Nashville Wife

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Old Country Church

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old country churchWhen we’re driving along backroads, which happens quite frequently here in Tennessee, I always enjoy snapping photos of old country churches, and whenever I see an old building, it blows my mind to think about the stories that it holds.

The photo to the left is of Station Camp Baptist Church, located in Cottontown, Tennessee (northeast of Nashville). One of the earliest frontier churches in America, Station Camp was established in 1796–the year Tennessee was admitted into the Union and the year John Adams, the second president of the United States, was elected into office.

I love this quote on the church’s website: “Just as the station camp (from which the church got its name) provided settlers and weary travelers a refuge from frontier dangers, Station Camp Baptist Church has provided a refuge for weary souls for over 200 years. May it continue to do so.”

While I have been to a couple churches that can trace their roots back to the 1800s, they have always been in more modern buildings. I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience Pu'uanahulu Baptist Church Hawaiiattending service at an old country church. It happened one year ago, while Mr. Handsome and I were on vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii. …

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DIY Wedding Reception

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We were married at a local Baptist church, and our wedding reception was held in my inlaws’ backyard. They own a country property with several acres of land and plenty of shade trees.The red building in the pictures below is called the barn, although it is really just a glorified tool shed that is sometimes home to a few chickens. (The chickens all passed away over the winter, and my inlaws decided to wait until after the wedding to replace them.)

Due to rain, our initial plan to set up for the reception all day Friday didn’t work out. Rain was also in the forecast for Saturday, but thankfully we had the library banquet hall reserved as a backup location.

After the rehearsal dinner on Friday, we looked at the weather radar and decided to risk it and start setting up outside. A couple dozen friends and family members from out of town came over to the house, and within an hour, the backyard was transformed into a beautiful wedding venue.
On Saturday morning, while my bridesmaids and I were having our hair and makeup done, everyone else was back at the house adding last minute decorations. When Mr. Handsome and I walked into the backyard after the wedding ceremony, we were blown away. It was a scene right out of a magazine, and there was even a private dinner table set up for us in the tree house.
The weather was perfect, and our guests enjoyed themselves immensely.
The tables were decorated with mason jars sitting on slabs of wood that Mr. Handsome cut himself. As you can see, the large jars had hydrangeas in them. Each small jar had a batter-powered tea light sitting on white sugar. (Our initial plan was to use sand, but all the sand we found was dirt colored.)