Pendergrass Vows
Ann Stewart Banker marries Bradford Pearson Pendergrass
Published On: December 29, 2011
Ann Stewart Banker and Pearson Pendergrass met during their freshman year at Washington and Lee University but didn’t start dating until they moved to New York after graduation in 2005. Pearson proposed in 2010 in the sanctuary of the New York church they attend and then whisked Ann Stewart off to dinner at Bouley followed by drinks in the rooftop bar of Gramercy Park Hotel where they were joined by friends. They celebrated again the next day when they met Ann Stewart’s family in Napa for a week’s vacation.
They married in July 2011 at West End United Methodist Church in Nashville. Rev. Michael Williams officiated, and Andrew Risinger played the organ. There was a violin solo from the opera Thaïs, one of the bride’s favorites, played by a member of the Sacred Arts String Quartet. Ann Stewart wore a Vera Wang gown of duchess satin and tissue organza with her grandmother’s Belgium Princess lace veil, also worn by her mother Jean Ann and aunt, Cathy Brown. Her 15 bridesmaids wore Lela Rose dresses in ivory, and the 15 groomsmen wore white dinner jackets.
A reception followed at Belle Meade Country Club. Mark O’Bryan of the Tulip Tree had suspended three huge boxes filled with pink hydrangeas over the black and white dance floor on the tented patio where guests danced to the high-energy music of the couple’s favorite band from W&L days, Right On.
A buffet of southern fare featured a biscuit bar including chive and parmesan drop biscuits, sweet potato biscuits and traditional biscuits with buttermilk fried chicken, thinly sliced Benton’s country ham, orange maple butter, hot mustard, local honey and Tennessee chow chow. There was also a raw bar of shrimp and oysters as well as grilled beef tenderloin. Leland Riggan designed the five-tiered basket weave cake, and Elizabeth James coordinated the event.
Later in the evening, waiters passed mini chocolate milk shakes, fries with truffle salt served in parchment cones, sliders and buffalo chicken bites with blue cheese fondue served in a ceramic spoon. A Krispy Kreme delivery truck handed out individual boxes holding two doughnuts to guests as favors at the end of the reception.
After a wedding trip to Bali, the couple returned to New York where Ann Stewart is an associate producer at the Fox News Channel and Pearson is in business school at Columbia University.
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