Monday, August 5, 2013

A Little Wedding Preview

Our daughter was married last weekend, at our home. It was so much work, but it came together so beautifully! Just a small gathering of family and a few close friends. A gorgeous evening~perfect weather!

It's been 9 days since the wedding...boy was I tired! Mentally and physically! I don't know if I'd ever have a wedding in my yard again! Or maybe I would now that I know exactly what to do!

Anyway, here's a little showing of everything before the ceremony, and of course it's picture heavy!


My dear friends Lynda and Terry came over the day before and cut and assembled all the flowers. They did such an incredible job! We used mason jars for the vases, some painted and distressed with ASCP, some plain, half gallon size to pints, and jam sized for candle holders.


Lynda and the bride-to-be ~


I picked up 2 bouquets of white flowers from Costco, and the rest were gathered from the side of the road and my garden. Total spent on flowers ~ $18.00! Friends ? Priceless !!



The bride and bridesmaids spent the night at our house...they decided to practice !


These girls (Dani, Anna, and Georgia) were Amazing ! They were so sweet, so helpful and just so much fun do be around. (Hopefully they can say the same for me, but my stress level was rising at this point, so I'm not so sure !!)


My truly talented friend Linda K. did all the writing and all the decorating. I can't believe I don't have a photo of her working. She gave up half her Saturday and worked her magic!






She also loaned us all the table runners, lots of jars, and the barn wood signs for the wedding. She had made these for her son and daughter-in-law's wedding, and her DIL, Aly, was kind enough to share them!


Our church lent us all the big globe lights, which Brian had stretched from the top of the house to the garden. They were so beautiful when the sun set and they were all lit up!



My friend Debbie, of Dutch Mothers , lent us all the round tables and my friend Linda, of Folktales lent us all the linens. Have I mentioned how blessed we are when it comes to friends?



My friend Chris from Red Gate Farm  loaned me oodles of wonderful goodies from her daughter's wedding, including these amazing lanterns! I so wish I had a picture of them at night ~ they were stunning! She also loaned us all the white globe lanterns, gave us sparklers, which didn't arrive in time for her wedding, and so many cute touches: the Mr. and Mrs. signs, the vintage calendar, lights, stools, the " I Do" sign and the "I do at the Farm" flashcards, and so many other wonderful tid bits!










I think the first thing my daughter picked out was this cake topper! She loves rain and always wanted to wear Wellies for her wedding (she wore Toms!)
The groom made the cake ~ red velvet with cream cheese frosting!





They also had a sheet cake, cupcakes and cookies. More than enough sweets !



Our fabulous friends Fred and Tami, set up and served all the food, coffee, drinks, cakes, etc. ,  made it look lovely and cleaned up afterwards !! Fred lit all the candles and made an ice run and did everything his wife asked him to  !!




Brian's brother, Brad, and his adorable wife, Meagan really were so helpful the day of the wedding !
Brad was the go ~ to guy for everything and Meagan made all the bouquet's plus helped everywhere else she was needed...couldn't have done it without them !



 One of the bridesmaids, Anna, drew this beautiful picture and set it up as the guest book. She had this beautiful antique easel to display everything on. Gorgeous!



Due to the rural nature of our place, we had to have a "honey bucket" ! Hard to make one of those look pretty, but we did our best ! Linda did a cute chalkboard: I used some of my friend, Karen's, flowers, Brad and Meg's white tent and lots of mason jars with candles ! Oh, and a bucket of flashlights!!





The ceremony was to take place at the pond. Brian made the arbors all around and I put up some gauzy curtains and curly willow.




Simple table settings ~







And a cute last minute sign made by my hubby and written on by Linda.






Thanks to all of our amazing friends and family who helped out so generously with their time and resources. Brian's parents were stalwart in their yard work. They were here at least once a week all summer doing the nitty gritty!! My dad helped with all the take down and loading of chairs, tables etc., groomsman Michael did the music and helped clean up as did bridesmaid Dani.

We are truly blessed !

I'll get to the wedding pictures in the next few days ! It was a beautiful celebration of love !!