WEDDING MEMORIES

STORY BY BETSY ILER & PHOTOS BY AUDREY CROSS

With patience and perseverance, good things often come to those who wait. Such was the case for Savanna Winslett Carleton’s groom, Creed, who repeatedly asked Savanna’s sister, Alex Winslett, to introduce them.

“She kept telling him it wasn’t a good time in my life yet,” the new Mrs. Carleton said. “I was at UAB getting my master’s in occupational therapy, and I planned to do travel therapy. I had a job lined up in North Carolina.”

While Carleton was in school, her mother, Wanda Winslett, was diagnosed with stage four cancer, so Carleton moved home to study for her board examinations after graduating in 2018. But her mother’s treatments stopped working, so Carleton changed her plans. Instead of taking the out-of-state job, she chose to stay home and help her mother. With that decision, the introduction Creed had waited years for was made, and the couple had their first date in October 2019.

But her mother’s illness progressed very quickly, and within a few weeks, she passed.

“Creed is in pharmacy school at Auburn University. We had only been on two or three dates when my mom passed, and I thought he’d be out of there, but he was right there for all of it. He was a Godsend,” Carleton said.

The following autumn, Creed decided to propose to the love of his life on the anniversary of their first date. He planned a picnic under a sprawling oak at some property he owned, and when Hurricane Delta moved through the area on the same day, he was determined to carry through with his plan.

“We were going to visit his property and look at the fall leaves,” Carleton said. “It was terrible weather.

WMuddy. Pouring down rain. I didn’t even bring an umbrella. We got out there, and the next thing I knew, he was asking me.” As wedding plans were under way, the venue was undecided until the bride attended the annual Wedding & Event Expo at Dadeville’s historic Mitchell House, an annual fundraising event for the Lake Martin Area United Way. Carleton was enamored with the Southern charm and elegance of the property and was thrilled to book the nearly 200-year-old home for her October 2021 event. Wanting her mother in remembrance at the wedding, she contacted a family friend, Bill Sanders, who had done her mother’s bridal flowers. Though he had since moved to Las Vegas, Sanders returned for the wedding and worked with Stephen Brown and Chris McClendon in Dadeville to recreate the same bouquets that had added color and sweetness to Carleton’s mother’s nuptials. “We loved The Mitchell House. It had everything we could have wanted and more,” the bride said. Carleton is an occupational therapist with Tallapoosa County Schools, and Creed will graduate pharmacy school this May. The couple plans to remain in the lake area. “When I graduated high school, I was ready to spread my wings. I went to Mobile and then to Birmingham, but as soon as I came home and got back to my smalltown roots, I realized the grass isn’t always greener somewhere else. The smalltown, quiet lifestyle I wanted is right here. This is the perfect place for us,” she said.

Savanna Carleton kept her mother in remembrance at her wedding last October

Guests signed a board for the newlyweds Among other amenities, Mitchell House provided a tent for the reception

A family friend returned to the area to create the flower arrangements In early autumn, the famous Gingko at Mitchell House had only just begun to turn gold

Cookies for the guests were iced in bridal colors

The love of family was the dominant theme as the Carletons married FEBRUARY 2022 LAKE 37