First Wedding at Ghost Gums!

Photo:DonWrightDesigns.com

What a thrill to have our very first wedding at Ghost Gums on the Ridge on July 3rd! Skylar - the son of my very special friends Julie & Scott – and his fiancée Suzy, had chosen Ghost Gums as their place of choice for both wedding and reception. It was a busy time getting the place ready before I left for two weeks in Italy, but Skylar and Suzy house-sat while I was gone, completing many of the preparations.


And then what an eventful week! I returned home from Italy after midnight Sunday, June 27th. On Tuesday night Skylar was admitted to Hendersonville Hospital for an emergency appendectomy! Would the wedding have to be delayed, we wondered? Well, don’t ever underestimate the power of love. This young man was motivated! Nothing was going to stop him from marrying his bride that coming Saturday! He bounced back from that surgery like nothing had happened.

Very early Wednesday morning a huge 50ft limb broke off a hackberry tree and fell across the driveway at Ghost Gums. The driveway was passable – but it would definitely be in the way for the wedding! An email for help went out, and Thursday evening friends David and son Davey Sandgren came by after a long hard day installing awnings in 100 deg heat – and in no time at all, that tree was cut up, the brush hauled off to the burn pile, and logs piled on the wood heap (that’s an Australian term, for the uninitiated). Wow, those guys were awesome!

Friday afternoon Ghost Gums was a hive of activity, folk cutting grass, weedeating, pressure washing, setting out tables and chairs and dance floor and lights. Then it was the wedding rehearsal under the spreading walnut tree out in the field. The wedding party and family – in which I was graciously included – in their transformed mode after all the work, gathered at Chef’s Market Café and Take Away in Goodlettsville for a wonderful rehearsal dinner. If you have never eaten at Chef’s you are missing an incredible experience. The Mediterranean atmosphere and fresh food is second to none (www.chefsmarket.com). The restaurant is owned by friends Jim and Cheryl Hagy, and their personal touch, passion, and dedication has set them apart.

Photo:DonWrightDesigns.com

Saturday July 3rd was the wedding day. Early afternoon Ghost Gums was overflowing with the wedding party, dressed and ready for photographs. Bride, groom, five lovely ladies, five handsome men, the parents and grandparents of the bride and groom. Blue sky and sunshine gave way to some innocent sprinkles that developed rapidly into a tropical downpour. Friends called. It wasn’t raining anywhere else! From 2:30-4:30pm the skies opened up and the rain fell in torrents. No-one panicked. The bride and groom took it in stride. Tennessee is notorious for pop-up thunderstorms. We knew it would pass.

And God was good - as He always is. The rain stopped, and an ethereal mist hovered down the treeline in the back field, adding atmosphere to the wedding photos. We all dried off the tables and chairs, set everything out, and at 7:00pm Skylar and Suzy shared their vows and pledged their troth.

They would have danced all night if they could -see Skylar and Suzy in stunning action below!

Let the photos tell the rest of the story.

Photo credits to Rick Banning, Dayle Fergusson & Don Wright (www.donwrightdesigns.com)

Photo: DonWrightDesigns.com

Photo:DonWrightDesigns.com

Photo:DonWrightDesigns.com

The poem Skylar and Suzy printed on their wedding order of service captures the love they share.

Photo:DonWrightDesigns.com

You and I

Have so much love,

That it

Burns like a fire,

In which we bake a lump of clay

Molded into a figure of you

And a figure of me.

Then we take both of them,

And break them into pieces,

And mix the pieces with water,

And mold again a figure of you,

And a figure of me.

I am in your clay.

You are in my clay.

In life we share a single quilt.

In death we will share one coffin.

- Kuan Tao-sheng

Photo:DonWrightDesigns.com

Blessings on the newly married couple as they begin a new life in Colorado. We raise our glass in Bill’s inimitable toast -To Whatever Comes Next! And indeed it will be good.