Title 137

Real Travel Adventures International Magazine

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For Real Travel Adventure's Exciting "Bridal Give-Away"

Our International Honorees Could Choose

Anywhere In the World To Be Married & Honeymoon...

They Chose"Cobbly Nob"... And It Was Perfect

Now Where In the World is it?

Charmaine Pretorius, a former resident of Tampa, Florida, was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, and one of her hobbies is to surf the Internet. That is how she discovered Real Travel Adventures International Magazine's "Bridal Give-Away" and entered in the early fall, 2002. As the couple selected by this magazine to be our "Bridal Give-Away Honorees," she and her fiancé, Burgess Shucker of Greenville, SC, could have chosen anywhere in the world to be married and to honeymoon. Again by surfing the Internet, they selected a tiny place in the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Tennessee: the little town of Cobbly Nob, with only a few residents! Charmaine, who collects angels, found

ALMOST HEAVEN WEDDING CHAPEL and decided, without actually seeing it in person, THAT was the place to be married. A further enticement for choosing this mountain location for their December wedding was that she had never seen snow and fervently hoped she would get to play in it on their honeymoon. AND ALL HER DREAMS CAME TRUE, in an even more wonderful way than she could have imagined. As lucky recipients of the many wonderful gifts from the Sponsors of Real Travel Adventures' "Bridal Give-Away," she turned into Cinderella with her Prince Charming for a week of wonder!

Family and friends of the bride and groom gathered at a beautiful resort cabin owned by Twin Mountain Log Cabin Rentals (800-537-4330) at the top of a mountain for barbecue the evening prior to the wedding and from the balcony watched the twinkling lights in the towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge below, while a crackling fire in the living room was the gathering place for the fun of families uniting. Late at night the clear, starry skies gathered snow clouds, and just after midnight "Cinderella's" wishes began to come true as a dusting of snow began to fall gently on the peaks for her wedding day! She and her Prince Charming and their wedding attendants jumped into their "coach" (which did not turn into a pumpkin after midnight) and excitedly drove farther up the mountain for the three South African girls to make their first snowball!

Wedding Day was busy with beauty treatments by the "fairy god mothers" in Gatlinburg who worked their magic on hair and nails. In a few hours Cinderella and her bridesmaids, (not mean, ugly step-sisters, but beautiful, loving sisters), had been transformed from snowball play in jeans and sweatshirts, into lovely princesses, ready for the four o'clock wedding.

Charmaine was exquisite in her heavily bead-encrusted, pearl-white, halter-neck wedding gown of bridal satin with sweeping train. Her veil was a bouffant wisp of tulle, which was held in place by a rhinestone tiara over her auburn ringlet curls piled high on the crown of her head. She also wore an ivory and gold wedding brooch, hand-carved with doves, which has been worn by each generation of brides in the groom's family for five generations, since before the Civil War.

The brides' sisters, Karin from Tampa, and Elmarie from Johannesburg, were lovely in their slim-lined, strapless, floor-length dresses in shimmering champagne-gold taffeta with organza overlay. They carried bouquets, which their mother made from silk roses of burgundy, taupe, and rust. Their fleece-lined satin capes to protect their shoulders from the bitter cold outdoors were also made by their mom, Reena Pretorius, owner of Reena's Silk Creations in Tampa, Fl. Mothers of the bride and groom were also lovely in champagne, floor-length formal suits.

Prince Charming and his attendants were fittingly handsome in their black tuxedos with five-button, three-quarter velvet-cuffed jackets, provided by one of the "Bridal Give-Away" Sponsors, AFTER HOURS TUXEDO RENTALS

which conveniently can supply tuxes almost anywhere in the USA so that grooms' attendants coming from anywhere can be easily fitted and pick up their suits where they live. The groomsman, Scott Breuker and the father of the bride, Johan, got theirs in Tampa where they live, while the groom and his father, Harry, picked theirs up in Greenville, SC.

Family and friends took Highway North 24 about fifteen miles out of Gatlinburg into the little mountain community of Cobbly Nob to find the perfect little log chapel in the woods, most appropriately called ALMOST HEAVEN. After crossing a gurgling stream on a picturesque, arched foot-bridge of sturdy logs, guests entered the chapel at 3:30 p.m. where soft, romantic music inspired the mood while the steeply-pitched ceiling and log rafters lifted everyone's eyes to the abstract, blue and green stained-glass triangular peak. There was time to greet each other and to enjoy the lovely surroundings, enhanced by the row of Christmas poinsettias, before the four o'clock ceremony began. And as if to complete the Fairy-Tale-Dream-Come-True wedding plans, it started snowing just as the bride and groom arrived!

The tall, slender bride, looking lovely on the arm of her father, entered the chapel carrying a lovely bouquet of cream-colored fresh roses. The Reverend Wilson Lonns, a retired minister who is now the full-time wedding officiator at ALMOST HEAVEN, performed the simple and beautiful ceremony, with the bride and groom speaking touching vows of love to each other, which they had written themselves. There were no dry eyes in the audience as Rev. Wilson pronounced them husband and wife.

After the ceremony, as the couple posed for Dawn, the photographer for ALMOST HEAVEN, the chapel videographer Kim commented, "You certainly selected the right couple for a wedding magazine. No one could find a more beautiful bride and groom!"

When the newly-weds emerged to the picture-perfect wooded setting and stood on the porch of the chapel, Prince Charming kissed Cinderella. Then the guests blew bubbles to surround them and wish them a life together truly made in HEAVEN!

Their awaiting "coach" was decorated with balloons and "Just Married" signs and driven by the groomsman, Scott, who whisked them away to their exquisite reception buffet in Gatlinburg.

-By Bonnie Neely

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