Their experienced staff has been coordinating wedding services for over 25 years. They provide both a minister and a chapel host to make sure your ceremony is as care free as possible. Of course, you are welcome to bring your own minister if you so desire.

The chapel seats up to 100 guests. Our facilities also include a changing area with a full length mirror, a first class sound system, and a piano. Because of the unique acoustics of Thorncrown Chapel, listening to live or recorded music is a special experience. The chapel music minister is available to play the piano and sing for your ceremony for an extra fee. We can also help you locate stringed quartets and other musicians to add beauty to your special day.

©Purdy Art Co.

The Thorncrown Worship Center

The Thorncrown Worship Center is a larger building. It can accommodate up to 300 people and is available for both large and small weddings.

Designed by world renowned architect E. Fay Jones, the Worship Center sits on a hillside overlooking the valley below. As you enter the building, you walk down cascading steps to stand in front of a 50 foot glass window. The Worship Center boasts trusses that are even more elaborate than Thorncrown Chapel and a steeple that rises 75 feet into the air. It is a favorite of both local folks and out of town guests.

©Purdy Art Co.

For more information, please visit our www.thorncrown.com or contact them at (479) 253-7401. Their secretary is in their office Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Sunday morning we went to Thorncrown Chapel but we missed the services. Can’t win them all, but we had one great day Saturday. Saturday afternoon we got to Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  We had heard good things about a Ozark Mountain Hoe-down, and we were going to it.  We had already reserved tickets so we could get up front somewhere in the center.  When we got there we went to the theater and got the tickets so when it got show time we would not spend all our time waiting in line.

We did not know what to expect.  We were not disappointed because it turned out to be a great show.  Once again we found out it doesn’t have to be dirty to be good.  This is a show you can take the entire family to.  For Mama Rose and I it was $20.00 a piece for two and a half hours of great entertainment.  All the performers are great.  The musicians, singers, and comedians are wonderful.  Santa Claus even made an appearance, and he sang to all the kids “Santa Claus is coming to town.”  All of them are down to earth folk. During the intermission and after the show they come down to where the audience is and are real happy to meet everyone.  I cannot remember all their names because I get mixed up which name goes with who.  The only two I can put their name with who they are is P-nutt and Granny.  Didn’t get to talk to P-nutt, he was back patching up Granny’s knee cap.  But that is another story.  Some of the cast posed with Mama Rose and I.  In the picture with us from left to right is the drummer, keyboard, and bass.  Soon they will go on tour throughout Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas.  If you get a chance to see them it will be worth your while.  The comedy had me laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.  The country and gospel music is great.  The fiddle player and keyboard men are magicians with their instruments.  The drummer is new but he is just great.  When the bass player sings don’t close your eyes or you will think you are listening to Merle Haggard.  The girls are lovely and can sing.  They do a great clog dancing number.  To check their schedule and what is happening go to their web sight.

The statue of ‘Christ of the Ozarks’ indicates that Arkansas is very much in the Bible Belt

This chunky, square state in the heart of the Deep South shares borders with the more evocatively named Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas and Oklahoma. Were it not for the fact that a certain Bill Clinton was born and raised here, Arkansas might not register on British radars at all. But for anyone wanting to get off the tourist trail and experience the real South, the state is worth a look, especially if you’re taking in neighbouring hot spots such as Memphis and New Orleans.

As you might suspect from the earlier mention of the Great Passion Play theme park, we’re in God-fearing country. Massive roadside signs invite you in to churches to find out ‘what God has planned for you’ and half the state’s 75 counties are ‘dry’, which means they don’t sell alcohol for religious reasons.

Other Christian attractions include a 20m statue Christ of the Ozarks and the New Holy Land, a full-scale recreation of Biblical scenes. There’s also the Creation Truth Foundation’s entertaining Museum Of Earth History, with exhibits designed to ‘provide legitimacy to the Genesis story’.

While all this paints a dour picture, it’s actually fabulously entertaining as long as you don’t take it too seriously, and there are plenty of other surprises.

The anomalous Eureka Springs, for example, is a quirky, bohemian town where people are ‘proud to be different’. They have well-attended gay-friendly Diversity Weekends here, as well as UFO conventions (sometimes they merge into what are known locally as ‘gaylien’ weekends). The local mayor leads ghost tours in addition to her normal civic duties.

Our first Eureka moment, when we realise the place might be a bit different, comes as we drive in to town and are met with a giant phallus-shaped neon sign hanging outside the Palace Hotel and Bath House.

We stay overnight in the 1886 Crescent Hotel, a former cancer hospital now famous for its ghostly apparitions. Guides, or ‘intuitives’, give (decidedly suspect) nightly tours explaining all about auras, coloured orbs and how to spot a friendly ghost. One room is rumoured to have a spectre, Theodora, who packs your bags for you in the morning – I should be so lucky.

After an undisturbed ghost-free night, we take a walk downtown. Peaceful chain store-free streets are lined with Victorian buildings, art galleries and shops selling antiques and old-fashioned ‘candy’. Further out of town, we check out the Art Colony, a friendly commune where you can meet local artists such as skilled antler-carver Antler Dan and watch them at work.

Religion’s still big here. Eureka has 24 churches for 2,400 citizens and a quick drive out of town lies the Thorncrown Chapel, built by Frank Lloyd Wright’s apprentice E Fay Jones. Set in a peaceful forest, its ‘organic’ design features more than 550sq m of glass and 425 windows to ‘bring the outside in’. It came fourth in the American Institute of Architects top ten buildings of the 20th century.

Arkansas’s biggest draws, though, are the green expanses, clear lakes and rivers, and tree-covered mountain ranges that earned it the nickname ‘the natural state’. We take a raft out on the Buffalo River and float the scenic 13km stretch from Ponca/Steel Creek to Kyle’s Landing.

In the afternoon, we hike to 60m waterfalls for a picnic lunch. Then it’s back in the raft, a few more swift-running rapids making us work hard in the hot sun. By the end of the day, we’re in need of a proper drink. Hopefully we haven’t come to shore in one of the dreaded dry counties.

Seven nights’ fly-drive costs from £695 per person, flying Heathrow to Little Rock, via Chicago (Tel: 0113 243 0000, http://www.northamericatravelservice.co.uk). Rooms at 1886 Crescent Hotel (www.crescent-hotel.com) start from around £60 per night. For more, go to http://www.arkansas.com

BARE ESSENTIALSArkansas (pronounced ‘Arkansaw’) is in the south of the US, bordering six states, including Texas and Tennessee. Bill Clinton was born in Arkansas, marrying Hillary there and serving as governor in the state capital Little Rock

Currency:£1 = US$1.6

Language:English

I chose images that gave me the most emotional memory.  The memory was mine and mine alone.  Perhaps it was a conversation we were having during the time the shutter snapped or an emotion that their wedding brought up in me and my own past, or an expression that made me laugh, or a situation that brought me to tears.  I figured if I was going to look these images on the wall for a while, I wanted them to remind me of what it meant for me to be at their wedding and the emotions I felt while capturing their day.  Some of the images are beautiful reminders of the journey I have been on thus far.  Some are just a reminder of what joy it was to have met these beautiful people.  Others are a reminder of what it means to love, honor, forgive, respect, share, or laugh. 

Turns out this is the best advice I can give to my Brides and Grooms when choosing the images to place on their walls or their albums.  Choose YOUR memories.  Not what you want others to see.  When you are ready to leave this world and you want to reflect on your wedding day….what do you want to see? 

When I worked in Hospice years ago, this was the most fun for all of us.  Reliving the “real” memories of their past.  Your wedding day memories should be just that.  Real…not posed….not planned. 

I will change my memory wall from time to time.  As my heart is brimming full already this year with all of these emotions.  I welcome you to stop by the studio and share in my memories and yours.

After the wedding we went around town and captured a few of the yellow bell bushes that were in bloom that weekend too.

I’m not going to say I knew Julie was the one for me the minute we first got together but I have known for quite sometime that she was the one for me.  I have never met someone that compliments me the way she does and we seem to be similar in so many ways.  People who know both of our backgrounds would have never thought we would have hit it off the way we have. 

On Dec. 20th, 2008 I popped the big question and luckily she said yes.  We went together to Blakemans Jewelry in Fayetteville and purchased her ring.  It seems like immediately we started making plans.  Anyone who knows the 2 of us knows that if we have something to get done we will work until it is completed no matter how far in advance it is.  We have selected December 12th, 2009 at noon as the date.  We will have a private ceremony for family and friends at Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs.  We will have live music at the ceremony provide by Fred Mayer of Quintessent Music.  When we went for our music consultation everything he played was absolutely beautiful making it very difficult to decide what we wanted played.  In the end, with some coaching from Fred, we were able to pick a few songs that we both really liked.  Anyone who has an event that they would like to have classical violin music played I would highly recommend Fred.  Following the ceremony we will have a reception, that everyone is invited to, at the Inn of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs.  After the big day Julie and I will drive to Tulsa where we will fly to Miami and then drive to the Keys for our Honeymoon.  We will spend 3 nights in Key West and 3 nights in Key Largo before returning home just in time for Christmas.

Do to the size of the chapel we are having to limit our guest list for the ceremony but we are hoping everyone can join us for the reception.  If not DColeman Photography will be capturing the entire event and I will post some of the pictures online.

A little prayer time with the minister before Rachel and Benji take the leap of faith!  The bride and groom are both grad students at Ole Miss in Oxford, MS.  Their wedding was beautiful and full of so much love.

And then it was if spring had sprung all over at their reception at the Gazebo Restaurant.  They had one of the most beautiful wedding cakes I’ve seen this year.

And then fun, fun, fun.

Caught a quiet moment.

What happens when two realtors meet, fall in love?  The decide to buy real estate together.  Amanda & Josh from Texas were married at the Thorncrown Chapel and had their reception at the Crescent Hotel.  I caught this moment between the groom and his dad moments before they left for the chapel.  It’s always wonderful to see young men taking the time to say a little prayer and “keeping it real” 

They are doubly blessed to have wonderful loving, supportive parents!