Wordless Wednesday Wedding Edition

My Dad's first dance ever

Rehearsal Day

Our other bride and groom from last July

A few more details

We have chosen our cake and it is scrumptious! The bride's cake flavor is 'cuatro leches' which has a Latin-American flair. That's pretty cool if you ask me, since the kids met in [my] Spanish class almost five years ago. Ky wants each of the cakes to have a different toasted meringue texture on the outside but they will all be the same on the inside. Her daddy, my Hubster, is making the mahogany cakestands in various heights to display them on the bride's table. Picture to follow when they are finished :-).

I washed 164 cloth napkins in the last 24 hours. I'll be ironing them for a while, haha! These are in the wedding colors of persimmon, butter cream (or canary yellow), and chocolate brown. We have @ 165 rsvp's which include pre-schoolers and toddlers, so this should work just fine for us.

I got to rent more tables and chairs today as the rsvp number increased.

I also found a fantastic website to help me out with purchasing massive pounds of vegetables for the hors d'oevres table. It is also good for how much meat and veggies you would need to purchase for large parties and weddings.

I hope you enjoy this peek into our wedding planning journey, which is nearing an end before we know it. The big day is only eleven days away, and we want everything to be set up and ready ten days from now.


Javamom

Sewing for the Wedding

This is what I'd love for us to be able to pull off!! Haha

We do have all the brown, yellowish-cream, and red-orange napkins that we could need, the canning jars, and some neat, old-fashioned items, which is a start.

One of the neatest ways to save money on a wedding is to do some of the sewing yourself, or find friends who can cut and sew and throw a crafting gathering. Provide snacks and drinks and enjoy the fellowship of friends and family. Talk about the possibility for Titus two moments and wonderful building of shared memories...this will do it!

We will probably stick with something simpler like the following that we put together on one of our craft days with friends:

We found the fabric on the clearance bins at our local fabric store, and the shades were exactly what we needed.

Here, you find us cutting and sewing together the wedding favors, which are heart shaped sachets.

Yep, that's me. I thought my eyes were going to swell shut from sewing at least 75 of these, then my friend (sitting next to me at the other sewing machine) handed me a chocolate and caramel Cadbury bar! It perked me right up.

The heart sachets are almost finished!

Tomorrow is another craft day. We'll bustle up Ky's dress so it is easier to wear during the reception. We'll also finish our centerpiece fabric cloth mats and sewing up the padded hearts. We plan to embroider on the hearts, as well.

We've a couple of birds to paint to look like Starlings, and we got our cake tasting finished today.

It has been a busy weekend, since we also moved our dd out of her apartment in the city, cleaned with her, and got half her things put into storage. All in the rain.

Yes, it has been a busy weekend.

Javamom

Wedding Shower

I wanted to share some of the neat things my friend and her daughter made for Ky's wedding shower, which was yesterday. I especially love the gift boxes made of beautiful papers that Ky chose. They are filled with Hershey's kisses and tied with organza ribbon that matches some of the fabrics we'll have in the wedding decor.

I'll tell you about the heart sachets later.

Just have a few shots of the yummy spread provided by a dear friend for Ky's shower

We enjoyed the company of friends, those younger, co-workers of Ky at S'bux, and those of us who've known Kylie since she was born :-). We are blessed with such good family and friends from several church families and community. A couple of the neatest moments were:

Everyone sharing how they met Ky and how long they've known her; about their friendship with her and or with our family.

The next neat idea was my friend, Sylvia's. She had everyone share a favorite family recipe on personalized, sunflower stamped recipe cards. My sister-in-law and one of our oldest friends took this idea a step further by giving gifts of the exact items needed to make their favorite family recipe. I just thought that was so personal and thoughtful. I'll have to post photos of those items in another post. Really, it was so neat.

Our hostess took more photos, and I'll post those another time! She got some really neat gifts; personal ones that weren't just straight from the gift registry.

Javamom

The Final Push

Jordan and I drove to the Park and lake today, the most gorgeous day we've seen in a long time. The Spring Peepers are singing 'en masse' which is a TRUE harbinger of the changing of the seasons. Spring has indeed arrived!

Check out this view!! We have many fun, family memories at this lake, so it is a rather special venue.

We are 14 days away from rehearsal and set-up for the wedding, so today was the day to get the final rental information calculated, reserved, and paid for. THIS makes it one of those milestone days. I went to the meeting center at the lake this morning to do exact measurements for our rental needs. To my relief, I believe everyone is going to fit! We have 125 confirmed coming to the wedding, and it is not as easy to figure out seating as one might think!

The park conference hall has 10 rectangular tables, but that is not enough. We will need to use at least three of those for hors d'oevres and the lunch buffet, and another one for the cakes. Calculating around those, then, we worked in some 60" round tables to fill in the gaps. Hopefully it will be a sunny, mild day, so we can put a couple of them outside if necessary, but we can also have the ceremony outside the hall, as well, and have the reception all pre-set and prepared in the hall.

outdoor area for gazebo and ceremony, if it is not raining!

the hall has a nice kitchen

This afternoon, I am setting to work on re-potting all these tulips. They are the duo-toned reddish-orange and yellow tulips that are such a beautiful combination. I found them at Lowe's last weekend on a three-for-the-price-of-one weekend special. Cha-ching!!

We need to save everywhere and anywhere that we can. This $2000 wedding has quickly gone over that dream just a bit. Not much, but we are pinching the pennies, now. Both families are teaching families, so none of us has a lot of spare change lying about. Not to mention this is our 2nd wedding in 8.5 months!! We are, however, intent upon an NICE party and celebration for family and close friends, but we know that we can cut corners here and there. I've already mentioned at least one specialty on the menu that was picked in this park: Blackberries! We will have blackberry tartlets for all who love them.

Tomorrow is our daughter's wedding shower, another sign of the final push towards The Big Day!

Whew!


Javamom

Playing with Ideas

While we still have a few ideas to toss around, the details really are narrowing down.

Wreath to go above the fireplace. We may scatter some dark red berries throughout.

I'll probably put the brown color sheer or curtain on the outside and the cream lace on the inside. It's too windy to mess with it much more today. I like how the lighter organza brown looks, but the darker is heavier in weight so hangs better.

We have quite a few flower garlands for this gazebo, but may need to buy a few more strands.

Now, these are another one of the best deals I've found for the wedding:

Normally priced $10.89 per pot, these orangy-red and yellow, two-colored tulips were three for the price of one, just for this weekend! This is such an excellent deal, as you can see there are @ 15 in each pot.

Enjoying this journey ~


Javamom

Score!

Ky and I completely wore ourselves out the last two days running important errands and shopping for decor and supplies. I scored extremely well just at Target alone while she updated the wedding gift registry. I made a mock arrangement to simulate the various ideas that we can put to use on any of the special tables: guest book, photo, and/or her cake table. We will pull from vintage things we already own, whether they be linens or pottery, grandma's quilt, a few things purchased at JoAnn's, plus add in what we found in the last 36 hours at two different Target stores.

Notice the 100% cotton napkins in coffee and persimmon just to the left below center. These were 1.74 per 4-pack. I still need to hit a couple more stores to snap up enough for the reception. I found three packs of six satin bows each for 97 cents apiece. We can stick those anywhere. I found the texture of a reddish-orange beaded charger that can add another layer to any of the tables under a centerpiece. It is not pictured here, but I got it for $3. The bird cages (2 small and 2 large) were $3 and $5 each. The red cotton quilt under all these items can be used for one of the tables: $7. It is actually a clearance item of 100% cotton and is really wonderful! Top it off with a couple of scattered vintage linens with a touch of persimmon red and the effect will be very nice.

The lace sheer and the brown organza sheer are my favorites. They're for the gazebo. The wreath hook is in brownish copper and I think we purchased four or six of them. One will go over the mantlepiece and the others on the doors, to hold wreaths which are not yet made.

I have 14 cream colored pots for potted wildflowers to line a balcony railing, add one or two to the mantle, or line a walkway toward the gazebo, weather permitting.

More views of the same ~ but I won't reveal more details here today. I want to keep some surprises for the big day :-)

Remember, these neat items will not all be in one place, but applied to tables, mantlepiece, a vintage red bike, and a gazebo, weather permitting!!

Javamom

Thoughts on Bridal and Wedding Planning

I spent most of today on laundry and wedding things. Threw in a batch of gluten-free brownies for good measure and it has been a fairly productive day!

Wedding planning as parents of the bride is much more detailed and involved than it was for us as parents of the groom last summer. And since this is our ONLY daughter, this particular angle will only happen once for us. Suffice it to say that I have enjoyed it immensely :-). This is such a neat (though a little bittersweet) season of life!

I have two formal dresses from which to choose for our daughter's wedding coming up exactly one month from today. It has been a cooler and wetter winter than normal, so I have been looking at various photos and patterns for making a wrap, bolero, or jacket to wear with either dress. Dd and I looked at patterns over a month ago, but didn't buy anything at the time. I spent the last hour or so pouring over dresses at Theknot.com, a fun and THOROUGH wedding planning site. I have narrowed down ideas and am ready to buy a pattern.


If I use my brown dressy dress (below) from our son's wedding last summer, I may add a couple of small details to it as well as a jacket or bolero. The jacket or bolero may be sheer or lace, or I may go with something that has embroidery on it. If I use a taupe formal that I also found last year, I will definitely keep the wrap or jacket more simple and perhaps shorten the dress a bit. I have found (but not yet purchased) shoes that would match either dress, being taupe with brown beading and sequins.

Shoe options! Aren't they pretty? I just love them and I think they are perfect!

We've added another ideal dessert to the dessert menu for the reception:

We pick these blackberries every spring at the park where the wedding is going to be, so we are going to make dessert tarts out of those that we flash froze last summer. Texans tend to call these dewberries, because they are a smaller variety of blackberry, but even texas gardeners, cooks and purists do not all agree. :-)

More updates to follow, as we are off to pick up the kids from the airport. They are returning from securing an apartment and job transfer information in Chicago.

Javamom

The Wedding Couple

Just posting it here, so anyone wanting to keep up with the wedding story and plans, Ky, Andrew, etc., can read all about it here, at Two Birds of a Feather. Love these kids.

Javamom

Favorite Things

This edition of Favorite Things is dedicated to the wedding planning/shopping. Our daughter, her fiance and I have been researching photos, websites and all sorts of ideas. She has been making notes while I take photos of ideas she and her fiance are settling on for the big ceremony and celebration. K's fiance has drawn and is finishing the painting of their wedding invitations.

These are the Perfect Shoes ~ Do they remind you of anything? They are patterned after the design of Danielle's shoes in the movie 'Ever After.' These are in ivory, while the Ever After shoes were in silver and white.

Table decorations. We hope to have Indian Paintbrush wildflowers to place in bottles. There may be something else in the water in the bottles, which will keep the little kids entertained.

The following informal bouquet is one idea dd has for the wedding ~

I bought these to place out on the front porch ~

Another idea for guest table centerpieces. I have a collection of pottery pitchers, and the kids like the idea of using them to decorate the tables. Sunflowers are one choice, but it all depends on what's most available. Dd loves wildflowers, so that is what she is hoping for.

Since tree leaves will be somewhat limited in mid-late march, we've come up with these tea lights to hang from various branches of our backyard trees.

One of my girlfriends, who is like an aunt to the bride, has bunches of ivy vines she needs to clip back in her yard. We are going to work together and use those vines to create our own wildflower heart wreaths.

We purchased these garlands and flowers already to post around the deck railing and in places on the second-hand iron gazebo we've purchased as a focal point for the service. I think we will wish we had more! Or, we can fill in the gaps with fresh flowers, perhaps.

I love symmetry when it helps to balance out areas that are not symmetrical, so I purchased 14 glazed pottery pots to line the deck. I told the kids that I liked them and would buy them for deck decorations in the spring anyway, and that they did not have to agree to use them for the wedding unless they really liked the layout and pots. I think dd was surprised at how it softens and dresses up the barnwood, so we'll either plant wildflowers or Tulips in them. I need to find four more at a different JoAnn's to have enough for the far railing to the left of where these photos end.

Do you like the look?

Ooooh, gorgeous lace we've already purchased ...



Another view of the bouquet idea ~

May or may not make some of these for the doors and windows on the house ~ Dogwood provides such a picture of early spring, but it may be the wrong shade of yellow for the look our dd wants.

Veil ideas ~

and a lovely, lovely shawl. Do I need this? I may go with a bolero or other jacket over my dress, instead. Easier to move around during the reception.

In case you are interested, this is where you can find those beautiful shoes!

I'll post a progress report when we get the gazebo assembled.

Javamom, mother of the bride :-)