By Staff
Leada DeVaney, Hartselle Enquirer
I grew up around weddings. When I was a small child, my grandmother opened a small catering business. In just a few short years, her business grew to three stores and lots of birthday cakes, parties and other catered events.
But it was the weddings and the brides that stood out most. Dealing with the weddings was the most tiring and most exciting parts of the business.
When I started working at my grandmother's business, I soon began dealing with the brides and all their issues.
What color should the initials on the napkins be?
Should mom and step-mom have the same flowers?
Can you have a chocolate bride's cake?
Would it be tacky to have the groom's cake shaped like an armadillo (that one came out a lot after the movie "Steel Magnolias" became popular).
My favorite weddings were the ones that were a bit different, either because of where they were getting married or what they wanted at the wedding.
One time, we did a wedding at McDonald's, right in the middle of the playground. The couple had decided to marry there because that's where they both worked and, I guess, because they wanted to serve cheeseburgers at the wedding.
The strange wedding tales continued when I started working at newspapers. Once, we covered a wedding held at a mud-pit in the middle of a off-road truck driving competition. The couple – he in a tux and her in a white dress – said their vows and then jumped in the mud.
Another time, a friend who worked at the courthouse, told the story of a man and a woman who came to the courthouse to tie the knot. The woman came in the judge's office and said she would like to get married. My friend asked her where the groom was and the future bride answered "he's in the car. He said he would come down here to get married but he wasn't getting out of the car."
The wedding took place in the couple's car. I can't verify this part, but my bet is the honeymoon took place the BP carwash.
All of these tales came back Saturday as we attended the wedding of Greg's nephew, Chris and his new bride, Renee. It was a nice wedding, with a pretty bride and a happy groom. We were sitting in the chapel waiting for the wedding to start and watching the bride have her picture taken. The photographer was arranging the bride, sorting out her long veil and dress.
Greg's other nephew, Michael, with all his 10-year-old wisdom said "that dress is too long."
We didn't try to explain trains or veils to him. We were just glad we weren't sitting in the McDonald's playground.