A Speed-y wedding to remember

You could say they're the quintessential Sweet Home Alabama couple.

Him with his European flair trying to buff out her rough edges, and her with her Southern-fried frame of mind quick to dismiss his haughtiness. He considers himself to be cultured while she prefers remaining cantankerous.

But at the end of the day, these two crazy kids balance each other out and come together to make quite a spectacular pair.

They are Mr. and Mrs. Speed: the couple who may hold the record for the fastest wedding ceremony in all of NASCAR's nuptials.

Yes, the ceremony lasted a short 15 minutes, but now Scott Speed and his bride, the former Amanda Mathis, have an entire lifetime to delight in the joys of their matrimonial bliss set against the backdrop of NASCAR.

Through the sport is how the pair initially met. Amanda was handling public relations for Scott's former Truck Series team, Bill Davis Racing. A long friendship turned into a shorter courtship and Scott proposed at the end of last season.

Both Scott and Amanda, with their distinct personalities and penchant for all things outrageous, immediately began planning what turned out to be a wedding ceremony no one could forget.

Amanda gives Scott a face full of cake. Did he return the favor?

Why?

Because Speed was the proverbial flower girl, he sort of lost his pants, and the couple's first dance was to No Air by Jordin Sparks -- a Tiger Beat, American Idol-type and last artist you would think either Amanda or Scott would have playing on their iPods let alone their wedding.

"Normally, I would have done much better than that," Scott said. "That song is certainly not as pimp as some of the others I could've picked, but at the end of the day that really is our song. It played so much on the radio when we first started seeing each other, it really fits us and really it was the only song we could agree on."

That said, Amanda was bent on maintaining the authenticity of the evening and demanded The Imperial March (Darth Vader's theme song) be cued up just before the couple said their "I dos" and was pronounced husband and wife.

"We wanted to throw people off and once the ceremony was over we wanted it to be like, 'Ok, party on,'" Amanda said.

And it was. But not before some challenges were thrown the couple's way, namely trying to find an open weekend in the Red Bull Racing driver's demanding Sprint Cup Series schedule that would also accommodate Amanda's father and brother, both of who compete in the NHRA.

That left July 18, but it also left enough time for Amanda's soon-to-be husband and one of her bridesmaids to start a feud between one another that ultimately lead to the dismissal of said bridesmaid. And once one goes apparently they all go, and Amanda was left four bridesmaids short of a bridal party.

Mr. and Mrs. Scott Speed

"They were friends she had since high school and they were pretty ridiculous at times and they needed to go," Scott said. "But that also meant that we ran out of little girls that could throw flowers, so I kindly stepped up to the plate. I carried a basket and believe I did an elegant job of tossing the little pink rose pedals where she would be walking."

The last fire to be put out before the ceremony, which took place on the lawn of the Graylyn Estate in Winston Salem, N.C., was the price tag of this shindig.

Sadly, the groom was disturbed on the golf course just days beforehand to be informed he was nearly $20,000 over budget.

"That was my only crisis, really," Scott said. "I was trying to enjoy a golf game and had to come home after two holes. It was only supposed to be $35,000."

Wedding planners, as well as Amanda, pulled out their calculators and soon the couple was back in the black.

But Scott was missing a pair of black pants, his Prada wedding pants to be specific. Turns out, the fashionista forgot they were in the motorhome which was on its way to Indianapolis for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard weekend.

Scott admits to procrastinating on pulling together his wedding suit and then Amanda asked that he fashion it for her and a few friends.

"They were all sitting at the house and I came out all suited up, shoes, tie, jacket but no pants, I was in my boxers and said, 'We are missing something here,'" he laughed.

Nevertheless, it worked out. A last-minute trip to Neiman Marcus and Scott looked chic in Dolce and Diesel and Amanda looked as if she stepped off a page of Vogue's wedding issue.

And what if they had it to do over again?

"We wouldn't change a thing," Scott said.

But did we mention the couple toasted their wedding with Red Bull energy drink in clay goblets they handmade during a pottery class?

Only the Speeds!