The Wedding

Well they did it! August 30th my sister married Derek Shipley. The location was Andalusia, Al. The Wife and I arrived on Thursday to get into town early and see if there was anything we could do to help. But we found that my sister and her future husband weren't getting to town until late Thurs so we couldn't do anything until Friday.

On Friday my dad drove us over to the wedding site. It was gorgeous! Originally my sister was going to have the wedding at the Kiwanis building in Andalusia, but for some reason it fell through. My guess is God had something better. Anyways, my dad was in Wal-Mart shopping and asked if anyone knew of a place. Lo and behold someone did. As it turned out the place they suggested happened to be owned by an old high school buddy of my dad's brother. It looked to be a fairly new place (maybe 3-5 yrs old). And most of it was built with lumber from the owner's land. The owner gave us a great deal on the place too. (Either that or I'm just used to big city pricing).

When we were first driving to the location I was worried a little bit just because of how far I felt we were away from town. The driveway snuck up on us. We turned off the road onto what looked to be the power company's gravel road. After about 300 yards we pulled into a clearing right next to a small lake. From there I could see this beautiful place. To get to the building you have to walk across a wooden bridge. But it was amazing. You could see fish swimming in the water. On either side of the lake were beautiful wild flowers.

As you walk up the steps into this log cabinesque building you feel as though you are in your own world and the stresses of life melt away. The cabin also doubles as a Bed and Breakfast. As you walk into the main room you sink deeper into the feelings of being in a simpler time. The decor is made of antique tools hanging on the walls and a large fire place on the main wall. Across from the fire place was a large open set of stairs leading up to some guest rooms. The main room was used for dinner service both for the rehearsal dinner and for the reception, seating up to 80 people. I wondered around the cabin and looked in each of the 6 or 7 rooms for rent. Each room had it's own bathroom and rustic decor. In each of these bathrooms the sink, toilet and sometimes the bathtub were each refurbished antiques. In one room, if you stood at the right angle, you could see etched into a pane of glass the date 1898!

The wedding was set to happen at 6:55 pm. Just late enough for there still to be light but not be Southern Alabama scorching hot. We had the rehearsal at that time on Friday. My sister being who she is had no real plans for the wedding. ("You guys come in here and stand maybe over there; we'll come in like this, maybe, and well there's no real need to rehearse the whole thing"). After rehearsal the keepers of the inn fed us a turkey and dressing dinner with all the fixins.

Saturday finally came. We showed up about 2 hours early to get some pictures made before the wedding. Man was that HOT! I spent a lot of time coordinating things. Not really a job I'd signed on for, but it seemed no one else was taking charge, not even the bride. Hannah was the antithesis of Bridezilla. After pictures Hannah went upstairs and changed out of her wedding dress to come down and hang out with people. This I've never seen out of a bride before. Not long after people started showing up. And because of the heat most congregated inside the cabin. So it took me a while to get them hearded outside to where the wedding would actually take place. Derek and some of his buddies were the music for the event. They started to play while we moved people around, and tried to heard Hannah back upstairs to get dressed. She's never been one for doing things traditionally.

We finally got everyone in place and could start the wedding. We escorted the mothers and grandmothers to their chairs. Now it was Hannah's turn to walk with my dad down to see Derek. She came down the stairs of the cabin to the little yard where we all waited. She was GORGEOUS! As she walked down Derek played guitar and sang to her. The song he sang was from The Wedding Singer. It's called Grow Old With You and it's the song Adam Sandler sang to Drew Barrymore in the movie. It was moving. The ceremony was brief but poignant.

After the ceremony everyone went up into the cabin for the reception. For diner this night we were served BBQ. This was to my delight because I'm not the biggest fan of BBQ here in eastern NC. The reception was very informal just like everything else. There was some dancing outside on the porch but mostly people sitting around in rocking chairs enjoying the great company and catching up with old family and meeting the new. At one point in the night there was some excitement. To light the way around the pond and back to the cars there were no electrical lights. The owners had tiki torches. When the owner went out to light them, due to dry weather, somehow a flame jumped and started a small brush fire. By the time I got over to it there were a few guys already helping to bail water out of the lake and put out the fire.

As the night wore on the party slowly dissipated. Funny enough the bride and groom were the last to leave. It had been a beautiful wedding. I couldn't have asked for a better time in a better setting.

Some of the flowers growing wild around the lake

This is the view from the parking lot when you pull up.

This is a view from the side of the lake

Looking up at the cabin

Looking out over the lake back at the parking area.
Just below is where the ceremony took place.

Inside the main room of the cabin

Derek (with his back turned) warming up with the band on the porch.

Hannah and Derek dipping their feet in the pond

The bride hugging her mother