our kentucky wedding weekend

so it's been a busy weekend and i've finally gotten a chance to catch up a bit around the house and at work. we had a lot going on and i didn't want to rush through writing about it, so bear with me.

we left for our trip on thursday after work and made it to winston-salem, where we got a chance to socialize with matt and patrice and enjoy some delicious desserts! in the morning, as we were getting ready and eating breakfast, patrice shared with us their exciting news--she's about two months pregnant! we were thrilled and i can't wait to go back up and take another set of pregnancy pictures in the winter. we will be praying for them and their growing family, as well as the job opportunities that are out there for patrice.

we continued on i-40, stopping a little ways past asheville to eat lunch (never pass up the opportunity to eat before heading deep into the mountains. you have to drive a ways to find decent food.) we lucked out in finding sherry's apple crate cafe in waynesville, where we enjoyed some western nc barbeque and unique apple-themed atmosphere. we had a few more stops in sevierville, tn, to check out the russell stover outlet and other tacky touristy stores, and then drove about 11 miles into kentucky to the little highway stop that is williamsburg.

as soon as we walked in the lobby, we saw why jon and carrie wanted to get married there. it was beautifully designed, with a grand double staircase and huge chandeliers. there are tons of pictures up on flickr if you want some more details (i couldn't add them all here!) by the way, i've noticed that for whatever reason, my pictures that i post here are not the best quality--quite pixilated and fuzzy. by clicking on them or going to flickr, though, you can see them in full resolution.

so... the cumberland inn.


the unity candle stand from the rehearsal---and justin got the best groomsman gift--a monogrammed grill set!
after the rehearsal and dinner and driving around williamsburg and visiting one of the few places that was open late--the wal-mart--we got some sleep so we could get up fairly early the next morning. on saturday, we drove to the cumberland falls state park and ate an awesome breakfast at the lodge there by the river. then we walked down to the falls and several of the overlooks, taking full photo advantage of such a beautiful morning!

the falls and the mist rainbow
us in front of the falls. it was simply gorgeous!
but we couldn't stay for too long or hike any of the trails cause it was time to get ready for the wedding! we got back to the hotel and got cleaned up, and justin joined the groomsmen to get ready with jon, the groom. i took my time, grabbing some lunch and getting dressed before going down to the lobby to join the rest of the wedding party as they took pictures. carrie and jon chose to do all the pictures beforehand (like we did) and it made a huge difference considering the reception was on-site. i tried to stay out of the way of the photographer and didn't use my flash in most instances because of that, but there are (of course) additional photos on flickr.

johnnie (getting married in october to my co-worker heather--you might recognize him from their engagement photos i did), jon, and justin. they've been friends for many many years!
the lobby decorated for the wedding. the bridal party had to walk down the stairs! pretty, but made me nervous for them. (bridesmaids dress was the one i wore for maggie's wedding, but in red--apple, of course--instead of black. it's crazy how you start to recognize the david's bridal line immediately!)so after the wedding, it was time for the reception in a banquet room right down the hall. one of the hits was the pee dee pirate groom's cake. the string quartet played jimi hendrix's "purple haze" when they went to cut it!

and after the cake cutting and eating and dancing, it was time to for the groomsman duties of loading up the presents and--decorating the car. when we were in wal-mart the previous night, i asked justin if he had anything to decorate the car. after the horrible sliced cheese incident of alan's wedding, i've learned that leaving groomsman left to their own devices unfortunately does not turn out well. so we tracked down some glass chalk, had the tp ready to go, and the boys quickly went to work. they needed some help with the "girly" stuff, though, so i jumped in. then it became a plan of staging photos so it looked like i did it all....
and it got quite a reaction...
but it was all in good fun.

so then they drove off into the sunset, and we changed into more comfortable clothes and did the rest of our touristy kentucky stuff, like...

visiting the original sander's cafe and kentucky fried chicken museum!

and trying out a krystal burger--definitely a tasty treat!the next morning, we went back to sevierville, so justin could check out the beef jerky outlet, which boasted over 200 flavors of jerky. they had jerky made out of about every animal possible.
(i also got a new "life is good" shirt at one of the all LIG stores. love finding those!)

then it was back to the highway and onwards towards boone. we had to drive some very curvy mountain roads to get there, but it was worth it for these views of lake watauga and the surrounding mountain ranges.


that evening, my great-uncle and aunt, pete and mary, took us out to dinner at a fabulous restaurant near the base of grandfather mountain called artisinal. similar to our dinner at bonterra in charlotte after alan and rachel's wedding, we were encouraged to order a selection for each of the courses and tried a taste of everyone's plate. it was DELICIOUS...some of the best food we've ever had, and we enjoyed catching up with pete and mary.

after dinner, we went on out to their river house near the tiny town of todd, nc. justin and i were able to spend the night there and loved waking up to the sounds of birds and the river and little else. it is a gorgeous area, and we hope to spend more time there in the future! we finished out the trip with a visit to downtown boone and lunch at "our daily bread." there were pieces of boone that came back to me--parts that i recognized and some parts that i clearly said, "that wasn't here before." i always joke that if i had ended up at appalachian, as i almost did, i could have easily embraced the more natural lifestyle. hippy clothing, hiking and kayaking, granola and the whole deal. that part is in me somewhere, but it's just buried deep and only comes out during camp cheerio week or mountain vacations. i still love the mountains in the summer--the temperatures easily stayed in the 70's for most of our visit and only went over into the lower 80's a few times. everything is green and the air is clear and fresh and it just feels so comfortable. i wouldn't be able to drive anywhere (as justin constantly reminded me when i attempted to drive in the mountains) but i could definitely appreciate some long visits, even if i couldn't make it through the winters.

and then it was back to real life. traffic around raleigh, unpacking at home, and craziness at work. sigh... but it was a great vacation, especially for a long weekend. looking forward to the next one as soon as we can swing it!