Dandridge Wedding
This couple decided to go forward with their May 9th wedding despite the coronavirus. Of course they had to make a ton of changes in order to make that happen, one of them being a Dandridge wedding ceremony vs. a water stone quarry wedding. But I want to point out some silver linings about this and then share two really cool stories. One of the sweetest parts of this day after moving it to Dandridge was the fact that Lauren and Tucker got married on a piece of property overlooking this gorgeous body of water where their future home will sit. One day, they will be sitting on their back porch and admiring the view reminiscing the time they said their vows on that very spot. One day, I will come back to that home to photograph anniversaries, dogs, and babies in some of these exact same spots. This land is going to hold so many precious memories for these two and it gets me all sappy inside. Another sweet sweet part is how much time they got to spend alone together on their wedding day. They did still have a bridal party and they did still have a reception, but it was at a gigantic pigeon forge cabin that was 45 minutes away. So they got into their car together and drove themselves 45 minutes to their reception and got to have regular conversation and be together and really take in all the sweet emotions they were feeling. And the last silver lining is how much fun every single person had because no one had experienced anything social in so long, that this was truly the event of the year so far for almost everyone. You could tell the whole group just enjoyed being out of their home for a change.
Okay. Two really cool stories that I have to share.
First, the wine bottle that was on Lauren and Tucker’s cake table. This wine bottle is super cool because on the day that Lauren and Tucker became “official” boyfriend/girlfriend they were on a winery tour at Biltmore. That particular day they were celebrating Biltmore’s 30th anniversary of their winery being open. They had a special bottle to commemorate and Tucker got one. When they got back into town, he told her that they weren’t going to open it and he was going to save it for a really special day. Of course he didn’t want to freak her out on the day they started officially dating and tell her that he wanted to save it for their wedding day, but really, he already knew that he was going to marry her and this was going to be the bottle of wine they opened the day they said their vows. And sure enough… he popped it open after they cut the cake and enjoyed a glass with his wife. It was the sweetest thing every.
Now story number two.
A really cool God story for you.
Lauren and Tucker so graciously tipped myself and my second shooter. We both thanked them so much for their generosity and kindness and Lauren responded with an apology of not being able to get a “gift” and just have to give a cash tip. We, of course, were just grateful and let her know as best we could. Fast forward to yesterday and Leah (second shooter) is grocery shopping at Aldi. She is restocking their whole kitchen and is shopping for about an hour before she’s ready to check out. She gets to the front of the store where there are several lanes open, 10 people deep in each. She peeks around the people in front of her to realize that no one is being checked out. So she waits. and waits. and waits. Finally, someone comes out and says that their credit card system is down and they are trying to get in touch with someone about it but it was going to be awhile. If anyone had cash, they were welcome to come check out. Of course, 90% of the people start abandoning their carts as they huffed and puffed out the door. Leah opens her wallet knowing there’s nothing more than $10 or $20 bucks in there. Then she remembered her card from Lauren and Tucker in her car. She goes out to get it and tells the cashier to stop at $120 because that’s all the cash she has. If it starts to go over that, she’ll figure out what she wants to put back. The cashier got through all the groceries and the grand total was $119.69. What the actual heck you guys. If that isn’t a God story, I don’t know what is. So thank you Lauren and Tucker. The more Leah and I talked about that story, the more grateful we were for your generosity. You helped feed her family for the whole week within pennies of her grocery bill. Amazing.
So I had to share it with you. I know it’s a long one, but I hope you feel like it was worth the read if you’ve made it this far 🙂
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