Janet Butler
If your man is a die-hard golfer, he’ll love how this wedding day in Lake Martin, Alabama, starts: with a round on the links, pictured here by Stephen De Vries. The bride, naturally, is occupied with other things — she and her friends are practicing a dance they’re doing later. But eventually, it’s time to get down to the serious business of becoming beautiful. The bride’s one-shouldered gown is exquisitely simple; her hair is plaited into an equally simple “do.” With a short, wispy veil, high-heeled slippers, and a bouquet of yellow and blue, she’s ready for her closeup. Her attendants wear all different dresses, each girl with a special look; the groom’s in plain dark suiting with a sky-blue tie, and his attendants vary their approach as well — some suspenders, some not.
A quartet plays the ceremony music on strings as the two say their vows, silhouetted in an October sunset. Guests shower the newlyweds with yellow rose petals as they come down the aisle as husband and wife. Twilight falls, and the couple makes their way toward the reception, bedecked with lights and sporting a “green” dessert table with white and dark cupcakes. The wedding cake is decorated with a cutout of the bride and groom — complete with bride in one-shouldered gown; the happy pair feed each other slices from it on silver forks, standing before a stone hearth. Then, it’s time for dancing — and the bride and her friends bring smiles to all with their “flash mob.” Finally, after a few last hugs, the couple departs, beneath an arch of sparklers, into the night.
