A roadside gas mart off Route 395 became a reception site, as Tennessee Thomas and her guests moved the party to the Whoa Nellie Deli after a lakeside vow exchange in the Eastern Sierras. The shift turned a diner at Tioga Gas Mart into a music-led gathering that blended family musicians, surprise performers and local diner theatrics.
The Story in Pictures
Thomas, a drummer who has played with The Like and Nice As Fuck, has described that project, saying, "NAF is the slightly less crass version." She met furniture maker Ben Goodman about a decade ago, and the couple’s proposal came three years into their relationship during a beach ritual meant to welcome the soul of an unborn child. Thomas recalled, "We went to our favorite beach, sat on the sand, looked at the waves and invited our baby’s soul to join us." Goodman surprised her with a ring woven from a yellow wildflower chosen for the moment.
The couple complied with a civil, drive-through ceremony during the Covid years with their daughter Izzy, then six months old, serving as witness. Thomas later called that registry event "the least romantic thing that’s ever happened," but the pair kept it secret, citing Goodman’s joke, "If we tell people, they won’t come to the real wedding!" The formal celebration came while the family was on a California road trip and briefly stranded near the Sierra crest, after their camper got stuck in sand following a motel stay that included visits to nearby tufa formations.
Goodman improvised a wooden track to free the van, and Thomas proposed getting married on the spot. They arranged vows at the midpoint between Mount Whitney and Death Valley, with Farmer Dave Scher acting as celebrant and folding the region’s high and low peaks into a short sunset ceremony beside the lake. About sixty adults and 25 children made the trip to that site, arriving by routes that included Yosemite and other Sierra roads.
Thomas wore a bespoke bridal gown assembled from archival fabrics by Charles Anastase, a dress that traveled from Paris to London to Los Angeles before reaching her. After vows and a brief golden-hour toast with champagne and macarons, the following day’s reception at the Whoa Nellie Deli featured Jack Shit, the band fronted by her father Pete Thomas, and the diner’s "world famous fish tacos" on the menu.
The reception played like a roadside variety show. The bride managed multiple costume changes, including a pink dip-dyed dress with a cape she zipped into the couple’s van before reappearing. A server shed his apron, pulled on a leather vest and shouted "La Bamba," and Jack Shit launched into a raucous set that closed to applause and a child skidding to grab the bouquet. Surprise turns from Z Berg and Jenny Lewis interrupted the diner flow, and Father John Misty delivered an impromptu rendition of Scott Walker’s "Duchess."
The combination of a makeshift lakeside ceremony, traveling couture and a diner-stage reception grafted the couple’s touring life onto family celebration. For a short stretch of Route 395, roadside counterculture, live music and communal improvisation replaced the ordinary rhythms of a highway stop.
