Two weeks ago Andrew and I went to Grenada, Mississippi for two days for the most amazing Southern wedding.
I grew up half in Mobile, Alabama and half in a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri and I have been driving past Grenada my entire life. When traveling back between my two hometowns (though I now have THREE hometowns!), Grenada has been this marker of feels-like-we’re-almost-there-but-not-quite-there and, honestly, when I booked Beth and Ethan’s wedding, I was ridiculously excited to actually, like, stop in Grenada for more than a quick “We’re passing Grenada!” mile marker phone call. Growing up in two totally different United States cultures, I’m like this weird Southern + Mid-Western hybrid and, every time I go back to the South, I am always amazed at how much every single Southern town feels like home to me, even if I’ve never even been there before. I love the South!
I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised! My family is Southern for, like, all of the generations going back and, when I got engaged to Andrew, my grandfather looked at my aunt and indignantly said, “She’s marrying a damn Yankee!” like I’d made a serious error in judgement and, to this day, that is my favorite story about my grandfather and my raised-in-Colorado husband. I mean, at least he lived in Texas for two years before I met him, right? He’d say that counts for something!
But! This post is not about my husband’s lack of Southern heritage. This post is about the time that we went to Grenada, Mississippi for thirty-six hours and, among other things, found the very best (and tiniest!) donut shop and spent a wonderful morning walking around Lake Grenada.
After we checked out of our hotel and arrived at Lake Grenada, it poured for, like just a few minutes and, as we drove around, we kept saying “We should have brought swimsuits!!” because the lake was so gorgeous and we have not been swimming without kids for, like, five years. Lake Grenada is huge and we pulled off the road several times to explore little hiking trails and, at one hiking trail, we found the cutest turtle that stared us straight in the face for so long that I looked at Andrew and asked, “Is that a statue?” and then pulled out my phone to FaceTime our babies so that they could see a turtle in the wild (our boys loved nothing more than seeing a turtle in the wild). I can’t say the turtle loved it – he didn’t move an inch until we walked away! – but that forty five second FaceTime made Max and Henry’s life. I mean, who gets to FaceTime a real, live turtle? I swear they thought it was more exciting than seeing one in the wild and, as I mentioned, turtle sightings are their very favorite thing.
Also, because I am my father’s daughter, I found a Civil War landmark full of canons and historical marker signs (no one loves canons and historical marker signs more than my father) and Andrew and I had so much fun spending the morning walking through the forest and not worrying about being anywhere on time.
It. Was. Awesome.
And if we look tired in the photographs below? That’s because we totally were! Andrew and I crashed as soon as we got to our hotel on Friday night, slept past breakfast, shot Beth and Ethan’s (gorgeous!!) wedding, and then crashed all over again as soon as we walked into our hotel room. It’s amazing how hard parents sleep when their children aren’t around! Usually we end up with at least one kid in our bed every night and, when I woke up on Sunday morning, I was totally confused as to why there wasn’t a blonde head tucked under my chin. And also! Full disclosure! I totally made Andrew watch the Matthew Broderick Godzilla with me one night and I’m pretty sure he’s never going to let me live that down for the rest of my life. Here’s a few photographs from our Sunday morning in Grenada!
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* Lissa Chandler is a creative portrait and wedding photographer in Northwest Arkansas who specializes in senior portrait and wedding photography. Lissa is known for creative and emotive photography in Northwest Arkansas and currently lives in Fayetteville with her family: a husband who does not believe in ghosts, a four year old whose favorite super hero is Superman, and a two year old who really wants a Spiderman blanket. Lissa is currently booking Sessions for 2016 Seniors, 2016 Weddings, and 2015 Lifestyle Newborn and Family Sessions in Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, and all of NWA. She is available for wedding work nationwide. *