Everyday Eddins: A Twist of Fate!

Do you believe in fate, the way the universe puts you in just the right place at the right time?! I do. Five years ago on September 22, 2006 some of my closest friends and family headed down to Nashville, TN to celebrate my upcoming nuptials! I had been in Nashville the March before instantly falling in love with the place and a singer, Adam Wayde. I just knew this is where my bachelorette party had to be!

Little did any of us know, the night of September 22, 2006 would change our lives forever! After spending some time at a few bars on Broadway we finally headed to Crossroads to hear Adam Wayde play! I couldn't have been more excited to share this city and the live music with everyone who came to celebrate with me and this night, the band was exceptionally good! There was a fiddle player that night who rocked, a true entertainer! As fate would have it...it just happened that this fiddle players Dad was visiting from Oklahoma to see his son perform. It also just happened that I introduced his newly single father to my newly single mother. And the rest is history...

Mom & Terry

Fast forward five years later, to the date, and they marked this special anniversary by getting married! Naturally, they wanted to get married in Nashville where they met, so we loaded up the family roadster on Tuesday (9/20) and pointed the car south to Tennessee!

We decided to break the trip down to Nashville up by driving half way and stopping in St. Louis to explore and stay over. Our first stop was Anheuser-Busch -- yes, we were those parents who took a 2 year old to a brewery...in fairness she was psyched to see the clydsdales!

Mommy, Lila, and our new friend Dale!

The real Budweiser Clydsdales!

A neat stop on the tour was the stables that the Clydsdales called home! Each of them had beautiful stalls and they had a whole room dedicated to their tack that was more organized than our closet! All of the horses had their nameplate above their stall, even the dalmations had a spot to call their own!

Note in the picture above: they have a stall for "Mike!"

The next stop was a freezing cold room with huge containers that held beer as it was one of the many stages of fermentation. They said that there is enough beer in one of these giant containers that an average human being would have to drink 24 beers a day for 136 years straight in order to consume all that is in the barrel! I like beer, but I am gagging as I write that!

An interesting fact...as we all know, prohibition eliminated alcohol sales, so Budweiser came up with a soda that they manufactured for several years. Prohibition was officially over on April 7, 1933 -- Mike's birthday is April 7th...does anyone see a coincidence (thank god, not 1933)!!!!

All the bottled beer on the assembly line

We finished up our tour at Anheuser-Busch, checked in to the hotel to freshen up and then walked to Laclede's Landing on the Mississippi riverfront. It was an absolutely beautiful night, so we took advantage of one of the many restaurants to choose from and enjoyed our dinner under the stars!

Enjoying the view!

Wednesday morning it was up and at 'em! We were all rested up and ready to finish up our drive . We pulled into Nashville a little before 2:00 and stopped to get tuxes and other miscellaneous things before heading to the house we rented for the weekend. We pulled up to a very nice neighborhood nestled right between Nashville and Brentwood. We were very happy to see that our house was as nice as we expected and was going to be perfect for us.

Wednesday evening Mom and Terry requested that all out-of-towners come to La Hacienda (Taqueria) to get a bite to eat. This place has history too, it is where Mom and Terry went on their official first date, the night after my bachelorette party and it has become a favorite place of theirs!

Favorite Place - Translation: HUGE MARGARITAS!

Let the festivities begin!

The party was even equipped with a conga line!

We were sure to make Wednesday an early night as we all had to be at Mom's on Thursday morning for hair, make-up and some much needed girl time before heading out to Cedarwood for the rehearsal at 2:00 and the wedding at 5:30.

Hair?! Check! Make-up?! Check! Blushing Bride?! Check!

A little after 1:00 we loaded everyone up and made our way towards Cedarwood. Cedarwood is an AMAZING spot! It is a picturesque 1830's antebellum farm estate with historic home, vintage barn, rolling meadows, flower gardens and fresh natural spaces..it was a perfect place for Mom & Terry to get married, with the overall theme of "burlap & bling," both the location and the concept combined their individual tastes perfectly!

After a quick rehearsal the girls snuck away to the bridal quarters to spend a bit of time together getting ready and recapping all of the events that had already taken place throughout the day! A fair amount of giggling took place as well as a few premature tears being shed in anticipation for the big reveal of the bride to her groom!

Three sweet munchkins!

After Mom and Terry spent a few minutes together it was time for pre-wedding pictures. The fabulous team from Kristyn Hogan photography was onsite all day with us capturing each precious moment as it unfolded.

After pictures...it was time.

Time to cue the music...

Time to walk his mother down the aisle...

Time to give the bride away...

Time to join hands...

Time to let tears fall...

Time to say "I do"...

Time to come together...

As one...

As a family.

The only fitting way to wrap up the evening would be to go to Crossroads, where Mom and Terry met that fateful night, five years ago - September 22nd. We did just that, we recreated that night as best we could. The difference was -- we didn't enter the bar strangers, we were amongst family and friends and once again, we had one heck of a good time!