Joyful showers
Published On: June 25, 2010
Anna Hance of Nashville and Santi Tefel started dating sophomore year at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. Five years later in 2009, on the way to his cousin’s wedding in Mexico, they stopped over in Miami, Florida at a 5-star hotel on the bay. After watching the sunset and enjoying cocktails and dinner in their private cabana, Santi stunned Anna with a “bended knee” proposal. To top that off, he surprised her with a party of 30 of their college friends who lived in Miami at the time.
On the first of May, as relentless thunderstorms swelled the Cumberland River, they married in Nashville at the Church of the Assumption in Germantown with Santi’s favorite priest from his Miami high school, Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, officiating. “Having a Catholic ceremony is very special to us,” said Anna, a recent convert to Catholicism.
The bride wore an ivory Alvina Valenti gown from Arzelle’s with a beaded Empire waist, lace trim around the skirt and covered buttons down the back. Immediately before the ceremony, when crossing the rain-drenched street between the parish house and church, she also donned a black plastic garbage bag pulled up to her neck with tiny holes cut for her feet to protect the gown from the torrential rains. Her mother, Mary Hance, aka Ms. Cheap, held the umbrella over her head.
Mary Elizabeth McGinn was maid of honor and Anna’s sister, Elizabeth Hance Miller, was her matron of honor. Eight bridesmaids wore kiwi-colored dresses by Jenny Yoo, available in four different styles. They carried garden roses and hydrangeas with freesia. As the couple recessed after the ceremony, the Concert Chorale of Nashville sang the joyful Allelujah Chorus from the balcony.
Two bands—Soul Incision and Kazike (a Latin group)—played for the reception held at the Parthenon in Centennial Park. Kathy West, special friend of the bride’s family, designed all the floral decorations, and Chef Works provided the buffet. Friends and family came from Miami, Washington and Kansas City and from as far as Mexico City, Nicaragua and Chile.
After a seven-night wedding cruise in the eastern Caribbean, the honeymooners returned to Nashville to their home in The ICON. Anna is DAR (Development and Alumni Relations/Canby Robinson Society) Assistant for Medical Development at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Santi is a Concierge Banker at Avenue Bank.
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