On August 18, Lisa and Rocky Thornburg, an ag pilot, became husband and wife in a small ceremony at the Pine Bluff Regional Airport, about an hour south of Little Rock, Arkansas. The bride wore a white dress, the air was bursting with love and happiness, and, when it came time for the reception, the gravy was flowing in its fountain.
Lisa Thornburg
Yes, instead of a tabletop fountain full of chocolate or Champagne or even cheese dip, an Arkansas specialty, Lisa and Rocky rang in their occasion with four tiers of white gravy, with biscuits served alongside for dipping.
Lisa Thornburg
“It was truly all we had hoped for,” Lisa says of the ceremony. What did surprise her, though, was the social-media storm that began brewing even before the receiving line was finished.
Among the Thornburgs’ guests was Melinda Mayo, a meteorologist with the ABC affiliate in Little Rock, who posted a video of the gravy fountain on Twitter. It quickly picked up a wave of retweets and a flood of commentary.
“The video went ‘viral’ after a Hollywood director and an ESPN reporter retweeted it,” Mayo says. “We even started getting tweets from England, where they were totally confused since they call cookies ‘biscuits.’”
To date, the video has been viewed nearly 1.5 million times.
This is how we “wedding” in SE Arkansas. It’s a gravy fountain with biscuits on the side! pic.twitter.com/h9rDr2t0cW
— Melinda Mayo (@KATVMelinda) August 18, 2018
Now there’s one question you’re probably itching to ask: How did they keep the fountain from clogging up with bits of sausage? Morrison’s Country Style Peppered Gravy Mix, supplied by a friend of the bride. Just add water.
“The fountain was definitely the talk of the wedding,” Mayo says. And now, it’s talk of the Internet.
