Miriam Arnett Shaw and Wesley James Lutes were married on Aug. 18, 2012 in the open-air chapel at the 4-H Center in Columbiana.

Photograph by Alisha Crossley Photography

Miriam Arnett Shaw and Wesley James Lutes were married on Aug. 18, 2012 in the open-air chapel at the 4-H Center in Columbiana. The Rev. Brad Moffett, whom the couple knew from Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn., officiated the 6 p.m. ceremony.

The bride is the daughter of Cindy and Bob Shaw of Birmingham. She is the granddaughter of Miriam and Bob Lewis of Camden and of Margaret Shaw and the late Bob Shaw of Mountain Brook and the late Charlotte Shaw of Columbiana.

The groom is the son of Nancy and Jason Lutes of Atlanta, Ga. He is the grandson of Betty Harris of Augusta, Ga. and of Sue Lutes and the late Jim Lutes of Daytona, Fla.

Given in marriage by her father, the bride wore an ivory gown overlaid with lace and with a row of covered buttons down the back of the dress to the bottom of the train. She also wore a cathedral-length veil that was originally worn by her aunt Kelley Gage, cousins Charlotte Walton and Jenny Burton and the bride’s mother in her 1976 wedding. The bride carried a handkerchief in memory of her grandmother, Charlotte Shaw. The bride carried a bouquet of white hydrangea, versilia roses, succulents and variegated pittosporum.

A reception with a live band followed the ceremony at the 4-H Center. Guests were served teriyaki chicken strips, roast beef sandwiches, marinated shrimp, colorful grilled vegetables, sweet potato bar, spinach and artichoke dip and assorted cheeses and fruit. The tables covered with ivory tablecloths topped with burlap runners. Colorful garden flowers in various sizes of glass jars, which were all collected by the bride, were placed on the runners.

The bride’s cake was a four-tier, stucco-design vanilla cake topped with fresh porcelana roses. The bride had painted a groom bird and a bride bird, which were put in the midst of the roses. The couple made their wedding toast using the crystal flutes that the parents of the groom used at their wedding. Chocolate chip cookies, M&M’s, peanut butter and molasses cookies, made by the bride and her mother, filled the groom’s table.

At the end of the reception, the couple left through a pathway lined with sparklers that the guests were holding. Following the honeymoon to Jackson Hole, Wyo., the couple resides in Atlanta, Ga., where they are employed by Mt. Paran Church.

Nancy Norris of Rosegate Design in Birmingham provided the flowers, and Diane Olexa of Olexa’s Catering in Mountain Brook provided the catering.

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