The Big Day ... On Repeat (Please Indulge Me)

Today is my anniversary with one Mr. Moody, a charming fellow I met many years ago in a tiny lakeside town in north Alabama. I was assimilating back into my native South after a 12-year sojourn in New York City. He was finishing up an engineering degree and managing a bait store. His 1986 Mercedes 380SL convertible was parked in front of the store, so I waltzed in for coffee and asked, “Who’s driving my favorite car?” He answered shyly, “I am.” The rest, as they say, is history. 

For our wedding invitation graphic designer Heather Dryden put this 1938 Corbis photo on a satiny gray card stock. The skier is near the Isle of Wight, England. I was an avid slalom skier in my youth, and my father was a trick skier, so it fit. Also, in the early Twentieth century, men would ski to dinner on Lake George, New York, in their tuxedos, from one Adirondack “great camp” to the next. It was a notion I couldn't resist.

These cake toppers are from Ann Wood, the Brooklyn artist who kicked off the handmade bird topper craze. She customized them so that the girl bird wore fabric rosettes made from snips of the flower girls' sashes. I could care less that these birds have been imitated shamelessly in the years since our wedding; I still love them (at annwoodhandmade.com). They now stand in the center of our mantle, next to a tiny hymn book that has been passed through my family since the late 1800s. What can I say? I love a vignette. 

My husband was a semi-professional bass fisherman as a hobby, so I wanted to toss in a nod to this. Most of the “fish” chocolates I found were more Nemo-themed than wedding material, so I ordered these Michel Cluizel "Sardines En Chocolat Au Lait" from France. I put them in an inexpensive fish-shaped glass bowl from Target. They were a hit among the other fishermen and the bait shop employees … and my best friend, a chocolate fiend who still talks about them to this day.

 When I met my husband, I was living in a lakeside cabin that has been in my family for three generations; the boathouse was built in 1948 and still stands. This photo of me was taken nearby in Pisgah, Alabama at Gorham’s Bluff, where I stayed with my maid-of-honor the night before the wedding. We were in a darling cottage, which is one of many in this charming “new urbanism” arts retreat inspired by the Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk community of Seaside, Florida. (Photo by Ben Frank).

I was walking toward this pavilion, which offers breathtaking views of the Tennessee River. 

And here we are right after the wedding. Behind us is a valley of farmland. North Alabama has some stunning scenery. I’m so glad we met there and were married there. Happy anniversary to us! (Photo by Ben Frank).