What a sweet morning. We drove to Elkins, Arkansas, just outside Fayetteville, for the wedding of one of my oldest friends, Andrea Lea Henningson. She married David Saratt at her aunt and uncle's B & B. I promptly fell in love with the place and took a million pictures, which I will post separately. The wedding was sweet and country and much like what I think I'd do if my wedding was now instead of over 11 years ago, before I'd really refined my taste.
The house was built in the 1880s and appeared in the movie The Blue and the Gray. Don't you love those big porches across the front?
We set up our chairs and enjoyed the breezy, shady front yard while we waited for the ceremony to begin. 
Andrea has been my friend since I was 8 years old, since we first moved to Cassville when I started 3rd grade. I go back that far with these 2 girls as well. Kara and I were in lots of classes together throughout all of school, and I have several very specific memories of her: her having her very own peach Swatch phone in her room, stopping with her mom Brenda at every Walmart from Springfield to Cassville trying to locate the cassette single of "Pump up the Jam" by Technotronic, pretending the convex ice cubes from McDonald's were oversized contact lenses in the back of my family's conversion van, dressing as Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton and performing at a history competition at MSSC, dressing as ballerina Anna Pavlova and Louisa May Alcott for "Night of the Notables" at CMS, passing notes in Mr. Lawson's science class freshman year and for whatever reason signing them Shega and Mega. She lost her husband in a plane crash not long after our 10 year high school reunion in 2004, and I don't think I'd seen her since shortly after then. I hate that I also have a very specific memory of her being handed a folded American flag at Roger's graveside on a sweltering summer day, of their song "Fields of Gold" by Sting playing as we all cried. But now I'm happy to also have a snapshot of Kara, recovered, with her baby girl Avery and her husband Chad. About this time last summer, Macauley and I were visiting my old B/F Tonya at St. John's the day after she had her baby boy Grant. He took his first steps last night. We all grew up and became mamas...
Andrea's dad walked her up the front path to the porch, where her cousin Jeffrey officiated the wedding. Andrea had the biggest smile throughout, the one where it looks like she's about to fold over in the unmistakable, infectious laugh of hers I would recognize anywhere. Her smile made me smile. Dave serenaded Andrea with "Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts, which made me smile, too. It was a surprise.
The happy couple exited to "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees. Dave waited many years to get married for the first time, but I guess when he saw Andrea's face, he was a believer...He couldn't leave her if he tried...
Afterwards we headed around back to the Bunkhouse for BBQ and cake, all very rich and delicious. I got to visit with lots of Andrea's family and my family's friends from Cassville who knew me back when and I hadn't seen in quite a long time.
Andrea just looked so radiantly happy, so content, so comfortable in her skin and so ready to start her new life in Rogers with her son Cody and her new husband Dave. I'm so glad I got to be there today...
1 comment:
Now that is a cool wedding story! I love how informal the dress code was, but you could see how much love radiated from your pictures. I almost cried when I read that he had serenaded her with "Broken Road", as that song resonates with me. Your pictures are just lovely, as are your memories. The one that put a smile on my face is the search for Pump Up the Jam--I had that single when I was probably in the 8th grade. :)
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