A Wedding in the Woods

Last Thursday, Steve and I drove eight hours to Asheville, NC, where our new youth/outreach pastor was to get married Friday morning. 

We found a house through Airbnb which was situated smack dab in the lovely middle of nowhere.

This is the road leading to the house.

It was a bit of a haul from the front door to the car but at least it was a lovely haul.  Happily, I had brought my own personal valet so it was all good.

 I love that you can get a lot of Airbnb houses for the price of a moderate hotel room. Here are a few shots of the inside.  

After a good night’s sleep in our little house in the big woods, we got up Friday morning to a beautiful sunny day.  Clinton and Adrianne had wanted an outdoor wedding but during the week leading up to it, the weather report had called for an 80% chance of rain. Thankfully, the chance of rain decreased to 15% on Friday, the sun was out, and it turned into a beautiful day.

We met with the other wedding-goers in Asheville and then carpooled for an hour in a wending, winding-up-the-mountain wedding caravan. Once we arrived at the parking area, it was about a ten minute walk through the woods to the location Clinton and Adrianne had chosen. I was a little concerned about how my foot would do traversing uneven ground but I took a hefty dose of Ibuprofen an hour beforehand and did surprisingly well.  

Fortunately I had the arm of this gallant guy to hold on to as I made the big trek.

Everything was so lovely and simple.

There were about thirty-five people invited. We all spent some time chatting while waiting for the last details to be attended to. Steve got a chance to get to know Adrianne’s dad a little; he and his family live in California.

Adrianne had her hair and makeup all beautifully done but was still wearing jeans and a flannel shirt when we arrived at the wedding site.  I knew she had bought a dress (which she got for just $70!)  but I wasn’t quite sure how she was going to pull off changing her clothes.

Turns out she had that all planned out in the form of a pop up changing tent. 

One of the challenges of an outdoor wedding is that there are no side rooms for the groom to wait so that he doesn’t see his bride ahead of time. Clinton and Adrianne dealt with this by having Clinton turn his back as Adrianne was getting into place.

Adrianne  emerged from her makeshift dressing room looking every inch the beautiful bride.

You can probably tell that Clinton was just a little overwhelmed at the sight of her.

There were tears throughout the wedding on the part of those getting married and on the part of those of us watching them getting married. It was one of the most touching ceremonies I have ever witnessed.

And here they are–the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Clinton Rogers. These are the two people Steve and I will be working closely with in the years to come as they join us on staff.  We cannot even begin to say how impressed we have been with the two of them since we met them in January.  They are absolute gold and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have them on staff.

We all drove an hour back down the mountain and met at a little place they had reserved for the reception. In keeping with the ceremony, it was simple and lovely.

The fixings for salads had been laid out, accompanied by the most fabulous home-made breads.

And now here’s the rest of the story . . .

Every wedding is made special by the fact that family and friends come together to celebrate with the couple. In this case though, the gathering of loved ones was all the more important, for Clinton, especially.  (He has told this story publicly which is why I am comfortable sharing it here.)

When Clinton was a boy, his dad left his mom and two siblings, spending the years since in homelessness and addiction. As Clinton grew up in a home with no dad and a single mom who worked every minute to provide for the family, he became angry and rebellious, getting into all kinds of trouble.  His life changed when he was invited to a church youth camp and had an encounter with Christ that completely transformed him. 

After he graduated from High School he did three years of schooling with Master’s Commission where he met a young woman named Adrianne.  During the first year of their relationship, they couldn’t stand each other, during the second year they became best friends, and during the third year, they fell in love.  And you know where THAT story ended: it ended at last Friday’s wedding!

Sadly, Clinton’s mom died of cancer a year ago so she was not able to be there for her son’s big day. Thankfully, Clinton’s brother and his family were able to be there. Clinton and Adrianne were also joined by friends, mentors and ministry colleagues who all went to great lengths to be there simply because they knew that that’s what family does. 

As Clinton said in his words to Adrianne, “This is the day that starts a new beginning for us–a day when the two of us will be able to start a healthy, whole family of our own and change the generations to come. ”

I have never seen a groom cry more at a wedding. I think part of those tears were sorrow that his mom hadn’t lived long enough to see him get married and part of the tears were from deep thanksgiving for the place God had brought him to– surrounded by all the people who love him and Adrianne the most. 

Steve and I are so honored for the chance  to be at the ceremony and the chance we will have to be woven into Clinton and Adrianne’s story in the years to come.

A trip up the mountain, a day of sunshine, and the chance to witness tears and joy and new beginnings.   The wedding in the woods was definitely a wedding to remember. 

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