It’s a Nice Day for a White Wedding
1982, my senior year in high school, a relatively new artist by the name of Billy Idol spoke these words “It’s a nice day for a White Wedding, it’s a nice day to start again”. Those words have never been a more fitting description than they were for me, my wife, and most importantly for Mr. and Mrs. John Stephens this past weekend.
I had the privilege of meeting John and Janice a while back to discuss their plans for a beautiful north Georgia wedding. At no time during the conversation were plans made for inclement weather and certainly no one planned on getting snowed in on a mountainside. As the wedding date approached the forecasts were all in agreement. The winter storm, now dubbed Helena, wasn’t a possibility, it was on the way!
The only question was exactly when and how much snow and ice would be dumped on portions of Metro Atlanta and all of North Georgia. I called and spoke with the groom who assured me the wedding was a go. So reminded of the words of Peter Drucker, “the best way to predict the future is to create it”, I started out for north Georgia. I never knew what keeping my word would mean.
By morning, the day of the wedding, north Georgia was blanketed with a beautiful yet perilous layer of snow and ice. Most businesses were shut down. Worst of all the happy nearly weds were snowed in with their families in 2 different cabins on 2 different mountains unable to reach each other. Let it be said that neither snow, nor sleet, nor freezing rain can stop a Sensational Ceremonies officiant or a Ford 4 wheel drive truck. We pressed on! We stopped by the local Walmart to pick up some groceries for the stranded couple then we began what would be an over hour drive to cover just 8 miles followed by a 1/2 mile trek through the snow to get to the cabin.
The wedding was simple yet one of the most beautiful I have ever been a part of. My wife assisted me as photographer. The radiant joy of the happy couple was the only beauty that surpassed the backdrop of snow covered mountains.
It truly was a “Nice Day for a White Wedding, a Nice Day to Start Again”.