What is more iconic than Johnny Cash’s hideaway farm, when you are looking for a perfect place to tie the knot in Music City, Nashville, TN?! If you are recently engaged, looking for a very intimate location to get married to your best friend, keep reading. Love is Love.

Darien Photography has been named one of the best wedding photographers in the US, top wedding photographer in Nashville by MyWed, and has been featured in the 2023 list of best weddings by Nashville Bride Guide. This wedding here has been published on Equally Wed.

Kate and Michelle got married on December 31st, 2019 at Storytellers Hideaway Farm and Museum. Kate is a native Nashvillian and grew up very close to Johnny and June Carter Cash's home in Hendersonville, TN. She loves Johnny more than just about anyone. The Storytellers Hideaway Farm and Museum is Johnny Cash's farm in Bon Aqua, TN; he owned it and loved it for more than 30 years, calling it "the center of his universe." Recently a renovation occurred in the building where they decided to be married; the small stage where Johnny played is up and running again and hosts songwriters and storytellers every Saturday night.

Kate and Michelle met about 7 years ago now at an LGBT coming out support group put on by a local church in Nashville. They were friends since then and reconnected last year when Kate was back in Nashville visiting family (she lived in Milwaukee, where she pastored a church there). "We thought we were just catching up but it quickly felt like a date!" -Kate

The last day of the year turned out to be a perfectly sunny and windy day; we had just enough time before sunset to take some portraits outdoors of the two of them, as well as with Michelle's kids and the family and friends that came from all over to celebrate with them. Johnny Cash's tour bus, parked on the property, was the background for the group photos. Everything about this wedding was unique, colorful and joyful. I loved the quote they chose for their program:

"If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don't hesitate. Give into it... joy is not made to be a crumb." -Mary Oliver

A very sweet moment was when they made family promises with Wesley and Catelyn (Michelle's kids) as they committed as a new family unit. After saying the vows to each other and sharing communion, they were pronounced married. They were glowing!

After the wedding ceremony, BBQ, pie and first dance, they ended their evening (and 2019), true to the roots of this Johnny and June Carter Cash farm—with story-telling!

Kate was super excited about the location, and she described their day better than I could:

"From Johnny and June’s bed, to Mark Cash doing our sound, to my best friend singing “How Can I Keep From Singing?”, to incredible southern BBQ, to locally made southern pies, to getting in a circle and telling good, legendary stories, to nearly missing our processional, to my yaya sisterhood setting up the entire wedding, to lovely words raining on us by way of a wedding sermon, to being covered in prayer, to walking in to the Beatles and out to Peace Train, to Mary Oliver, to the Gospel of John, to dear ones baking our Communion bread and choosing the best Port wine, to two ELCA ministers, a PCUSA minister, a Unitarian Universalist minister, a United Church of Christ minister, a United Methodist minister making up this American Baptist’s wedding liturgy, to the wonder of New Year’s Eve, to getting to marry the person with whom my heart found a home... our wedding was ... breathtakingly beautiful. I am changed, moved and in awe. How can I keep from singing?"

It was such an honor to be invited to celebrate Michelle and Kate's wedding as they committed to walk each other home.

They spent a week based out of San Francisco, seeing amazing sites like the pacific beaches, the majestic Redwoods, wine country and Yosemite for their honeymoon.

Congratulations, Kate and Michelle, enjoy these favorite images from your day!