by Sandy Nelson

Rob Bearden of Nashville met Shelly Sharp from Knoxville in the summer of 2006, and they married a year later at Westminster Presbyterian Church. It was a gala weekend with a rehearsal dinner in the Hermitage Hotel ballroom and a reception for hundreds of friends and family at Belle Meade Country Club following the ceremony. Wedding planner Dawn Schenkel of PremierWED pulled off a gorgeous evening.

The bride’s gown of duchesse satin was designed by Ulla-Maija, and the bridesmaids wore black strapless gowns by Jim Hjelm. Calla lilies and blush-colored cymbidium orchids were the flowers of the day, and even the mothers and grandmothers carried old-fashioned orchid “tussy-mussies.” Hundreds of dramatic long-stemmed callas decorated the church altar as well as the club buffet and ballroom for a romantic ambiance.

After the couple’s first waltz, Rob danced with his pretty mother to a number he chose especially for her, “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?” Scat Band played to the delight of the crowd late into the night.

For party favors, guests received pink ribbon lapel pins promoting breast cancer awareness in the fight against a disease that has so affected Rob and Shelly’s family. Donations were made to the Susan G. Komen Foundation in honor of the newlyweds; each year, the couple organizes their friends to run in the Race for the Cure.

Rob and Shelly honeymooned for a week in the Turks and Caicos Islands where they adopted a stray dog they named Caicos.  Their furry souvenir flew in on Delta a month later to join the newlyweds in Nashville where Rob works at Renasant Bank and Shelly sells real estate with Regent Realty in Lenox Village.