Alison & Saul's Wedding!

It was fabulous, and southern, and lovely. As an added bonus, Todd and I did a bunch of sightseeing as well...and finished off our whirlwind trip with a visit to World of Coke in Atlanta.

Friday - We flew in to Atlanta on a 7 am flight (ouch!), picked up our Prius, and drove to Prattville, Alabama, stopping on the way at Waffle House for lunch. Mmmm. It was our first experience of the famed Southern hospitality - our waitress couldn't have been nicer - and by the end of the trip, I kept thinking "Do we really deserve to be treated this wonderfully?!" We also stopped at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama so Todd could see the football stadium where USC has played the Auburn Tigers.

We arrived at the beautiful Legends Marriott Hotel where Alison's wedding was, checked in, and relaxed before driving to downtown Montgomery to explore. The town was hopping because of a Travis Tritt concert (!) and we drove past the baseball field where the Montgomery Biscuits (a minor league team) play. I kept asking where we could buy the team, dip them in syrup, and eat them. We had a delicious pizza dinner at the Mellow Mushroom (complete with cinnamon and honey pizza dough pretzels as an appetizer!) and then stopped by Alison's room (right across from ours) to give her a hug and say hello. She gave us our out-of-town bag and we chatted and wished her an excellent night's sleep before the big day!

Saturday dawned bright, beautiful, and HOT. Like 95 degrees with 95% humidity. Ah, the South in the summertime...We got all dolled up and wandered around the hotel's grounds (there was a gorgeous, Scotland-ish golf course behind the hotel and fountains and pathways througout) until it was time for the ceremony at 11 am. My voice was nearly gone because of my cold, and I was nervous as all get-out and trying not to burst into tears (much like at Chrissie's wedding!) as Alison and her bridesmaids walked down the aisle. It was such a beautiful sight. She looked radiant and calm. The officiant was a good ol' boy judge - very smooth - and my reading of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 went okay, although my voice squeaked and cracked a bit. Then Saul's mom did a long, hilarious, sweet Auden reading - "Oh, tell me the truth about love" - and she turned out to be a terrific dramatist! She also had the coolest British style - a red and white flowered dress with small feathered red hat! Alison and Saul then exchanged vows and rings and kissed and before you knew it, they were married!

There was a little pre-reception in the lobby outside the ballroom, and Todd and I got to catch up Suzi and meet James! They're such an adorable couple :-) Then the reception began, with a yummy brunch of grits, biscuits, eggs, and fruit - with sweet tea, a mimosa fountain, and bloody marys to wash everything down! Suddenly, clouds gathered outside and there was a strong tropical thunderstorm. Rain fell in buckets and lightening lit the sky and all the guests could watch the beautiful landscape of the golf course being drenched with rain from an enclosed balcony right outside the ballroom. It was dramatic and perfect - for a moment I thought of the movie "Monsoon Wedding" and before you knew it, the sky lightened, the buckets and torrents of rain stopped, and the sun reappeared. Alison and Saul had their first dance, cut the cakes (a white three-tiered classic white cake, and an awesome golf course chocolate groom's cake), Alison did the bouquet toss, and after chatting with a bunch of very nice people, and taking pictures with the bride and groom, we still had four hours until the after-party at Alison's parent's house!

So we did a lot of Montgomery-area exploring: saw the Baptist church where MLK, Jr. preached, saw the Alabama Supreme Court, went to two malls - one classy, one not so much - and explored the grounds of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, including the fragrant Shakespeare Garden. Then we made our way over to Alison's parents lovely house, and spent a great evening meeting new friends, talking with Alison, Suzi, and James, and having strawberry cake.

That night, we fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

Sunday, after saying our goodbyes (and have fun on your honeymoons!) to Alison and Saul, Alison said something really sweet: "we'll be celebrating your wedding in 364 days!" Our wedding is officially less than a year away. Whoa. And I'm so glad that we get to share our day of the month, July 26, with Alison and Saul.

We drove to Atlanta and hoofed it over to World of Coke, where we went on a fun 4-D ride, sampled over 30 different sodas from all over the world (there were 70 we could have tried but seriously, how much carbonation can one stomach take?!), saw a pop art exhibit dedicated to Coke, watched Coke ad campaigns from the 1920s to today, watched the Coke bottling process, met the Coca-Cola Polar Bear, and picked up some wonderful souvenirs in the gift shop. I purchased inexpensive silver earrings made with pieces of coke bottle glass, and little coke bottle salt and pepper shakers, while Todd chose a t-shirt and a very cool aluminum coke bottle.

Finally, it was time to head to the airport - after wandering around Centennial Olympic Park (and seeing the Memorial for the 1996 bombing) and happening upon the National Black Arts Festival, and eating a very late lunch in the massive CNN Headquarters building.

As we sat on the plane, we watched the season finale of "Next Food Network Star" on our seatback TVs and Todd said something funny: "This is exactly what we'd be doing if we were at home right now." So true!

A wonderful trip, a memorable and fantastic wedding, and now it is time (sadly) to get back to work!