Yesterday one of my dear childhood friends, Anna, got married! I knew it would be an affair to remember and it was! The wedding took place on the front lawn of Roseneath Plantation in Gloster. The weather was beautiful and everything was gorgeous. We parked across the road and were shuttled to the plantation where freshly manicured lawns and a horse drawn carriage (decoration) awaited us.
While waiting for the wedding to start Ryan & I and Elise & Wayne admired the exterior of the plantation home. Elise and I had been there many times as children and we commented on the renovations and many "remember when" memories to share with our husbands! Our favorite memory was going through old trunks/chests on the ground floor and discovering letters dating back to the Civil War.
Anna's dress was gorgeous and the wedding was the true epitome of a classic Southern plantation wedding . . . bridesmaids and groomsmen lining the steps to the second floor centered around Anna & Justin, a string orchestra off to the side . . . white flowers everywhere . . . classic!
The reception was around back and the food was good - the band was awesome - good friends and company . . . I ran into long lost friends, relatives, former clients, and my "Gloster Girls" - Elise, Mary Lea, and of course, Anna! Lauren and Rachel were unable to attend but we surely missed them!
It was a great time!
Elise & Wayne
view of the wedding area from the second floor balcony/porch
Ryan & I during a tour of the newly renovated plantation home
Elise, Mary Lea (and baby), and me
my favorite part was the on-site photo booth complete with props!
Anna's wedding also made me a little nostalgic for times of old; I can probably safely say the she is my friend that I have had the longest. We are six weeks apart and were in the nursery at church together as soon as we were old enough to go. So for the past 31 years I have called her friend! We went to church and school and VBS and summer camp and everything together for our first twelve years of life; after that I changed schools so you can take school out of that equation but everything else stayed the same!
We made potions, we played dress-up, we rode horses, we made green chocolate chip cookies, we went to Western Sizzler after basketball games and our older siblings called us laughing hyenas (I won't even mention here what we were doing to make us laugh so much - it was pretty terrible), we talked on the phone, we had crushes on boys, we spent many a spring or summer day fishing at my parents' pond, we swam at her house, we rolled houses, we played basketball, we decorated too many cookies to count - basically we grew up together and had lots of fun and lots of memories doing so!! I still tell people the story about learning how to curl my hair with a curling iron in her bathroom at age 17!
After high school Anna went to Northwestern and I headed to Tech and life took over. We still made time for get-togethers but the reality of life took place and we grew apart. Not over anything or because we wanted it to - it just happened.
Which brings me to her wedding . . . her new husband went to Tech and I recognized a lot of faces at the wedding from my college days and many of them were asking "and how do you know Anna?" And I really wanted to wear a name tag that says "LIFELONG FRIEND!" Because once I have written you letters and signed them "Lylas" (Love you like a sis) or written something to the effect of Anna -n- Mindy BFF, I absolutely positively mean it - I am going to claim you for life regardless of whether or not I only see you once a year!! I am so happy that she is made many dear friends, as evidenced at her wedding, over the years and it is obvious how happy she is and I am very excited for her!! However, a little piece of me wants to shout I HAD HER FIRST!! ha, ha!
In honor of 31 years of friendship and in celebration of her new life as Anna Means Moore here is a small trip down memory lane (really I picked out like 20 pictures but time just does not permit!)
Want to see more pics? Click here!
playing dress-up in her mom's bedroom, 1987
Panama City church camp, 1997
April 16, 2011
CONGRATULATIONS ANNA & JUSTIN
FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!
2 comments:
Congratulations Anna! Mindy love the photo booth pics, pretty funny!
I love the photobooth photos too and what a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding yesterday! Now I am a little concerned about this Panama City church camp- I've been to Panama City before and it certainly wasn't for church camp- maybe that's where I should have been instead!!!
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