Magic in the Mountains

Every corner of Annie Humes and Luke Taylor-Ide’s wedding day was an ode to love and West Virginia.

Annie Humes and Luke Taylor-Ide
Circleville, WV

written by Taylor Maple
photographed by Marlyn McClendon Photography

On a warm, occasionally rainy autumn day, Annie Humes and Luke Taylor-Ide vowed to be together forever. And alongside their community, they also did so much more. They made new memories on land that had been special to Luke’s family for decades. They honored Appalachia—the region’s music, food, flowers, farmers, people, and children, all centered and celebrated. They fostered an evening for West Virginian mountains to perhaps rekindle an ancient kinship with peaks in Nepal and Scotland.

And they did it all with so much love.

saying “I do”

Having the wedding at Experience Learning in Circleville was an easy decision. Luke’s family has long had a hand in developing the land into what it is now—a haven for folks of all ages to enjoy the outdoors and learn from the environment. His family still resides in a home that adjoins the property, and Luke has long wanted to share a deeper taste of his childhood there with those close to him. “My whole life, I’ve tried to explain my childhood to people, growing up on this epic mountain,” Luke says. “And it doesn’t really click for anyone unless they go there.” With its location just off the western side of Spruce Knob, the views are spectacular.

Luke and Annie began their wedding day with a private ceremony in his dad’s backyard, one of many customs they drew from a country where they both have roots. “In ancient Scotland, typically the immediate families would marry in a chapel,” Luke says. “And then they would go out for a much more public celebration. So we said, ‘Well, that’s cool—a party to unite the clans and a magical ceremony to unite us.’” It allowed them the time and space to say exactly what they wanted to say to each other and the freedom to make the larger ceremony later in the day more focused on the families and friends they were bringing together. “Luke and I are both people who have a lot of words all the time,” Annie says. “It was important for both of us that we had a space that felt really intimate, where we could exchange vows that we wrote ourselves and were speaking about things that were really true for us.”

For the second ceremony, they were led by a parade of children carrying streamers to a stunning wooden yurt where a bigger crowd awaited. There, they enjoyed readings from loved ones, recited scripted Buddhist vows they had each adapted into their own words, and drank from a Scottish quaich, a two-handed chalice traditionally used to toast to a couple’s new union.

Having children be a big part of their day was important—Annie has a son, they had dozens of other children on their guest list as well, and, of course, the location lends itself to the laughter of kids. “We wanted people to be with their family as they were with our family,” says Annie. “A bunch of those kids who were there had all been at summer camp there together the year before. It’s just an awesome place to be a little kid.”

through the love of others

During the reception, sentimental touches were everywhere you looked, and so were signs of the community that Annie and Luke have cultivated around them. Noted square dance caller Bill Wellington invited guests to join the newlyweds for a square dance in lieu of a traditional “first dance” before breaking off and hosting a concert of children’s music for the younger guests. Music flowed, with The McCoys playing a traditional set of music before dinner and Ryan Krofcheck and Seldom Free taking the helm after dark for music that rang throughout the hills all night long. Luke’s mother is a folk musician and Annie’s father was in a bluegrass band, so the soundtrack of the night was something they knew had to be special. “To me, it was important that it was music that evolved in those very mountains,” Luke says.

Runners adorning the tables offered a glimpse at another set of mountains: the Himalayas. Luke’s family has generations-deep ties to Nepal through their work, and friends from Kathmandu sent linens that Annie dyed with West Virginia plants through eco-printing. “We thought that would be a really cool way to connect Nepal in a subtle way, but in a way that was really meaningful,” she says.

Wildmour Farms and Mallow Meadows Farm in Pendleton County provided fresh flowers for accent pieces and bouquets, and the majority of the floral arrangements came directly from friends and family. In the year leading up to the wedding, folks collected flowers from gardens, yards, and fields around West Virginia and Virginia that were dried into beautiful arrangements and dotted around the wedding venue. “I’m so in love with the stuff that grows along the edges of fields here in this area,” Annie says. “And a lot of that is not the flashy daisies or sunflowers. It’s goldenrod and ironweed and stuff that’s beautiful when it’s fresh, but also just as beautiful and kind of part of the aesthetic—of the beauty of the place we live in—even as it’s drying.”

Food was provided by Potluck Food Truck out of Hillsboro, which is run by a friend of the couple whose food they were ecstatic not only to eat, but also overjoyed to share with their crowd. Luke and Annie co-run the Pendleton County Farmers Market, which meant they also had connections who were itching to provide fresh, lovingly cultivated ingredients for their big day. “All of the food at our wedding, more or less, was either from this county or the surrounding counties,” Luke says. “We knew so many of the farmers. We had farmers just donating us meat as wedding presents.”

finding brigadoon

All of these details and more made Annie and Luke’s wedding a stunning affair to behold and a day that seemed fortified by the very land that they stood on. As the enchanting evening came to a close, a friend took a photo of the event that invoked the memory of the ages-old story of Brigadoon. “In ancient Scotland, there’s a myth of a secret village that appears only once every 100 years out of the fog,” Luke explains. “It’s there to protect itself and remain pure.” The friend stood from afar, taking an almost otherworldly snapshot of the wedding lights, West Virginia stars, and late night mist that encircled the venue. He sent it to the couple with a declaration that underscored the magic they had felt all day: Brigadoon had appeared on Spruce Knob.

The Details

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