Wedding in the Woods

Amicalola Falls.

Last weekend we went over to North Georgia for the wedding of my freshman year roommate. She and her now-husband have been dating since highschool! Ten whole years of datehood before finally making that lifetime commitment.

Matt and I had decided to make a weekend of it before we planned our trip to California because we were going to stay at Amicalola State Park and the Lodge there requires a minimum two night stay.

Manda and Wade went there for their first anniversary and recommended all sorts of things to do. With a rehearsal dinner and wedding events all weekend, we didn't get to do everything we wanted, but we still had a good time. It's so pretty up there, I'd recommend going if you've ever got a spare weekend. We ate lunch on Saturday in Dahlonega, which is about 25 minutes East of the Lodge. It's a very cute small town with a great downtown square and some nice restaurants. It's also the home of North Georgia State College, which has a beautiful campus.

The gallery owner told us there are specks of glass melted into the pottery.

We made time to go by the Petti's highly recommended stop of The Funky Chicken Art Project, a gallery that displays the works of over 150 artists. There are peacocks and chickens roaming around and a "junk garden" out back. It was really neat. I even came home with these two pottery pieces to add to my growing blue/green pottery collection. They had lots of paintings, sculptures, hand-made boxes, and some really interesting pieces that were just a little too "artsy" for us.

Me and the bride.

The wedding on Saturday was a spectacular event. Whitney's family owns some 400 acres in the middle of nowhere. The area where they have their land (they have a permanent home in Athens, GA) apparently used to be a boys' camp that went bankrupt in the 30's. Now, several families own mountain homes around the lake and surrounding area.

It was a little cold in the woods at night.

The ceremony was on a hillside (apparently a former fairway) overlooking the lake. Her mom told me that she couldn't convince Whit to get married in the First Presbyterian Church at home, but the woods are really more Timothy and Whitney's style. The reception was at the old swimming dock, complete with white table clothes, a band, and freshly-cooked crab cakes. It was a beautiful setting and we were so happy to see them get hitched!


On the way out of town, we stopped by the Falls and also tried to see the kangaroo preserve (but we found out they're not open on Sundays). We had a great time, but I'm so glad to be home after four weekends away last month. Other than a football game, I'm hoping we don't have to go anywhere for quite a while!