Arts Center Friends and stu
dents.
Contact theA&E Editor
at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Options
vary for
same-sex
couples
BY ADAM RODMAN
STAFF WRITER
Ridiculously expensive roses.
Cheesy cards. Romantic dinners.
Valentine’s Day means different
things to many couples, hetero
sexual and same-sex alike.
“It’s really no different from
any other couple,” said Stephanie
Chang, coordinator of UNC’s
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
TYansgender Office.
But when a same-sex couple
goes out, there is sometimes sub
tle discrimination. It is something
that cannot be avoided by many
in the GLBTQ community, Chang
said.
“The fear of harassment and
discrimination is always present,
always in the forefront,” Chang
said.
Some restaurants are friendlier
than others for same-sex couples
looking to go out.
“I think this is a comfort
able space like anywhere on 9th
(Street),” said Karin Mills, co
owner of Francesca’s Dessert Caffe
in Durham* “We get all kinds of
couples. ... We have a common
space with no funny looks.”
Brigner Milne, the manager of
Legends, a private bar and club in
Raleigh that caters to the GLBTQ
community, said he thinks a gay
bar is the best place for a same-sex
couple on Valentine’s Day.
“You can’t go and have dinner
with someone,” he said. “You can’t
have a date or hold someone’s hand
in public.”
Milne estimated that about 20
percent of his club’s clientele are
college students from around the
Triangle.
But Milne said he thinks there
is a need for safe outlets, especial
ly on Valentine’s Day. “We need
restaurants, gay bed and break
fasts, and other outlets besides
the bar.”
But Zach Howell, treasurer
of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
TYansgender-Straight Alliance, is
more optimistic.
“Valentine’s Day is a time for
romance,” he said. “If anything, I’d
imagine it’d be the other way.”
Contact the Features Editor
atfeatures@unc.edu.
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