[UPDATE] Pictures from Butterfly Hollow have been uploaded. Click here to check them out. [/UPDATE] (Sorry they aren’t in the usual Flickr format. I had to do a search on multiple tags to single out just the new pictures!)
I’m going to try to remember as much as I can but may miss some things. Here goes…
Friday 6/13
Since Bonnaroo was going on, we had to take an alternate route to Butterfly Hollow. The alternate route took us through Cookeville, so we called up and harassed Dizer to show us his house and take us out to dinner. We had a lot of fun exploring his place and playing with his daughter’s toys. It turns out that he got his reception invitation in the mail that day, too! Had we known, we could have just saved that postage. After exploring and hanging out at his place, we went to Puleo’s Grille (or something along those lines). It was all quite tasty and we’re hoping to see one pop up in Chattanooga soon.
We left Puleo’s as it was getting dark and started heading west on I-40 to try to make it to Butterfly Hollow before it got too dark. Unfortunately, it was too late. It was completely dark by the time we made it to the exit. After some confusion after which way to turn off the exit, we finally made out way through the 1.5-lane, gravelly country roads to the hollow. We played one game of Catan and went to bed.
Saturday 6/14
Everybody woke up for a fantastic breakfast. Mulberry french toast, potatoes with herbs from the garden, and the world’s best turkey bacon! And not to forget Bartley Beans coffee! After breakfast, we went over the general plan for the wedding. Nice and easy. Amy got a little choked up and Geni bragged about never crying at a wedding. We cleaned up after breakfast and played several games of Catan to pass the time. After who knows how many games, we started walking around the grounds while Amy went to shower. Susan (my new sister-in-law) appeared at some point and immediately disappeared to start the briding process. Adam and I continued playing Catan until around 4:00 until it was time for me to get dressed.
By 5:00, all the guests had arrived and we were ready to get started. It was pretty simple. Everybody (except the bride and the father of the bride) gathered at the top of the hill around the gazebo. Amy and her father came out of the house and began their trek up the hill, picking up a hitchhiking grasshopper somewhere along the way. Once they made it to the gazebo, we did the whole formalities and wedding thing. I think the only person to cry was Geni!
After the ceremony, the guests went to relax at the house while David and Sharon (the owners) took us on a photo shoot around the grounds. We wrapped up after about 30 minutes of pictures with some family photos. Finally it was safe to take off my jacket and eat! The catering was all organic with bacon-wrapped fillet mignon, spring rolls, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Once everyone was sufficiently stuffed, people started doing toasts. Geni only got a few words into her toast before she got choked up and couldn’t finish. Even Ian got a little teary eyed when he gave his toast. In all, though, it was a blast. But when the last of the guests left, we crashed in bed and slept like rocks.
Sunday 6/15
We woke up and had a simple breakfast of blueberry muffins and fresh fruits. After breakfast, we packed everything up and sat around talking to David and Sharon for a couple of hours. It was sad that we had to leave, but we said our goodbyes and headed west down I-40 for Nashville.
We got to Nashville and just made a lazy day of it. I took a little bit of a nap and woke up hungry. I thought that since we were in Nashville, we could try to meet an online friend and his wife for dinner. It was the first time we had met face-to-face, but we were all geeks and Predators fans, so it’s not like it really mattered that we hadn’t. It was kinda funny to be the out-of-towner introducing Nashville locals to each other, though. And they all lived in the same neighborhood! After dinner, we re-packed our bags, taking out all the wedding stuff and things we wouldn’t need for the cruise to try to the lighten the load. Then, we slept.
Links ‘n stuff
- [My] Mom’s Wedding Photos
- Ian and Susan’s Wedding Photos
- Wedding photos taken with our camera
- Geni’s Blog: Amy and Garrett’s Wedding
- Geni’s Blog: Amy and Garrett’s Wedding – Part II: Genimar and Sandy get back to Chattanooga
- Geni’s Wedding Pictures (You have to be a friend of hers on MySpace to view them. Sorry :-/)
- Wedding video shot by Christopher
- Pictures by David and Sharon of Butterfly Hollow — The password is “bartley”.
Amy and Geni doing a little dancing while playing Catan:
Animoto slideshow by my mom:
It was great meeting you guys. I’m really glad (and honored) that you called us in the middle of a crazy weekend before you headed on the honeymoon. Hopefully we’ll get to hang out again sometime soon.
So when are you going to wash your car
The “Just Married” doesn’t look fresh any more.