So in order to get to this wedding in Bryson City, NC (where?), my girls Taylor Pattillo and Heather Holman and I jumped on a 7am flight to Atlanta. Upon arrival in Atlanta, I was certain that Heather would know of a great place for us to eat lunch, and she did not dissappoint. We picked out our blue Chevy Malibu in the parking lot at ATL and headed to Pure for some amazing guacamole and tostadas. After stuffing ourselves, and commenting on the fact that the guacamole wasn't even halfway eaten because our husbands were not in attendance, we rolled oursleves out of the restaurant and back into the Malibu.
The three hour drive was full of gorgeous scenery, this part of the country is amazing. Heather navigated on her iPhone until we got to a point in the mountains where there was no cell phone reception service (I didn't know those places existed anymore) and we were forced to use the compass in the Malibu. Just kidding...there was no compass, but there were some times where we had to actually read signs on the road instead of using a GPS system.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and went into the main reception area of the hotel, which was also used for the wedding reception! It was beautiful, but there was nobody there. It was the quietest place in the world, and we weren't sure we were in the right place, until we noticed that all the decorations in the room, including picture frames and decor on the fireplace mantle were pictures of JT and Noelle. We also noticed a table of snacks, including chocolate chip cookies were on the porch outside, and at this point, we made ourselves right at home.
The rehearsal dinner began on Friday night at 5:30 and we all got dressed up and headed to the field for rehearsal. I've never been to an outdoor wedding, but for the house party, it involved sitting in rocking chairs and holding babies that belonged to the bridesmaids. Here we are, my two travel buddies and fellow Party Girls, Taylor and Heather. 
After the rehearsal, we ate dinner inside the recpetion area pictured above. It was a family style meal, where each table seated like 15 people, and a big lazy susan was used to pass the meals. I found myself very excited each time the Susan was turned, because all of the food was so good. This place is southern to the core, and I found myself charmed by the little details that made it that way. For one, they rang a dinner bell, an actual hand bell, like from the handbell team at church; not an announcement on a loud speaker, not a text message to your phone, it was all country yall. You had to stand behind your chair and wait until everyone had found a chair, then remain standing as one of the men said the blessing. I think the whole routine prepared you to be polite with the Susan, because I'm pretty sure in most settings, there would be impolite spinning of the Susan and lots of grabbing of the corn casserole when it wasn't your turn.
We spent the wedding morning drinking coffee on the porch, reading books and hiking. And when I say hiking, I mean that we walked around in the woods for about 20 minutes, got covered in spider webs and then returned right back to our rocking chairs on the porch. It was all very perfect and relaxing.
Here is an action shot of the wedding ceremony. Wow! Can you see God's creation behind them? I mean, if you can't see it, look a little harder. I know Noelle is wearing a beautiful dress in front. If you can't see it, look at the picture above again. 
Here's another chance for you to see the natural beauty of this place. The weekend actually made me slightly more excited about moving to a part of the country with mountains. I'm not very good at geography that doesn't involve Texas, but I'm pretty sure that the mountain range behind Noelle and JT is the same mountains that span up into New York.
Here's Noelle and JT's wedding band. And at the point this picture was taken, Noelle and JT were dancing their first dance on the porch that I've already mentioned a few times. Are you waiting for me to say that "I'm just kidding, this wasn't the band"? Well, I'm not going to, b/c these two were rocking the house all night.
Here I am with my sweet friend Noelle, who is getting back from her honeymoon in Spain any minute now. Noelle is one of my all-time girls...we've been friends for as long as I can remember, since my long-term memory is not very good. We've been friends from down the street, and from across the country. So I don't think we'll have any problems keeping up between Ithaca, NY and Houston, TX.
Congratulations to the Carpenters!
No comments:
Post a Comment