Gina and Adam Hensley
I met the man I was going to marry in September 1999. My best friend had a crush on a guy named Scott who invited her to a party at his house. She was nervous about going so she talked me into going with her. There were lots of people at the party, but one particular guy caught my eye. He had long blonde hair down to his chin and piercing blue eyes. I thought he was cute and since I was available I asked Scott about him. His name was Adam and he didn’t have a girlfriend. I thought that was great news but I wanted to keep my options open so I mainly stuck by my friend’s side that night. A couple days later we went back to Scott’s house and I saw another guy there who was really cute. He had a red hat on (and I love guys in hats!) and he was wearing a shirt that showed off his sculpted arms. I asked Scott about this guy, too. Imagine my surprise when Scott informed me that the guy in the hat and the guy with the long hair were the same person! His long hair had been tucked into his hat the second time I saw him and he looked different. Needless to say we began dating very soon after that. To this day Adam still jokes that I tried to cheat on him with himself!!
During our dating years, Adam would often show his romantic side by bringing me red roses on special occasions and even on not so special occasions. I often imagined us getting married and I knew I would carry a huge bouquet of red roses.
We dated for four years before getting engaged. But as soon as we became engaged, I immediately called my parents and my sister and the planning began.
We chose May 14, 2005 as our wedding date. My mom, Adam and I scoped out every outside wedding venue in Knoxville and the surrounding area. We fell in love with this restored farm house in Maryville called Ridge Valley Farms. There was the cutest little white gazebo sitting at the bottom of the hill with a breathtaking view of the mountains in the background.
I come from a family who takes pictures of anything and everything in the world so we knew that finding the right photographer was extremely important. I had seen a book of Barry Seaton’s pictures at one of the other wedding venues we looked at and I immediately fell in love – with the pictures, that is. I wanted a variety of candid and formal pictures on my special day, not just a bunch of pictures of posed people with forced smiles. Barry’s unique photojournalistic style turned out to be exactly what I was looking for to document the most important day of my life.
Barry and his assistants, Steve and Mel, definitely did not disappoint on our big day. They took pictures of everything from my manicured toes to the top of my curly hair. They also got pictures of my flowers – beautiful red roses, just like the ones Adam would always bring me. After spending seven wonderful days in Oahu, Hawaii we returned to our home in West Knoxville and back to reality. We are now living happily as Mr. and Mrs. Hensley and I’m looking forward to the many red roses that are in my future.
