This weekend was a whirlwind. Early saturday morning we drove to American Adventures park for my oldest son’s seventh birthday party with some of his friends — lot’s of rides, pizza, a magic show and foam balls getting thrown all over the place. We packed up by 1:30 p.m. to rush back home to pick up our rental car (yea, another story, my car was still in the shop and wasn’t finished from maintenance in time) to head to Nolan’s wedding. Yea, that’s right - Nolan Wright got married on Saturday. One of our friends asked him a week ago: “Do you know who she is?” Nolan promptly stated that “in my tradition, you don’t meet the bride until the day of the wedding.” Good comeback. And apropos for his humor.

We jumped in the car around 2:30 p.m. to try and make it to Easley, S.C. (just outside of Greenville) for a 6:30 p.m. wedding. No problem - 2 hour drive to Greenville with a quick stop at the hotel for a change of clothes and “we should be fine”. Of course, then again, not so according to Memorial Day traffic. As soon as we got on the other side of HWY 20 headed on I-85N - we got into a long, very long, line of traffic heading north. After about an hour and 3 miles later - we finally passed the problem — a jackknifed tractor trailer. After that, smooth sailing … and the best part, my wife really enjoyed the Hertz NeverLost GPS system the whole way there. Amazing what amuses you when you’re stuck in traffic on an interstate.

So, we checked into the hotel and proceeded to get ready - only 45 minutes until the wedding. My wife put on her new dress - which she had specially alerted to fix a zipper problem just before the trip — and I put on my suit (oh, backstory, I had intended to wear my *new suit* but my wife “misplaced the pants”). So, we’re standing there getting ready — my pants for my older suit I haven’t worn in a few years and I could tell. They barely would zip up — I guess they shrank. And my wife — well, her dress zipper wasn’t fixed like they had claimed. Luckily, she had a backup dress (smart girl) and I had to suck in my gut big time. So, now, we’re less than 30 minutes before t-time. We’re speeding through S.C. to a backwoods farm in Easley to make the wedding … you can’t really be late to a wedding.

We made it just in the nick of time - five minutes to spare. When we arrived, there were a ton of men and women in black tuxes — in the parking lot — directing people and traffic. My initial thought was secret service. I was now wondering “who in the heck is attending this party? Nolan’s a nobody like me!” Then, I noticed the local sherrif’s cars assisting with traffic. OK, now picture this: Easley isn’t midtown Atlanta, it’s the country, ya’ll. I kept wondering if this is where Grayson grew up. This was way back down winding roads and cow pastures to get to this farm. And, it’s a real farm (well, more or less a wonderful garden). What I quickly realized that this was just a big deal wedding back “in these parts”. And the parents of the bride (it was their farm) are well-known local doctors - both pediatricians to be exact. And, this was their one and only daughter - a wedding in the making for over 30 years. And, that’s cause for this type of celebration - especially in these parts of of the deep south.

We parked our car (at the direction of a tall man in a black tux) and jumped out of the car and into a nice golf cart - nicely driven by a man and a women both in formal wear with walkie talkies. They shuttled us up to the front of the house and we arrived at the ceremonial grounds. And it was ceremonial — it was probably the nicest outdoor weddings (expect my own, which was on the beach in Ponte Vedra, FL but that’s another story) I’ve ever been to. It was like a magazine wedding. They had a 5-piece orchestra playing under a hand made wooden structure that was beautifully decorated with flowers. And, the wedding arch was also a hand made wooden trellis that was decorated with beautiful flowers and a hand-made old wooden cross. All the guests - probably 150 at least - were all seated in nice white chairs and the guests were served with lemonade or water just before the ceremony started - Southern style.

The ceremony was long - and very traditional. The ceremony lasted a staggering hour — but it was fine - and the weather was perfect. We only had a couple of roosters crow and a peacock or two join in the chorus. But funny enough, each was at a time that almost seemed rehearsed.

After the ceremony, we were escorted to an incredible garden with big white tents and an incredible dinner buffet - and again, a full band and 2 separate full bars. My wife and I estimated that at least 50 people were working the wedding. The food was amazing — not your typical wedding foo-foo food. This was real food this Georgia boy likes - BBQ, ham biscuits, watermelon and chicken. Although, it was interesting eating ham biscuits in such an incredibly decorated and upscale place. My wife kept repeating to me all night: “I could live here”, “I could go for this place”, “I could see myself living here”, “I really love this place”, “I wonder if we could find a place like this?”. Hint hint I guess.

The funniest part of the wedding was the band playing (and singing) “play that funky music white boy“. It was so appropriate in a weird way. The older white guys were playing it as if they had gotten lost in their surroundings - and they did a bang up job, given…

So now, Nolan and Susanna are off to Italy for a couple of weeks — happily married. And, we wish them the best of luck.

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