With a Blue Heeler as Ring Bearer
[imgbelt img=theweddingbeast320.jpg]One year after the 20-year high school reunion, a couple of classmates become lifemates in rural Texas. Break out the Dr. Pepper!

Seeing as I’ve been a friend of the bride since the mid-‘70s (she’s got a photo of us in our Brownie troop gear as proof), there was nothing short of a rising creek or a tornado that would have prevented me from attending this particular ceremony. A few days later, the stealth hurricane christened “Hermine” would deliver both to the area, but for her wedding, Tisha scored the prettiest day imaginable. Mother Nature, it seems, gave her blessing to the union from the get-go.
So did many of our fellow classmates, a few of whom were in attendance at the nuptials. You see, the bride and groom reconnected at our twenty-year high school reunion and promptly fell in love last summer. One of our friends even photographed their first dance, not realizing that sparks were already flying between the two. Over the last year (and thanks to Facebook), we’ve been able to tune in to the story from around the world, Australia to Austin.
, the bride’s sister, readied wedding flowers wrapped in bandanas with longtime friend Tamara Cox. Cox had come to rural Texas all the way from Tuscany for the occasion.</div></p><p> Even as we gals approach middle age (Tisha and I both turn 40 in the coming weeks), we get misty-eyed over a real-life fairy tale.<br /> <br />The “prince” is a tall cowboy with a nice spread of land. And it was that land, inherited from his late parents, that served as the “chapel” for the celebration. Pointing the way to the property along the roadside were red and yellow hand-painted directional signs labeled simply “Tisha & Shannon Wedding.” The bride had mentioned in her email instructions that there’d be a Bronco marking the driveway to the home. I’d anticipated some sort of signage on “The Beast,” as the vehicle is known, but I hadn’t expected quite so much spray paint. <br /> <br />[imgcontainer left] [img:pamelakiss320.jpg] [source]Pamela Price</p> On a golden day in Powderly, Texas, Tisha and Shannon sealed their vows discreetly after pastor Brandon Dollarhite pronounced them husband and wife.</div><br /> I’ve attended <a title=)
Honestly, I can’t imagine any wedding more “country” than that. Nor can I imagine a better way to have spent that one particular golden afternoon in September.
Here’s to the happy couple–and a solid forty or so years of “happily ever after” in the country.