Bates/Balka Wedding Photos

Josie's dream of a fall wedding has been fulfilled. She and Kelton tied the knot yesterday afternoon at Cove Lake State Park near Knoxville, Tennessee. The backdrop for the ceremony was a lake and the Smoky Mountains.

Many of the Bates siblings were part of the wedding party. Tori Bates Smith played violin, Erin Bates Paine played keyboard, and Lawson Bates performed an original song called "Crazy Love." The ceremony lasted 30 minutes and opened with a prayer by Kelton's father, who has faithfully prayed for Kelton every night.

The wedding colors were burgundy and "blush," according to Erin. Approximately 500 guests attended. The couple's getaway car was a Lexus GX470 SUV. Below are a handful of photos from their special day.

 Wedding flowers

The Bates siblings

Bates/Balka wedding party

 Josie and Kelton's guestbook

Josie Bates and Kelton Balka wedding

Josie and Kelton Balka

If you enjoy this blog, be sure to visit Ellie's other blogs (NashvilleWife.com and DuggarFamilyBlog.com).

For photos of the ring bearers and flower girls, check out our post from earlier today. More wedding photos can be found on the UPtv website.

Photos courtesy of Sarah Moser Photography; UPtv

Tori and Bobby

Have you had a chance to "meet" Tori Bates' boyfriend, Bobby Smith? With two younger sisters, he comes from a small family, which explains why Tori was a bit nervous about introducing him to her super-sized family. Bobby currently attends college in Florida.

How cute is this photo of the new couple? They joined Gil and Kelly Bates for a double date at Rickard Ridge BBQ, located inside Cove Lake State Park in Caryville, Tennessee.

Tori Bates and her boyfriend, Bobby Smith

Photo courtesy of thebatesfamily.com

Recap: Bringing Up Bradley

Bringing Up Bates "Bringing Up Bradley"

• Kelly and Carlin visit Once Upon A Child to shop for birthday presents for Bradley. Kelly goes all out, and Carlin tries to convince her to take it down a notch or two. “He don’t need no more toys,” Carlin tells her mom. “Y’all spoil him.”
• The rest of the kids agree. Now that Kelly is a grandmother, Zach says she is in “full spoil mode.” “We all wish we were grandkids,” adds Josie.
• Looking back on the shopping trip, which was more of a shopping spree, Kelly admits that she may have gone overboard. “When I got to the register and heard the total, I thought, Gil is going to absolutely die when he hears how much I spent!” admits the mom of 19. The tab is $176.97.
• Later, Carlin accompanies Lawson to a photo shoot for his upcoming album, to be released this spring (if everything goes according to plan). Taryn Yager, a friend who has become the unofficial Bates family photographer, takes the pictures inside her in-home studio.
• It takes a little while for Lawson to loosen up, but by the end of the photo shoot, he’s posing like a pro. Taryn’s pictures turn out great!
• Lawson hopes to do a tour for this album. Since fall 2013, he has released one CD and two singles.
• The Bates family heads over to Cove Lake State Park, which is where Zach and Whitney began their courtship, for Bradley’s first birthday celebration.  Whitney goes all out with decorations, arriving five hours early to set up.
• “I found out real quick in this family, you don’t let them know what your skill is because you’ll be recruited to do that from then on for all the events,” says Whitney, smiling. Until now, she has kept her decorating expertise a secret.
• For the younger kids, the highlight of the party is kicking plastic balls filled with ice cream around the room. If you have ever seen a hamster ball, they look similar to one of those. All you do is load ice and a few other ingredients into the ball and then kick it around until it turns into ice cream.
• Surprisingly, the ice cream balls work! “Best thing ever!” says Judson.
• The gift table is quite overwhelming. During the party, Chad looks at Erin and says: “Erin, we can’t do this for Carson. We wouldn’t have a place to put it.”
• Towards the end of the party, Zach and Whitney invite both sets of their parents, as well as Zach’s grandparents, up to the front of the room and give them each two wrapped frames, containing two pictures from their maternity photo shoot.
• Gil and Kelly don’t have their reading glasses on, so it takes them a few moments to realize what’s going on. Everyone starts screaming when the announcement is finally made that Zach and Whitney are expecting baby No. 2.