Couples tie knot redneck style at BamaJam

ENTERPRISE – Here comes the bride, all dressed in … camo.

Deja Lichty took the most important vows she will ever say with a beer in her hand, wearing a camouflage wedding dress. Her groom to be, Michael Dawson, would not settle for “I do”, when asked if he took the lady in camouflage to be his lawfully wedded wife.

With all the redneck he could muster, Dawson uttered a guttural yell that echoed throughout the Bama Slam Saloon at BamaJam.

“Git-R-Done!”

With that, Deja Lichty of Panama City became Deja Dawson at BamaJam’s Redneck Wedding Saturday night, the brainchild of the BamaJam folks and a promotion organized by two area radio stations.

“We just wanted to do something different,” said Dawson, who got married in overalls and little else. “Nobody else has ever done anything like this. We figured, why not?”

Jessica Buchanan and Eric Harmon of Phenix City also got married on the Budweiser Stage at BamaJam Saturday night. Buchanan chose the traditional wedding dress. Harmon chose a dress coat lined in camouflage.

“This is the most fun I’ve ever had,” Buchanan said. “All of those pre-wedding jitters? They aren’t there.”

This was – as billed – a redneck wedding in every sense of the word.

The brides were driven to the stage on the back of a gator. The grooms walked briskly behind, especially Harmon, who begged for a bathroom break.
Dawson wandered off to find a camera, but there were plenty of flashes popping in front of the Budweiser stage. This redneck wedding was attended by hundreds of – strangers.

Shirts were optional for the wedding party.

And forget the traditional wedding march. Deja and Michael walked off stage as man and wife to the sound of Hank Williams, Jr. Jessica and Eric celebrated nuptials to a little “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”.

And to those who would say this is not the correct way to get married, well, they don’t really care. They love each other, they say.

“After we met, Eric told me he had a cold heart, that he could never love anybody,” Jessica said.

“Today, I love her with all of my heart,” Eric said.