While my new wife and I respect tradition, the bride-in-white, dressy formal wedding at a church was not for us. We needed a wedding that was a little off-beat, unique. Something more our style. Having yawned our way through plenty of weddings in the past, our highest priorities were bringing the people we love together to witness our day, and making sure they had fun. Sugar Hollow Retreat is the only place I can imagine that really fit us.

Having both grown up in the farmland foothills of North Carolina and Virginia's mountain country, we have a healthy respect for the beauty of nature. Though our jobs have lead us country mice to settle in a more urban area these days, we still appreciate the surroundings of our childhood. Sugar Hollow, situated in the mountains of Northeastern Tennessee, offered the perfect backdrop for our outdoor ceremony, with the breathtaking view behind the Whitetail Stage in the full fiery glory of October's leaves.

Our relatives were thrilled by Sugar Hollow's wildlife as well. While not quite tame, the local wildlife know that the Retreat is a safe place to graze, forage, or just hang out, often only a few feet away from where we sat on the Retreat's porches. Having grown up in The Middle of Nowhere, NC, I felt like I was up to my neck in the local fauna all through my youth, so perhaps I was not quite as impressed as everyone else. In fact, it became a running joke among the entire group to point out every animal along the way to me after I commented, "Yes. It's a deer. I've seen them before." After that, every deer, raccoon, squirrel, turkey, bird, chipmunk, and every critter in between was gleefully identified for me. Even though they were doing it to get a rise out of me, they couldn't suppress the wonder in their voices.

More than one person commented to me that they didn't quite know what to expect when we drug them out to the far reaches of Tennessee for our wedding. They were all pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure if they expected to be in rickety shacks with outhouses or what, but everyone enjoyed the homey, yet modern comfort of the lodgings. A common comment was "Wow. This place is nice. I really didn't expect it to be this fancy." The innkeepers, Jim and Marty, are masters of their craft. Their help organizing the wedding and situating the guests was invaluable, and more appreciated than they can ever know on such a hectic weekend. 

Our ceremony was brief, as we had wanted it to be. There was fun to be had. From the Whitetail Stage, our guests retired to the Lodge for a full spread of North Carolina-style barbecue from Opie's, and a few kegs of choice beverages. Our sound system was set up on the upper deck of the Lodge, providing light music during the reception and ear-ringingly loud music to dance to later. As the night wore on into the early hours of the morning, the party separated itself into two groups. One group sat in rocking chairs around a bondfire a short distance away from the lodge, discussing this and that while pitchers of beer were relayed to them. The other group clustered outside of the Lodge and on the deck, dancing and singing as iPods were relayed to the special guest DJ (Me) with instructions to play this song or that. I will chuckle for years to come as I envision my father dancing his odd shuffling dance up there on the deck, or my new bride and sister dancing like crazed maniacs with hair flying. 

In short, the wedding was perfect. Perfect for us. And that's what's really important. Even the members of our family who may not have approved of my bride's choice of color for her wedding dress, or something left out of or added to the ceremony, or our choice of vows, or any number of other things thanked us for a great time.