The Wedding Weekend Part 3 Sat

Saturday morning I woke up at Austin's house, got dressed, and drove home. Dabney and her Mom had gone to get their hair done so I had the house to myself to get ready. It was in that time that any kind of nerves hit me. The impact of that this was happening after all the planning and hoping that everything was going to work. I checked the internet for a few minutes, took a bath, and got dressed. Austin was supposed to be pick me up because I only wanted one car at the church. He was supposed to be there at 9:30 but had not shown up. A few minutes later Bill and Cameron showed up with the cupcakes so I rode to First Congo with him. When I got there no Austin and Ted had not talked to him either. I was getting a bit nervous when he called and said he was on his way and showed up a few minutes later.

Steve Jones was wandering around taking some pictures of us getting ready. We had decided to try and get some pictures done before the wedding started. Dabney was still getting ready so we did some shots that needed me and not her. After that we did the shots of me seeing Dabney for the first time in her wedding dress. They had me turn around and face the other way and she called me and I turned around. She looked radiant and happy and just full of joy. Steve Jones captured that moment and so far it is everyone's favorite picture. After that we took a bunch of pictures of us with various family members. By that time people were starting to show up so we knew we did not have much time left. Some of the last pictures we took were of the wedding party and the flower girls. Which considering we lost Ted during the service was a good thing. We took the last few pictures, moved off and let the people come in and get seated. Then it was showtime.

The various people walked the mothers and grandmothers in. Then Dabney's Dad Dodson walked her in. It is difficult to describe the mix of emotions I was feeling at that moment. I was overcome with all this pure emotion and I just wanted to explode. We made it through the first part of giving away the bride and readings. During one of the readings I saw Jodi, Ted's girlfriend out of the corner of my eye. next thing I know Jodi and Syd are leading Ted out of the church. We later found out he had a heart flutter and sent his body into shut down mode but seems ok now. Uncle James had a program with the service and a page out of a newspaper with some thoughts written down. It was this bizarre combination of things and other than Dabney reminding him we needed to vows he kept things straight. Dabney and I had written our vows and we wrote them separately. Oddly enough our vows were very similar. I made it through the most of mine but got a bit choked up on the last line of mine which made Dabney a bit choked up for the first part of her vows. But we both made it through our vows. We exchanged rings and we were in the home stretch. There was a couple of more prayers and we kissed. This time when we did the walk out we were married. We stayed at the church for a bit longer, took some more pictures, and then we left the church as people blew bubbles and we left out in Dabney's car to drive to the Hi Tone. It was a massive relief to be through that part because we knew the Hi Tone part would be fun.

We got to the Hi Tone and Steve Jones took some pictures of us outside. We went inside and they were finishing setting up and there was already a mix of friends and family there. I got with the band to work out what time they would start. Once some people got some food, Dabney introduced the band and the Papa Top's West Coast Turn Around who we saw that fateful night at the Hi Tone a couple of years earlier started playing. Dabney and I mingled with the guests and got something to eat. The Papa Top's took a break and during that time Dabney and I fed each other a cupcake, Austin did a toast, and I thanked everybody for coming out. After their break Dabney and I danced to an Ann Murray song we picked out Can I Have This Dance. It was pretty awesome and it was wonderful dancing with her in that moment. A little bit later other people got up and danced and by that time people had started leaving. The Papa Top's said their last was this Charlie Daniel's song called In America but I knew there needed to be one more song. The infamous David Alan Coe song that has the sing along chorus. "Tell em you were Merle Haggard's bitch in prison. Tell em you think Billy Ray Cyrus is queen. Tell em you and David Alan Coe invented country music. You'll be the biggest star they've ever seen." We had the remaining 20 or 30 people singing chorus with us by the end and I knew that was perfect the ending to the party. After that people starting picking up the Hi Tone, Dabney and I went home to get ready to go to Tunica, because my Dad got us a room down there at the Goldstrike Casino. While we were getting ready they dropped some stuff off from the church and the Hi Tone, soon they left and we did too heading to Tunica, MS.

Last installment Part 4 Tunica.