There was a VIP wedding in Oglethorpe County last weekend.
Former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal married Brenda Micali at Fair Havens in Arnoldsville on Saturday. About 116 people attended.
Deal, who was governor from 2011-19, married Micali nearly three years after the death of his wife Sandra.
“It was a sweet and simple wedding,” said Linda Lauderdale, who owns Fair Havens, which is on Old Edwards Road. “They are just a match made in heaven.”
Lauderdale said Micali is her former sister-in-law and the two have been friends for many years. Micali and Deal visited last Christmas, and Lauderdale later invited Micali to hold the wedding at Fair Havens in late August or September.
Micali called back and offered two dates: June 14 and June 28.
“I said, ‘Let’s make it June 28,’” Lauderdale said.
She added a valet parking circle, rearranged rocks and “killed ants,” Lauderdale said. She also had the house painted and the roof fixed.
Lauderdale used to host weddings and run a bed and breakfast at Fair Havens, but her husband had cancer for years before he died in 2023 and said she hadn’t “done much in a while.”
She was thrilled to host the couple.
“The longer I’m with him, the more I like him,” Lauderdale said. “Not because he was a governor. He’s the nicest man I’ve ever met.”