When we heard that our niece Hannah was getting married in Augusta on May 18th Ruth, Carol and I decided it would make a great adventure for the “Traveling Sisters”. We decided that taking a little road trip up to Nashville from Augusta would also be fun and give us an opportunity to see Ruth’s son Ike. So, start the planning… here we come.
On Friday, May 17th, Carol and I took the same flight from Seattle to Atlanta which arrived in Atlanta about 4pm. Ruth had arrived from Minneapolis about an hour earlier so she met us at the baggage carousel shortly after we arrived. We got our baggage then headed over to get our rental car.
We checked into the Hilton Garden Inn in Midtown about 5pm. Our room was nice with 2 queen beds and free internet. There was a pool but our time there was so short that I didn’t get the opportunity to use it. After resting for a bit and getting acclimated to the new time zone, we got ready for dinner. Carol had found a place that had great reviews. Wisteria is located in the Highland Drive area near Inman Park. It was a nice ride about 10 minutes or so from our hotel.
Wisteria has a great menu with lots of choices. I ordered the Georgia Mountain Trout and would recommend it. All of us enjoyed our meal and felt like it definitely lived up to its reviews. Dessert was the “small bites” special with Banana Pudding, Bread Pudding and Caramel and Sea Salt Smores. After dinner we went back to the hotel. All of us had gotten up early for our flights and planned to get up early Saturday morning.
Afterward we wanted to get on the road to Augusta to have time to check into our hotel and unwind before the wedding. Before we left the area we stopped to get a bite to eat at Victory Sandwich Bar which was a funky little place in the same area as Wisteria. It had great reviews and a menu with unusual but healthy sandwiches and salads, as well as a full bar.
We checked into our hotel, the Hampton Inn about 4pm, rested a bit then got ready to go to the church which was a few miles away. When we arrived at the church we were ushered up to a pew that had been assigned to family. Jon, Joyce and boys and their families were already seated so we had a few minutes to talk with them. 
The wedding was beautiful – Hannah was so pretty. She had 7 attendants as well as the groomsmen. Nolan (4) was the ring bearer and Maddie (5) was the flower girl. They both did a great job. After the ceremony when the minister pronounced them man and wife Hannah raised her arm in a big cheer and they rushed down the aisle, dancing along the way. As the attendants went down the aisle they too danced which put a special touch to it. 
The reception was at the Barn Pavilion at the Riverwood Plantation which is a great set up for banquets/ weddings, etc. Decorations were simple yet elegant and the food was an assortment of different things including meatballs, potatoes, salads, breads, fruit and desserts. Jonathan and Hannah did the traditional cutting of the cake then feeding each other. Although Jonathan was sweet and delicately fed Hannah a piece of cake, she smashed hers in Jonathans face. That gave him the OK to play a little and I think she ended up with cake on her nose. J They danced and encouraged their friends to dance. Everyone was having a great time. 
When we left we went over to Jon’s house to visit with him and Joyce for a while before going back to our hotel. It was so good to see family that we don’t have an opportunity to see very much. We all went away agreeing that we need to get a family reunion scheduled soon. Hopefully someone will be able to take that on!
Thanks Harry -
ReplyDeleteI never really know if anyone is reading my blogs! I mostly write them for myself as a reminder of good times. Many times I have referred back to a particular blog to remember a restaurant, entertainment or something else we did. I love to travel and enjoy almost everywhere I've been and want to go back someday. It will be fun to visit some of the same places next time around.
Liz