This weekend was the big wedding for our good friends Karen Buchmueller and Herman Holt. The wedding was up in Asheville at the Crest Center, with beautiful views out across the city and across the valleys to the west.
This was to be an outdoor wedding, and as we drove northward was watched ominous clouds building. North of Travelers Rest it started to dump, and we had concerns about the venue. However, things cleared as we crossed the state line, and the weather was fine when we got to Asheville.
We first checked into our hotel at the Crown Plaza resort. A shuttle had been arranged to take the guests from the hotel to the Crest Center, which was a great idea. We liked the idea of not having to drive tricky mountain roads in the dark after partying half the night.
We boarded the shuttle and arrived at the venue about an hour before the ceremony was to begin. We chatted with friends and enjoyed the views until time to head down for the ceremony itself.
The wedding was held near a small gazebo with amphitheater seating. The backdrop was an overlook of Asheville, with Biltmore House in the far distance. The ceremony was quite lovely and the minister adlibbed humorous lines throughout. However, I don’t think I’ve ever heard “The Flight of the Bumblebee” used as a recessional before.
The reception and party following were outstanding. The food was great, the drinks plentiful, the music danceable, and the friends amiable – just the way a wedding party should be. We all took the adage “dance as if no one were watching” to heart. At our request the DJ put on Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me with Science” and all the chemistry professors hit the dance floor. It was a science geek’s dream come true.
I was there to party, not to take pictures. Someone else was already getting paid to take good pictures, and I didn’t want to be burdened with a large camera. Therefore, I only brought my little point-n-shoot camera. I got a few good shots, but later in the evening it was too dark, even with the flash on the camera. When I went into high ISO mode, the images were almost too grainy to be usable. Here is a Flickr slideshow of the ones that I did post.
After the wedding we took the shuttle back down to the hotel and collapsed. It was a great wedding and party, and we are happy for both of our friends.