The story begins on March 28th, 2008.
Actually it began weeks before with hours of preparation being poured into the farm.
The wedding was planned at the newest of our five farms.
This particular farm was conveniently
located to the interstate and easy to find for out of town guest.
In addition, with some renovation, the setting was perfect for event.
Weather is always a factor when planning an out door event of any kind, so we began watching the extended forcasts weeks in advance.
Alternative sites were considered in case of bad weather.
However, the extended forcast seemed to be in our favor.
That is until one week before the wedding.
The forcast began tilting against us.
The first signs of bad weather simply forcasted early morning showers.
"We can live with that", was my reaction as the ceremony was planned for afternoon.
Preparations continued at the farm as the forcasts continued to bounce back and forth from "partly cloudy" to "40% chance of showers" to "thunderstorms".
Finally the decision was made to take the risk and move forward with plans.
Friday morning began as forcasted. "Partly cloudy".
In fact,it was more cloudy than anything else for the entire day.
Just after lunch, workers began to crowd the site. Gravel being dumped and spread, greenery being placed, port-o-potties being dropped, tents errected, tables set up, and benches still being built.
Originally, guests were to be seated on bales of hay.
With the hay shortage, benches were built.
Rehersal was to begin at 7pm.
At 6:10 pm, the first sprinkles began but lasted only a few moments and the rehersal went on as planned.
By 8 am on Saturday morning, the rain began. It poured throughout the morning with very brief periods of slack.
At 1 pm, the guest began to arrive. I left the barn to go get dressed.
I watched from the front porch as car after car came through the gates and pulled to the parking area which by now was getting pretty sloppy.
At 1:45 pm, with fifteen minutes to go, most of the guest, including the band headed up to the house and packed the living/ dining room area with the band setting up in the kitchen.
By 1:50, the band was in full swing as the guest continued to pack into the house.
In all, we estimated that 75 plus packed into the house with more on the porch and carport with additional guest (number unknown) remaining at the barn smelling the BBQ.
The ceremony began and Jennifer entered the room while the band played "When You Say nothing At All" by Allison Krauss.
After the ceremony, everyone made a dash for the barn where the smell of the BBQ had already filled the damp air.
Just as the band got re-set on the porch of the corn crib and most everyone had made it back to the barn, the rain started again,
but not before my mother took front and center and preformed her traditional wedding dance to the bluegrass fiddles of The Wild Blue Yonder Band.
So, no horses used, no horse drawn carriage, no releasing of the ceremonial birds, at least not during the ceremony.
The rain took care of all of that.
But we did get married, with an estimated 130-150 guest in the torrential down pours to testify to the fact.
And yes we did finally release the ceremonial birds. In this case, a pair of Old English Bantams.
The rain didn't hinder the guest from feasting on BBQ pork shoulders, ribs, and chicken quarters
and Wild Blue Yonder played as if they were at a world class bluegrass festival.
Enjoy the pictures and thanks for visiting our site.
