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Bick & Leder BY VALERIA CLO ËS PHOTOGRAP HY BY KRYSTA L KAST P HOTOGR A P HY, KRYSTALKAST PH OTOGRAP H Y.COM
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amantha Leder and Phil Bick were introduced in August 2017 at The Carolina Inn’s Fridays on The Front Porch by longtime friends Hawkins Gagnon and Erika Gagnon. At the time, Samantha was in nursing
school at Duke, while Phil had just moved back to Chapel Hill from Charlotte. Although their love story started at the Inn, their history goes way back. Phil and Samantha both attended Durham Academy, then UNC – and even moved to the same city after graduation – but never met. “We were in the same place at the same time on many occasions but, because Phil is three years older than me, never ended up crossing paths until we both returned ‘home,’” Samantha says. Phil proposed on Dec. 23, 2020, while at their favorite date night spot, Hawthorne & Wood. It came as a surprise to Samantha, and the couple was excited to share the news with family over Christmas. In a nod to their beginnings, the couple held the ceremony and reception at The Carolina Inn on April 30, 2022. From walking into the Old Well Room for the first time as husband and wife, surrounded by all their most favorite people, to surprising Phil with custom cocktail cups featuring their pup, Otis, Samantha says every detail made it the most magical day. They also included a special touch atop the Guglhupf cake: a cake topper, which has been in Phil’s family since 1948. Phil works as a real estate agent for Hodge & Kittrell Sotheby’s International Realty, while Samantha is an oncology nurse at Duke University Hospital. They reside in Chapel Hill. CHM 88
chapelhillmagazine.com
January/February 2023