Life with the Moore Family: Tennessee Saturday Night

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Tennessee Saturday Night

This past Saturday was Ethan Norman's wedding. As I said at the rehearsal dinner, Ethan and I are a true testament that through God anyone can be friends because we are classic opposites. I wear polo shirts, Ethan wears T-shirts, Ethan has artistic talent, I do not; however, there are now two things that we have in common: God and Marriage.

Ethan met his wife, Rachel Winfrey Norman, while working at Second Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, TN. Ethan is the contemporary worship leader there and Rachel also works at the church. It was a classic, boy meets girl type story where he fell in love and was ready to marry her before he even asked her on a date. Lucky for him, she would feel the same way and now they are quite the outgoing, artistic couple.

The weekend began with a bachelor bonfire on Thursday night where the cops got called while we were doing nothing wrong. Apparently the owner of the property, who gave us permission, forgot to tell his son that we would be burning a 10 foot tall pile of wood, so when he saw a car parked on their land and a fire in their backyard (which is a cow pasture), he decided to call the cops instead of his father. After clarifying who we were and that we had permission to be there, they left and all was good.

The next day we had an early rehearsal as the pastors had to get back to Good Friday Services that night. On Friday night we had the rehearsal dinner cook-out where I met all of Rachel's family and got to give my speech in hopes that people laughed (they did of course...). The night ended with all of the groomsmen throwing Ethan in the pool and everyone had a great time.

On Saturday morning we went to IHOP where I think our waitress was more excited than Ethan that he was getting married. She told the whole restaurant and even offered us moonshine which she had in her car. I know that the last part of the last sentence is a bit odd, but it is true, she really did, of course we declined for more than one reason.

The wedding was an outdoor wedding held at the "White-House" (the White's house) which is a beautiful home on Loudon Lake. The backyard has a great little point where they set up chairs and a sound system. The wedding was a traditional picture wedding, meaning we wore tuxedos and the girls wore long dresses, HOWEVER, the wedding itself was far from traditional. There were 4 different people who spoke and several musicians who played and sang both traditional and original songs. The bridesmaids danced down the aisle, which was choreographed by Rachel, and we all danced out when the service was over. Rachel was a beautiful bride and Ethan wore his tux quite well. All in all the wedding itself was great.

The after party was wonderful as well: great food, great dancing, great drinks, and lots of fun. Overall it was a great weekend and after flying back to St. Louis on Easter morning, I miss Knoxville already...we'll be back soon though!