Let me start off by saying, that I love photographing weddings and going out to Cades Cove. Due to the fact of no cell phone service in the National Park, I like to meet families outside of Cades Cove. This way, we can be sure we are all there, if anyone is running late due to traffic, we can wait and drive into Cades Cove together.
Carol needed a minister and musician so I reached out to a couple people I go to church with that have done weddings in the past. We all agreed to meet up at a gas station in Townsend and then drive in together.
It’s 10 am and Mike, the pastor, pulls up and then here comes Stephen, the musician. We start chatting and go and grab some snacks. Then 10:15 am comes, We start to wonder about them so we try calling them and get no answer. We waited till 10:30, still, nowhere to be found. We have the phone number to their cabin and call the cabin they are staying at. No answer. We then wait till 10:45. We don’t know what is going on?
We were scared to leave and head up to Cades Cove because ‘what if they arrive and then we have no service’, so we took a chance and headed out to the church.
We finally get there and YES! They were there!! We all were so up in the air with what was going on and it turns out, they went to the wrong gas station. Oh man!! Thank God we headed that way.
The whole family was so nice and understanding. I hated that this happened to them, but they saw a gas station at the end of the road and assumed that was it. There was no cell phone service there so that’s why I told them the other one! Oh Lordy!
Regis and Carol, as well as their family, came all the way from Pennsylvania to have their wedding at Cades Cove inside the beautiful Missionary Baptist Church. Carol was escorted down the aisle by her son.
The wedding went wonderfully! They had such a sweet ceremony! I can tell they love each other so much!
My favorite part of any wedding is photographing the Bride and Groom as they are happy newlyweds. We stopped at one of my favorite spots in Cades Cove. The Wildlife Overlook.
I will never forget this wedding. It was full of all kinds of emotions, but that just shows that life will throw you curve balls. How are you going to deal with them, is the real test.