BLACK MOUNTAIN NEWS • WWW.BLACKMOUNTAINNEWS.COM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY14, 2013 • PAGE B1

Wedding Days B

Julie and Chris Moore planned theirwedding using as many local vendors aspossible.

“We love this community, and wewanted a lot of community involvementin our wedding,” Julie said. “I plannedthe wedding, and it took about a year toget it together.”

TheMoores are originally from FortSmith, Ark. Julie came to the area in1994, and never wanted to leave. Shecame to theMontreat Youth Confer-ences from1994-1996, and worked asstaff during her last summer. Aftercollege graduation she got a job teach-ing school at Forest Hill ElementarySchool inMorganton. Then shemoved toJohnston Elementary School inWestAsheville. She wanted a home and job inthemountains, and is delighted that sheand her husband now live in BlackMountain.

“We had a long distance romanceonly for one year, and then Chris joinedme in BlackMountain,” Julie said.

She planned her wedding aroundsimplicity. The outside wedding washeld at Lake Eden.

“I grew up going to LEAF, and knew Iwanted to bemarried at Lake Eden,”Julie said. “We held the rehearsal dinnerat the Swannanoa Holiday Inn, withBlackMountain’s Brown Bag Gourmetcatering it. Urban Flower Girl handledthe special wedding flowers, and RhodoCreations in BlackMountain furnishedthe cross and arbor.

Julie chose to order her J. Crewwed-ding gown online.

“After it arrived, I had it tailored tosuit me,” she said. “I liked the dressbecause it was a three dimensional flo-

ral lace. The alterations were done local-ly, so my dress was reworked and Ithink took on a local touch, and suited

me perfectly.”TheMoores chose to select their

rings fromGrace Jewelers in Black

Mountain.“It wasn’t just the original rings that

drew us to Grace, but their advice andhow they will help maintain our ringsover the years,” Julie said.

“We chose Caribbean type shirts andkhaki pants for Chris and his grooms-man, Stacey Vann, his best childhoodfriend fromArkansas,” Julie said.

The theme of theMoores’ weddingwas sweet tea and lemonade.

“We had jars of sweet tea and lemon-ade all around where the ceremony was

Saying ‘I do’ ...BLACK MOUNTAIN-STYLE

Julie and Chris Moore enjoy a light moment as he carries her across one of the bridges atLake Eden, where their wedding was held outside. PHOTOS BY SUNDAY GRANT PHOTOGRAPHY

By Babara HootmanStaff Writer

Lydiah Moore was not your usual flowergirl. She carried an unusual sign, and was ashow stealer.

See SAYING, Page B2

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BLACK MOUNTAIN NEWS • WWW.BLACKMOUNTAINNEWS.COMPAGE B2 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY14, 2013

to take place,” Julie said. “The minister was Jim Rich-ardson, fromBlackMountain.”

“I wanted to bemarried outside, but a storm blew upand it look likewewere going to have tomove inside thebarn, but at the last minute it went around Lake Eden,”Julie said. “It didn’t rain on our wedding. Our receptionwas in thebarn.Wehadtokeepourguest list for thewed-ding and reception to 150 people. That helped keep thewedding small.”

ThereceptionwascateredbyBlackEyedSusan fromBlackMountain.

Julie’s Australian shepherd, Leroy, was best dog. Hewalked down the aisle with Chris and sat with thegroomsman, Stacey.

Jeff Boyd, Julie’s brother, read the poem, “Love,” byRoy Croft.

Three-year-old Lydiah Moore, flower girl, carried asign saying, “Here comes your bride.”

“Shewasashowstopper,”Juliesaid.“Myotherflowergirls were Lauren Roughley, Emma Moore, CarolineBoyd, andCarleeBoyd. Theywere precious.My brides-maidwasmysister, Jill Roughley, and shewore a simplegreen dress.”

The Moores’ guest book was unusual. It was a photobooth.

“Peoplewent into theboothandgotdressedup,” Juliesaid. “It was provided by Bright Life Photography inSwannanoa. I met them on one of my visits to LEAF.”

Julie andChriswere able toworkwithin their $10,000budget, and exceeded it by only $2,000.

“The wedding was what we wanted, and we werepleased.,” Julie said.

TheMoores make their home in BlackMountain.

Julie and Chris Moore pose with the banner that read, "They lived happily ever after," in the barn at Lake Eden as theyenjoy their reception. PHOTO BY SUNDAY GRANT PHOTOGRAPHY

SAYINGContinued from Page B1

Ashley Elizabeth Bucy and JordanBennett Dropkinmarried onMay 6,2012. Their wedding put the emphasis onfamily.

“It took the entire time from the an-nouncement of the engagement to thewedding day to prepare the wedding,”Lenna Bucy, mother of the bride, said.“My role was beingmama. I helped ithappen. Ashley came up with the ideas,and I helped her implement them.”

Ashley remembers Jordan proposing.“Jordan proposed on February 26,”

she said. “We went for a hike on Rattle-snake Lodge Trail on the Parkway andhe got down on one knee and askedmetomarry him, givingme his grandmoth-er’s engagement ring. He had plannedthe rest of the day for us at the Bohemi-an Hotel in Biltmore in Asheville. I had ahot stonemassage and then we had awonderful dinner at the Red StagLounge.”

Finding the right wedding dress waselusive at first.

“I wanted a 1950s Audrey Hepburn‘Funny Face’ wedding dress,” Ashleysaid. “I found several on Esty and eBayand ended up buying one on eBay for$64. It was peach with a floral decal onthe bodice and a puffy tulle skirt. It wasbeautiful, but not formal enough for awedding. I ended up wearing it for therehearsal dinner. I kept looking for thedress, and was getting worried that Iwould not find one in time.

“One day I was in town visitingmygrandma talking about the dress trouble.Mymom asked Gigi, that’s what we callour grandma, when did she andmygrandfather get married. It was 1952.Mom ask if she still had her weddingdress. It was in the bottom dresserdrawer in a bag. I tried it on and it wasas if it wasmade for me. It was a littleout of date, and in not so good shape,having been not stored properly, butdefinitely worth looking into.

“We took it to Tula’s Threads in Swan-nanoa and throughout several tripshome and numerous fittings we createdthemost perfect, unique dress of mydreams. My aunt onmymother’s sidegaveme her veil to use. It had a loopystructured bow as the head piece, andlong beautiful lace. Instead of using theveil as a veil, we had Tula attach it to theback waist of the dress so it flowed overthe back of the dress to the ground, andthe rest of the dress was three quarterslength.”

Tula Cook is a well-known profession-al seamstress in the Valley. She wasamazed at the antique dress and thefinal product.

“It was definitely a challenge, but thefinal results were truly well worth allthat all of us went through,” Cook said.

Traditions: old and newAshley’s engagement ring was Jor-

dan’s grandmother’s ring. Ashley’s gown

was her grandmother “Gigi’s” and wascomplimented with a lacemantilla wornby her Aunt Brenda at her wedding.Ashley’s bouquet was created withbroaches from hermother, Grandmoth-er Graepel, aunts, and friends. Her ear-rings were fashioned by her sister, Ali-cia. The needlepoint wedding announce-ment was originally done by her Grand-mother Graepel for her Aunt Brenda.Bucy reworked it for Ashley and Jordan.

The bandanas used at the receptionwere in memory of Ashley’s beloved dogDelilah, an English mastiff, who passedaway earlier in the year. She wore ban-danas reflecting the time of the year.The decorations were courtesy of J.Crew.

Hidden River was the venue for thewedding. Kelly Gilles was the weddingcoordinator for Hidden River. Shehelped with every part of the wedding,organized everything, was very promptin communicating, and nothing was too

small or too big for her to handle.Ashley had special bouquets made

for the bridesmaids from The ButtonFlorist. The were beautiful handmadebouquet of buttons, “upcycled“ buttons,and ceramic pottery buttons. She gavethem to her bridesmaids the night of therehearsal dinner.

The reception featured a cake buffet.Four different kinds of cakes from ShortStreet Cakes inWest Asheville wereserved. They included banana puddingcake, Mexican chocolate cake, lavendercake, and bacon apple cake.

The vows were traditional.“We did not do our own vows,” Ashley

said. “We wanted short, sweet, and noreligion. Jordan’s cousin, Ethan Dropkin,conducted the service. For the ‘youmaynow kiss the bride’ part I had a stoolhidden behind a tree trunk, and Aliciabrought it out. I stood on it to be levelwith Jordan to kiss him. The look ofsurprise and amusement on his and

everyone’s face was priceless.”“This wedding brought all of us clos-

er together, because it was a familyaffair,” Bucy said. “The wedding wasfun, andmany people told us that theyhad never had somuch fun at a wed-ding.”

“Momwasmy rock,” Ashley said.“We fought like cats and dogs some-times, but I couldn’t ask for someonebetter to have helpedme. She was soorganized and I am not, helped with allthe hands-on projects, got things donethat I hadn’t even thought of. She wassimply amazing. We came out closerthan we have ever been, and I’m sothankful for it all.

“My twin sister, Alicia, my brides-maid, was amazing. She helped somuchkeepingme calm and together. She gaveme a beautiful, just what I wanted, brid-al shower. She played such a key rolemaking the wedding so special. She keptme laughing the entire time, and herspeech was so perfect. It was funny, andheart felt.”

.

Something old,SOMETHING NEW,

something borrowed,SOMETHING BLUE

Ashley kisses her husband, Jordan, with the help of a stool that she had kept hidden forthe right moment to give the petite five foot tall bride the boost she needed. PHOTO

PROVIDED BY LENNA BUCY

By Barbara HootmanStaff Writer

Ashley Bucy's grandmother, "Gigi" VirginiaBucy, wore the wedding gown first andmany decades later, Ashley had the dresstailored for her wedding.

Ashley Bucy's wedding gown was hergrandmother "Gigi's" (Virginia Bucy) andwas complimented with a lace mantilla veiloriginally worn by her Aunt Brenda.

Wedding Days

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Black Mountain is a wonderfulplace to grow up, and it proved just asenjoyable to plan a wedding here. An-drew and I were married on June 9,2012,at my home church, Black Moun-tain Presbyterian. This church raisedme, and it seemed natural that it

should take me to this next chapter inmy life.

Bill and Aimee Buchanan were ourpastors. They did a wonderful job per-sonalizing the service and making thespace very intimate. Precision Graph-ics printed our wedding invites andprograms were designed by my dad,

The PERFECT PLACEfor a LOVE STORY to begin

(far right)Megan andAndrew'swedding washeld at BlackMountainPresbyterianChurch, withthe receptionfollowing atthe WhiteHorse BlackMountain.

(right) Aspectacularwedding daykiss! PHOTOS BY

JONMULLEN

ByMegan BowmanSpecial To The Black Mountain News

See LOVE, Page B4

BLACK MOUNTAIN NEWS • WWW.BLACKMOUNTAINNEWS.COM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY14, 2013 • PAGE B3

Wedding Days

Jenifer Gregg and Joe Baker saidtheir vows on Cinco deMayo, adding atouch of festivities to the formal occa-sion.

The couple met on Plentyoffish.com,an online dating service. They sawmanysimilarities in each other’s profiles. Sheis a sound technician at Lifeway Confer-ence Center in Ridgecrest, and whentheymet, Joe was a youthminister inOld Fort.

“He saw that I worked at Ridgecrestandmymentor/father figure, KevinAuman, grew up with him,” Jenifer said.“Also, Joe’s dad andmom used to workat Ridgecrest. One of their biggest at-tractions was their love of southerngospel music.”

Joe asked Jenifer to marry him onOctober 1, 2011, and she immediately leftfor a two weekmissionary trip.

“I had said yes before I left and start-ed planning the wedding immediatelywhen I got back,” Jenifer said. “I wasmy ownwedding planner. Since both ofmy parents died when I was a senior inhigh school, Joe and I paid for our ownwedding. We had a budget of $10,000 andthat included the honeymoon. We stayedwithin our budget.”

Jenifer says selecting her weddingdress was themost fun part of her wed-ding.

“I went to David’s Bridal in Asheville,and several friends went with me,” shesaid. “Every dress I tried on, I didn’tlike. Finally I found the right one. I real-ly fell in love with the dress. It had amodern vintage look. My friends agreedthat it was the one.”

She wore blue Converse tennis shoeswith the dress, because she doesn’t likeheels.

One of Jenifer’s favorite parts of herwedding was when Joe sang “Just a KissGoodnight,” to her. It was their song.The song list for the service included“River Flows In You,” by Yiriuma. Thegrandmothers were seated while “Arriv-al of the Birds,” by the Cinematic Or-chestra played, and the flower girls andring bearers walked down the aisle to“Christmas Canon Rock,” which thebride edited, by Trans-Siberian Orches-tra. “You Snuck YourWay Right IntoMyHeart,” by Love Handel Phineas andFerb, played as the couple left the cha-pel.

“Joe sangme the song, ‘Just a Kiss,’by Lady Antebellum, and the song wedanced to at our reception, was ‘Un-chainedMelody,’ by The RighteousBrothers.

“It took a few dates before I let himkiss me good night,” she said.

Jenifer and Joe included specialmembers of their families who hadpassed.

“I had a picture made includingmymom, dad, and grandfather,” Jenifersaid. “I placed a single rose in front ofthe picture. On Joe’s side of the family,his sister had two little boys who died atchildbirth. I used two toy dump trucksfilled with flowers to remember them.”

A sentimental touch to the wedding

camewith Jenifer wearing her mom’sengagement and wedding ring. GraceJewelers in BlackMountain reset thestones for the bride.

“It took Joe a three hourmeetingwith my Aunt Betty before she was surewe weremaking the right decision tomarry,” Jenifer said. “He textedme andaskedme to come and rescue him fromAunt Betty.”

Joe’s father, the Rev. John Baker,

married his son and Jenifer.Although the wedding went as

planned, the two young flower girls gaveamoment of pause.

“I wasn’t aware of the situation at thetime so I wasn’t worried,” Jenifer said.“Both little flower girls were under theage of two, so they weren’t too sure thatthey wanted to walk down the aisle. Infact, one didn’t want to leave her daddy.Of course, they were show stealers, so it

didn’t really matter.”The flowers for the wedding were

from It Can Be Arranged inMarion.“They were half silk and half fresh

flowers,” Jenifer said.Jenifer designed andmade all the

invitations and programs for her wed-ding.

The reception accommodated 70people.

“We didn’t have a traditional weddingcake,” Jenifer said. “Instead, a friend ofminemade cupcakes for us. They car-ried out my color theme of wine-black-cream and ivory. There was a white orcolored button on top of each cupcake.There was also carved beef and shrimpwhich is Joe’s favorite.”

“I gavemy bridesmaids necklaces,chocolate, and huge sunglasses to wearto celebrate Cinco deMayo as we wereleaving the chapel at Ridgecrest.

Megan Bannerman Bowman, (meganbannerman@gmail.com), a local pho-tographer, provided the wedding pic-tures.

A FIESTAWEDDINGCouple marry on Cinco de Mayo

By Barbara HootmanStaff writer

Jenifer and Joe Baker leave the chapel wearing items to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Joe wore a large sombrero, and she wore oversizesun glasses, as did the bridesmaids. PHOTO BYMEGAN LEE PHOTOGRAPHY

Jenifer and Joe Baker, along with their wedding party, celebrate the wedding and Cincode Mayo. PHOTO BYMEGAN LEE PHOTOGRAPHY

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BLACK MOUNTAIN NEWS • WWW.BLACKMOUNTAINNEWS.COMPAGE B4 • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY14, 2013

Wedding Days

meal we all shared.The Stony Creek Boys

were our band of choice,and of course, my grand-father, Glenn Banner-man, was our squaredance caller! Fun washad by all, and I didn’tsee a soul that could keeptheir feet still.

Andrew’s mother,Jenny Bowman, gra-ciously made our wed-ding cake. Her cake wasjust as wonderful as thesweet treats sold andmade at the Red RockerInn.

Flowers are a weak-ness of mine, and they

were high on my prioritylist. I first met UrbanFarm Girl at the BlackMountain Tailgate Mar-ket. After seeing thebeautiful flowers provid-ed at the market weekafter week, I knew I hadfound my vendor. Theydid a beautiful job, asyou can see!

Our wedding day wasan absolute blast. Wemight not rememberevery second of it, butwe had the best timewith our friends andfamily. This town is theperfect place for ourlove story to begin.

Craig Bannerman.Our reception was

held at the White Horse,just next door to thechurch. It provided theperfect space for our potluck - barn dance. Themain entree was provid-ed by the Red RadishCatering Company. Weall know you can’t gowrong with that decision.

Our guests broughttheir favorite side dishalong with a recipe cardfor us to keep. We lovemaking the dishes andremembering what a fun

LOVEContinued from Page B3

Megan Bowman with her bridesmaids, who are her cousins. PHOTO BY JONMULLEN

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