Behind the Scenes on Wedding Day - Part I. "Almost Showtime!"

Well, the events of the previous weeks and day left me a bit drained, but I got a few hours of sleep and finally THE BIG DAY had dawned!  In this blog I have already written a glossy-magazine style perfectionistic overview of the wedding, as well as my own personal gratitude to God on granting a wonderful wedding day for my daughter.  Well, I thought as a final dose of realism, I would offer a behind-the scenes, glitches-included, record of the wedding day!  (Often taking stock of what didn't work is what is most helpful in wedding planning for the future!)

The wedding ceremony was to begin at 12:00 noon, and the bridal party ladies were scheduled for hair and makeup and due at the church by 7:30 or so.  Thus to allow for pre-wedding photos, the day had to start out pretty early.  (TOO early...note to self, try to talk my younger daugher into a later start time for her wedding festivities!)

The bride, bridesmaids, and I had all spent the night at the Waco Hilton, so the plan was to meet in the lobby at around 7:00 AM and carpool to the church.  Besides waking up and showering, I had to figure out what I needed to bring.  Besides my MOB outfit, I still had the Bride's gown and veil and undergarments with me.  One very important item I had forgotten at home was my dressy silver clutch handbag, so I just loaded smaller items in my big everyday purse and plastic grocery bags, and had my hubby get out of bed to help me carry all the clothing down to the lobby.  The wedding dress literally must have weighed at least 20 pounds by itself!  (I figured I would just do without a purse for the ceremony - couldn't tote that big thing with me down the aisle!) 

My husband stayed behind at the hotel -- his white dress shirt still needed to be ironed.  He also needed to get the digital projector that he had brought with him set up and loaded with the slideshow down in the reception room.  (Of course, at this point, the bride and groom still had the digital file of the slideshow --somehow we were going to have to get it from them before everyone had to be at the church for the ceremony!)

The ladies and I loaded up a couple of cars with our wedding attire and accessories and headed to the church.  Our wedding coordinator had graciously offered to have juice and sweet rolls waiting for us at the church, and when we arrived at the bridal dressing room, about 10 minutes late, they were indeed ready and waiting, as were the young ladies from Trendz Salon in Waco.  And what delightful, helpful young ladies they turned out to be!  Their informal banter helped to calm all of us down a bit, and they also shared some helpful advice and forgotten supplies.   (I think they must have a few weddings under their belt!)

"Backstage" - in the Brides' Room

This is where the pre-wedding hours reminded me of getting dressed for a performance or a play!  Hence, getting ready for "Showtime!"  Our star, the bride, had one hairstylist attending solely to her and that stylist got started on her first, knowing that she would require the most time.  The secondary hairstylist started working on the bridesmaids, while the makeup artist started on other bridesmaids. 



We opted to have all the bridesmaids (and me) getting their makeup done professionally, and that became a line item on our wedding budget.  This was to ensure that the makeup style and colors were all complimentary and done at the same level.  The hairsyling was up to each individual attendant -- they were to pay for it themselves if they wanted their hair styled by the professionals.  I paid for both my daughters' hairstyling, (the bride and the maid of honor) knowing that the bride and my younger daughter, with the important role of MOH and singing two solos in the wedding, would want to look her best.  I'd say about half the bridesmaids opted to do their own hair, and half opted to pay for the professional touch.  (I must say that they all looked gorgeous in the end!)



That's me on the left after
getting dressed and "made up".
The Bride is getting her makeup
done on the right.

I just opted for a blowout and style of my short hairstyle, rather than a fancy "do" and took my turn in the makeup chair.  (We offered the services to the Mother of the Groom too - but she opted to do her own.  Note: -The MOG is such a pretty lady naturally-- she looked amazing without the professional services!)

We had one last minute challenge to deal with.  My daughter the bride had purchased lovely matching pearl pendant necklaces and earrings for the bridesmaids to wear.  In her haste to pack things up and leave our home a few weeks before, she had forgotten to bring the boxes of jewelry that she had not already given out to the maids, and she forgot to ask me to bring them with me.  So, some of the maids had the sets, and some didn't. 

My younger daughter, the MOH, was dispensed to Kohl's to try and find something similiar.  Not being familiar with the town, she had to rely on her phone's GPS navigator to get her there and back.  Unfortunately, she was not able to find jewelry identical to the others the bride had purchased, so she just had to buy similar pearl jewelry.  As a result, she was the last one to get her hair and makeup done, adding to the case of nerves she already had about being MOH and singing in the wedding!  (She and her singing patrner for one song, the groom's brother, had not had much time to rehearse together.)   So as the noon hour drew closer, she, the bride, and I were all starting to feel the pressure!



It was now about an hour before the wedding ceremony was to begin.  The hair and makeup session was drawing to a close, the bridesmaids and I had already dressed, and the bride was finally to the point of getting her dress on.  The photographer arrived just before this and started snapping pictures. The bridesmaids and I started to help her get into her undergarments.  In the back of my mind...something was bugging me.  I had seen lovely portratis of brides dressing in romanticly decorated rooms.  We were in the church bathroom, surrounded by institutional sinks, towel dispensers, and stall doors.  Really?  But I had no time to rethink (or ask to redo) anything...



Just as I was starting to lace the corset of the bridal gown up, I got called to the foyer.  My hubby had finally just arrived, and had tales to tell of the unfortunate turn of events at the reception venue.  The groom had to swing by there (out of his way) before going to the church to give the FOB the digital file of the slideshow, then they discovered the big screen had still not been set up by the hotel personnel. My husband and the wedding coordinator's two assistants (her very lovely and capable grown daughters) had to set up the screen themselves!  Another issue with the Hilton that should not have happened!

But on the positive side, one of the groom's grandmothers had an extra purse that she had brought with her - a sequined black bag.  We had mentioned that I had forgotten my dressy silver clutch at the Rehearsal Dinner, so she had made sure to deliver the extra bag to my hubby when he came over to the church, in case I wanted to borrow it!  So sweet of her -- and I took her up on the offer!

Counting Down the Hours: Frantic Friday

Friday morning of the Wedding Weekend dawned. We knew that Saturday (wedding day) would be extremely busy and stressful, but we figured Friday would be more of a laid-back type of day.  Little did we know...

My younger daughter packed up and headed out ahead of us in her own car because the bride and bridesmaids were having a Pamper Day at a spa in Waco with a catered lunch, instead of a Bachelorette and Bridesmaids lunch.

My husband and I loaded up our car to almost overflowing, and made the drive in fairly heavy thunderstorms. We arrived around lunch time, and we had a nice lunch at a restaurant near our hotel with my sister and her husband. We went back to the hotel to check in, but were told our room was not quite ready -- neither were the other rooms we had reserved for the bride and bridesmaids.

No matter, we thought. Our daughter the bride had texted us on the drive down to Waco and asked if we could run a quick errand for her, since she would be tied up with the Pamper Day activities with her maids until almost time for the Rehearsal at the church that evening.  We had planned to display one of her formal bridal portraits prominently at the reception, in the true Southern wedding tradition. So, she had ordered an enlarged gallery-sized print at a local camera shop, and asked us to pick it up for her. She had purchased a large frame for it on sale at Kirklands, and we were to pick that up at her apartment and take it with us to have the camera shop people put the portrait into the frame. We figured we would run that errand and be back in an hour, and our rooms would be ready-- the official checkin time was 2:00 anyway. That would give us plenty of time to relax a little and change clothes for the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

Well...we hit our first big Wedding Weekend snag. When we got to the camera store, they had the print ready all right, but they said they did not have a big enough cutting board to trim it off. So, they could not frame it for us. They suggested we take the photo and the frame to a Hobby Lobby or Michaels. Bear in mind, we are not familiar with this town at all. They tried to give us directions to Hobby Lobby but it went in one ear and out the other, and we do not have any GPS unit or apps on our phones. We called my daughter and she basically talked us to the street that Hobby Lobby was on. I spied a Michaels on the way, so we decided to just pull in there.

The framing assistant at Michael's was helpful but very slow-moving. He just did not pick up on the time constraints we were under. He suggested that we actually would need a thicker mat to make the portrait look nicer in the frame than the flimsy one that the Kirkland's frame had come with. We agreed that he had a point, so he selected several types and colors of mats and leisurely tried them all out against the portrait and the frame to find the best "look". Finally we all decided on one. Well, he said, he did not have a big enough mat of that particular material and color in stock, but he could order it and it could be here in 3 to 5 days! My husband and I just looked at him, probably wild-eyed, and said, "We need it done today! The wedding is at noon tomorrow!"  

So, the framing guy disappeared in the back and eventually re-emerged with several large mats that he had in stock. Once again my hubby and I tried to remain patient while he tried them all out. We finally decided on one and placed the order, with the understanding that we would be back before closing time that evening to pick it up. By the time we left the store, it was pushing 3 pm. The rehearsal was scheduled at 5 pm, and we had to get back to the hotel, change, and make the 20 minute drive to the church.

Then we hit Snag Number 2. We pulled up to the hotel entrance and my husband suggested to save time, he would go get us checked in if I would start unloading the car. I figured he would be gone 5 or 10 minutes max. I located a wheeled cart, and started the unloading. Well after 20 minutes, I basically had the car completely unloaded and still no sign of my husband. I waited another 5 minutes, and could wait no more. I just left all our stuff at the curb and ran inside to see what was going on. He was standing at the desk, with a frown on his face. Our room was still not ready, although most of the other rooms were. He handed me the keys to the bridesmaid's rooms and I went back outside to wait with our things.

The bridesmaids pulled up about then, all fresh and relaxed from their spa day. I handed them their keys, then waited, waited, and waited some more in the hotel's driveway on that muggy, warm Texas afternoon. We did not get into our room until after 4 pm! I was so angry I could have screamed. We had to rush around getting changed, and we were definitely feeling sweaty and disheveled. I also quickly had to figure out what things I would need to re-pack in the car to take to the church with us, in order to hand them over to the wedding coordinator. We arrived 10 minutes late to the rehearsal. (Would you believe we still beat those bridesmaids there, even after they got into their rooms a good half hour before we did?)

The rehearsal went off without too many glitches (other than a slight disagreement between the pastor and the wedding coordinator about some ceremony details and positions of the bridal party.) I honestly do not remember much about it. While we were there, a typical Texas late afternoon spring storm blew up and we could hear the thunder booming outside and rain pouring down torrentially. It had stopped raining by the time we left the church and made our way to the restaurant for the Rehearsal Dinner, but the streets were still wet and halfway flooded, some traffic lights were flashing off and on, and the Friday evening traffic was horrendous.

The ceremony rehearsal

The groom's family had booked a family-style Italian restaurant close to the church for the dinner. The food was good and plentiful, but the evening wore on a bit because the groom's grandparents (from out of town) were late arriving due to the storms, traffic, and the conditions of the streets, and then we only had one waiter working the entire party of 25 people or so. The evening was very informal -- there were no slide shows or speeches or toasts, just visiting amongst the guests and eating the dinner. In the back of our minds my husband and I knew we still had to go back to Michael's to pick up the bridal portrait before it closed, and as the time drew nearer to closing time for the store, we ended up having to leave the party rather abruptly.

We got a bit lost and barely made it to Michaels 10 minutes before it closed. Our framing guy had even begun counting his cash and closing out his register when we got there, so we all had to traipse across the store to the main registers to check out. The portrait did look very nice, although we were pretty stressed and perturbed after literally having to run around town all afternoon and evening long, for an errand that should have taken no more than an hour if the camera store had just had the right equipment!

We made it back to the hotel, changed to casual clothes again, and relaxed just a little, but I knew we still had some work to do downstairs in the ballroom. Denise, our wedding coordinator still had to finish up the bouquets and floral arrangements for tomorrow, and I knew she would not be down there, but I wanted to see what, if any progress had been made on the reception space setup. The cake-ball stand had been damaged a bit in the car trip, and we had to repair it and put the tiers back together and deliver it to the ballroom too. We had run into the groom's parents in the lobby downstairs, and they had brought the cupcake stand with them, and had already dropped it off in the ballroom.


We had to track down a hotel security guard with a key, but we finally got into the ballroom around 10:30 pm. I felt some pleasant relief then...the room was looking very nice already. The tables were all set with the linens on them, and the dance floor was in place. My husband and I re-organized the dessert table and got the stands put together and in place. For the first time, I could see it all starting to come together! This wedding was really going to happen, and even though I was exhausted and stressed out to the max, I was also getting pretty excited to see if it all turned out the way we had envisioned it during the last year of wedding planning!  At this point, I thought, "It is what it is..." and just had to let it go and trust that all the planning would pay off.



Here is the infamous framed bridal portrait, displayed at the reception!



The Final Countdown, Part 2 - (Focusing on the Audio/Visual)

The last weeks surrounding the wedding and her college graduation were quite hectic for my daughter. The Groom's brother's high school graduation was also sandwiched into that same week -- and of course they wanted to attend that and take the opportunity to spend some time with the Groom's family for a few days (including putting together the Cupcake Display for the reception with the Groom's mother and grandmothers!) So, it is understandable that my daughter decided to turn over some of the last-minute details to me and the wedding coordinator.

The Bride was not sitting around painting her nails, however. Besides wrapping up their final college semester and preparing for her graduation, she and her fiance were also busy working on some wedding projects that were nearer and dearer to their hearts -- music and visual displays for the wedding. (I suppose this reflects the interests of any typical 20-Something!)

Musical Maid of Honor and Best Man

First, they were having to nail down the details and music to be used during the ceremony and for the wedding processionals and recessionals of the wedding party and the families. She knew she wanted her fiance's brother to play guitar, and her sister to sing. However, joining their two differing performing styles proved to be a big challenge. (Think John Mayer vs. Barbara Streisand.) In the end, the simple, meaningful song "Dancing in the Minefields" won out as an opening duet, with the groom's brother leading by playing beautiful acoustic guitar, and my daughter joining in on choruses. Then my daughter, who is a voice major, was able to have her vocals better showcased in the Unity Candle song, which was "One Hand, One Heart" from West Side Story.

The bride and groom had to pick out music for the DJ to play at the reception as well, and as a surprise for everyone, they actually choreographed and rehearsed their first dance together, to "Why Don't We Just Dance." I loved what she chose as the Intro to the bouquet toss, "All the Single Ladies", by Beyonce! Actually, to finish up completing the wedding soundtrack, the couple ended up having to abandon their bridal party for a few hours after the Rehearsal Dinner the evening before the wedding!

The couple also had worked in the weeks prior to the wedding on a slide show of photos of themselves growing up through the years, to be shown at the reception. I had previously spent many, many hours going through our numerous photo bins narrowing down the choices for her. I suspect the groom's family did the same. Then the Groom had the job of spending many hours scanning all our photos, as well as his own family's, into digital images.

The Bride and Groom also got busy on another visual project - they decided that instead of plain table numbers, their table identifiers would be photos of themselves at places and landmarks in Waco that had particular meaning to them during their courtship. There was some discussion as to the type of frame or holder these would go into for display on the tables -- and in the end they chose simple, clear acrylic frames (which were also cost-effective!) We had 18 tables, so going around to 18 different places to take photos took a bit of time, and then they had to photo-shop the images and get them printed. But the finished product turned out great -- we had a lot of comments from guests on what an unusual, yet personalized idea it was.  Here's a sample:

We also wanted to incorporate the beautiful bridal portraits into the visual display of the reception somehow. My daughter chose one of the formal shots taken by Wendell Samford of Chapel Hill Photography, http://www.chapelhillphoto.com/ and she took the image to Padgitt's Photo in Waco to enlarge into portrait-size which would be prominently displayed on an easel at the entrance to the reception area. She even found a suitable size frame on sale at Kirkland's! (More on this portrait project in a later post...it turned into a last-minute ordeal which the Father of the Bride and I got involved in.)

Not to mention the final few bridal showers and parties were happening...my daughter had two showers thrown for her by her Waco friends (which I did not attend); and then back in Flower Mound, her sister the Maid of Honor, and her other local homegirls threw her a Lingerie Shower... (to which I was not invited...oh well...it would have been awkward anyway!)

So many little details go into the making of a memorable wedding...but they are so worth it in the end!

She's Famous (But Not Rich)

We just found out today that my daughter is appearing in an ad that is in the Central Texas Engagements publication. This is one of those little magazines that you see in major cities that have ads for all the local bridal/wedding vendors. She is in an ad for Trendz Salon in Waco, which is on the inside front cover.

The ladies from Trendz did an excellent job with Amanda's hair and makeup for her bridal portraits as well as on the wedding day, and they also worked on the bridal party and Moi!

Here is the link to the page -- that is her at the top left of the layout:

July%2011%20Engagements

While this is exciting, it would have been nice for her to have been compensated in some way for being the salon's "model."  They did have her permission to use the photo, however - and I noticed they did credit the photographer.

Memory Board - the Recurring Themes of the Wedding

There is a popular wedding blog that is so beautiful to look at that visiting it is almost like viewing art. It is called "Style Me Pretty". While spending some time looking through what it has to offer, I noticed that many users were using a "collage" to gather ideas for their upcoming weddings. Pre-wedding, these beautiful mosaics of collected photos are known as Inspiration Boards. Often, photos of ideas and wedding components that brides like are compiled from the website, or just from the Internet in general.

I got to thinking, it would be cool to gather some of the real components of my daughter's wedding into one of these collages, or mosaics. At this point, I would call it more of a "Memory Board."

The Style Me Pretty blog offers a Board Maker application, and you are able to use your own photos from your own computer library, rather than just public ones that are out there on the Net.

Here is my first attempt. I wanted to show some of the wedding stationery that we came up with -- including the Save the Date cards, the formal invitations, and the wedding program and reception menu. The monogram my daughter designed first for the Save the Date Cards, and later used in the programs and menu cards was featured. I also wanted to document the light blue and ivory color scheme she chose for her wedding, and the use of the light blue hydrangeas and ivory florals (roses, spider mums, baby's breath, etc.) that were such a big part of the whole wedding experience, from the bridal showers on through the reception. Finally, there was a beautiful verse of scripture that my daughter used on the invitations, and again on the wedding programs, to show that this couple honors the Lord as the head of their household.

Kudos to our wedding coordinator, Denise Harlan, who took care of the menu cards and programs at the last minute, when the Bride and her Mom had simply run out of steam! We suggested some of the design elements, she already knew the color scheme, and the finished product came out great!

The Real Wedding of Amanda and Ian

I love the "Real Wedding" stories that are featured in the glossy Wedding magazines. Even though the couples are complete strangers to me, I will read them word for word and drink in all the details. I didn't want to spend the $700 plus it costs to "feature" my daughter's wedding in one of these, nor do I have connections with a well-known photographer or celebrity wedding planner who will foot the bill. So, I decided to post my daughter's Real Wedding Story right here on Blogger! It was also a way to sum up everything that has transpired in the last year into a more fluid story. But, it turned out long...sorry!

Amanda and Ian
Waco, TX
May 21, 2011

Amanda and Ian were both incoming Freshmen at Baylor University in 2007, and happened to be assigned to the same group together in the Baylor Welcome Week activities. In no time they were dating exclusively and became inseparable during the next 3 years.

During Spring Break of their Junior year, while Amanda was out of the country on a mission trip to Morrocco with their church, Ian called her Father, Wes, and asked if he could make the 2 hour drive up to the Dallas/Fort Worth area for a visit, because he had something to discuss. With a marriage blessing secured from Amanda’s parents (and with all parties sworn to secrecy) Ian planned an outing at the start of the summer break from school. The plans were for the two of them and another couple to go on a “double date” camping trip to the rugged wilderness area of central Texas which holds a large rock formation known as Enchanted Rock. As far as Amanda knew, the whole thing was being planned by the other couple.

It was there while Ian and Amanda had a few quiet moments together admiring the sunset vista of the Texas Hill country, that he got down on one knee and presented an engagement ring to her. She was totally surprised, and accepted the ring tearfully while their friends (who were in on the surprise) snapped photos of the two, and other park visitors clapped at what they had just witnessed.

Wedding planning started soon after and continued through the next 13 months. The couple decided to have the wedding in Waco, where they had lived throughout their college career and had made many good friends. It also happened to be a convenient central meeting point for the bride and groom’s Texas families. They envisioned a fairly formal, traditional church wedding, with a reception featuring a good meal and plenty of desserts. And the bride definitely wanted there to be dancing!

Having the wedding in Waco posed a bit of a logistics problem, since Amanda was based there for the majority of the school year and her parents did not live there. Amanda was also very busy with her Senior year of college. Although she and her mother Janet exchanged many phone calls and emails planning, choosing the vendors, and pulling together most of the major components of the wedding, the Mitchells decided to also seek the help of a “Weekend-Of Cooordinator” in Waco. It would be helpful to have a local wedding expert dealing with the local vendors, pull all the details together, and oversee all the wedding weekend events so that Amanda, Ian, and their families could better enjoy the day. They enlisted Denise Harlan of “Thee Designs” to fulfill these functions.

The church choice was obvious, since Amanda and Ian are active in the college ministry at First Baptist Woodway (a suburb of Waco). Because of restrictions on dancing, the party would have to move away from the church following the ceremony. After researching the venue options in Waco and finding that not many would hold the number of guests that were anticipated, the decision was made to have the reception at the Waco Hilton Hotel. The space included three large meeting rooms, which is known as the “Three Rivers Ballroom” when combined together. The recently renovated hotel had a classic feel and featured in-house food and catering services with a good reputation.

Attendants for the wedding included Maid of Honor, Krista Mitchell (sister of the bride), and bridesmaids Sarah Childs, Rachel Scala, Hannah Crabtree, Paige Baker, and Abigail Pitzer. Ian chose his brother Ryan Hughes to be his Best Man, and groomsmen included Jon Middaugh, Jeremy Goss, Jordan Richardson, Jordan Edwards, and Kyle Martin. Amanda also selected her room-mate Kristin Johnson to attend the Guest Book, and ushers were K.C. Mangen, Moses Sandoval, and Nolan Bixler.

Exactly one week following Amanda’s graduation from Baylor, Magna Cum Laude, with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, the wedding weekend arrived. The day before the wedding, Amanda and her six attendants enjoyed a spa/pamper day including lunch at Ultimate Escape Spa in Hewitt, TX as their Bachelorette outing. That evening Ian’s parents, Chuck and Cathy, hosted a casual family-friendly rehearsal dinner near the church at Mama Bari’s Italian restaurant for the bridal party and immediate family.

On the morning of May 21st, Amanda, her attendants and the Mother of the Bride arose early and were at the church by 7:30 a.m to begin hair and makeup preparations. At 12:00 noon the wedding party made their way down the aisle, with Amanda escorted by her Father, Wes. Amanda and Ian were united in marriage before a gathering of 170 friends and family members, in a meaningful service led by First Baptist Woodway’s College Pastor, Michael Criner.

The bride wore an ivory satin ballgown by Maggie Sottero, featuring pickups, a beaded bodice and embroidered hem and train, with a cathedral length crystal-beaded veil. She chose a simple pearl choker and drop earrings for her jewelry. In keeping with the light blue and ivory color scheme, the bridesmaids all wore floor-length light blue chiffon gowns with a satin waistband and floral detail on one shoulder strap.

The bride’s bouquet was made of light blue hydrangeas, roses, and calla lilies. The bouquet was wrapped in lace from her mother’s wedding dress, and featured an heirloom blue cameo from the Mitchell family. The bridesmaids bouquets were simple stems of light blue hydrangea blooms.

Ryan Hughes played the guitar and sang “Dancing in the Minefields,” joined by Krista Mitchell. Ian and Amanda lit the Unity Candle together during the solo “One Hand, One Heart”, also sung by Krista Mitchell.

After the ceremony, the bridal party and families adjourned for a photography session. A white stretch limousine and driver was standing by to take the bride, groom, and entire bridal party to the Hilton for the reception.

By this time the wedding guests had already arrived at the reception venue and were enjoying delicious appetizers and a punch fountain in the foyer adjacent to the ballroom, which overlooked a patio and garden area of the hotel.

When the ballroom doors opened for the reception, hosted by the brides’ parents, the room was set with tables covered with linens in the blue and ivory color theme. The tables featured several different styles of elegant centerpieces including hydrangeas, white roses, and spider mums, as well as candles and pretty collected vases on mirrors. The guests enjoyed a plated luncheon, while DJ Johnny Bradshaw of Central Texas Talent acted as M.C. and provided music for dining and later dancing. The newlyweds surprised the guests with their choreographed first dance together, to the song "Why Don't We Just Dance?"

Guest tables were given names as well as numbers, with the names corresponding to locations in Waco of particular significance to the Bride and Groom. Photos of the couple at the locations were featured in clear frames with the table numbers attached. Menu cards in the wedding colors were place on the guest tables, along with bubble favors to be used later in the reception.

Instead of a traditional wedding cake, the couple opted for lovely sky-blue iced cupcakes. The tiers of the cupcake stand were decorated with beads and trim by Amanda with the help of Ian’s mother Cathy and Ian’s two grandmothers, in the light blue and ivory color theme. There was also a cake ball display taking the place of the groom’s cake. The cake balls were graciously made and gifted to the couple by a personal friend. The cake ball display stand was crafted by Amanda and her mother, and was in the colors and theme of the Florida Gators, a team favorite of the groom and his family. The reception also featured an ice cream sundae bar which proved to be very popular and refreshing on the hot Texas afternoon.




The guests enjoyed the food, toasts, and traditional bouquet and garter toss, and after a short time of dancing it was time to say goodbye to the newlyweds. The couple would be embarking on a Caribbean Honeymoon cruise the next day, and they needed to drive to Galveston, Texas that evening. The reception guests showered the couple with wedding favor bubbles as they danced their last dance, and then followed the
ouple with more bubble-blowing out to the circle drive of the hotel as the couple departed in the stretch limo. The guests did not leave the ballroom empty handed; they were invited to take leftover cupcakes with them in small Chinese takeout containers provided by the bride and her family.

The couple is still currently residing in Waco, as Ian finishes his last semester of graduate Accounting work at Baylor, and Amanda works for Hewlett-Packard on their Management Information Systems team.


Amanda and Ian’s Wedding Ingredients:
Ceremony Venue First Baptist Church, Woodway, TX
Reception Venue and Catering Three Rivers Ballroom, Hilton Hotel, Waco, TX
Photography Engagement --Abigail Criner Photography, Waco, TX; Bridal Portraits and Wedding – Chapel Hill Photography, Waco, TX
Officiant Pastor Michael Criner
Consultant Denise Harlan, “Thee Designs” Waco, TX
Gown Maggie Sottero, Bridal Co., Denton, TX
Veil Bridal Co., Denton, TX
Hair & Makeup Trendz Salon, Waco, TX
Bridesmaid’s Dresses David’s Bridal
Formalwear Squires Formal Wear, Waco, TX
Flowers Denise Harlan, “Thee Designs” Waco, TX
Cupcakes Patsy’s Bakery, West, TX
Cake Balls Phuong Luu, Waco TX
Stationery Save the Date Cards—designed by bride, Overnight Prints.com; Invitations--Jordan Browning, “Ever After” Waco, TX ; Programs and Menu Cards—designed by Denise Harlan, “Thee Designs” Waco, TX; printing by Print Mart, Waco, TX
Music Ceremony--Krista Mitchell, Flower Mound, TX and Ryan Hughes, New Braunfels, TX; Reception DJ--Johnny Bradshaw, Central Texas Talent, Waco, TX
Transportation Luxury Limousine, Waco, TX
Rentals Action Rental, Waco, TX (furniture, dancefloor, linens)
Cake Displays Cupcaketree.com; designed and decorated by the families
Favors Bubbles-- TheKnot.com Wedding Shop; Printed Napkins--Party City; Chinese Takeout Boxes-- Papermart.com; Personalized Labels—Oriental Trading Co. and 123 Print.com
Honeymoon Carnival Cruise Lines (Caribbean)

The Vision Became Reality

Well, here it is...the day after My First Daughter's Wedding!

This month has flown by. I am much too tired to post much, other than to say that in spite of some big trials and challenges in the week and days leading up to the wedding, everything turned out wonderfully well.

Throughout this year, the plans have been playing like a movie in my head (of course spurred on and inspired by my daughter's desires and wishes for the wedding.) I can honestly say that everything turned out very close to, if not exactly as we had envisioned it. All the research, planning, and hard work are definitely worth it. And it so amazing to watch it all happen pretty much as you had hoped for.

It was a giant effort for everyone involved to pull off the meaningful, beautiful ceremony and great party for approximately 170 people that happened yesterday. Thanks also to God, who smiled on us! He knew all along that my daughter and her groom were destined for eachother, and all the rest was just window dressing! Weddings are a joyous occasion for family and friends to celebrate the union of two people and the beginning of a new family, and they are a picture of God's plans for us. (And it is documented that the Lord Himself attended at least one wedding, so they must be very important to Him!)

I know I am biased, but I think my daughter was the most beautiful, classic bride I have ever seen! Her dress, veil, hair, and makeup were stunning. Even the flirty little hairclip I made for her at the last minute to wear at the reception turned out remarkably well.

I felt comfortable the whole day -- my MOB dress was like a second skin -- it was so worth the time it took to hunt it down, and have it fitted by our excellent seamstress, Penny! (Well, my shoes did pinch a little after a few hours, I must admit...)

The groom, maids and the groomsmen looked absolutely marvelous. (And yes, even the FOB in his spiffy new suit.) The floral pieces -- what can I say? Blue hydrangeas are my new favorite flower and will now always remind me of my daughter's wedding!

To that I might add, wedding planners and coordinators are worth every penny you can scrape together to hire one. My daughter and I would have had a very difficult time pulling this even off without Denise's help, and definitely would not have been able to enjoy the day as we did, unencumbered by the details! And she did the beautifal flowers too --a double blessing!

We will have to wait a bit for the wedding photos to be available..have also been checking to see if anyone posts anything I can "borrow" on Facebook. Meanwhile, since the dress has now been seen by our wedding guests, I can now post one of my daughter's formal portraits:


Will post pictures of the ceremony and reception and more details later..I am glad its over, am looking forward to some rest, but now am wondering what to do with my time now that all this is behind us?

Putting it All Together (Our D-I-Y Projects)

The long Easter weekend brought my daughter and I some extra days off from school and work to devote to our craft projects for the wedding. The Do-It-Yourself (D-I-Y) websites and magazines like Martha Stewart Weddings promised overall cost savings, and individualized customization of your wedding designs. Coming up with ideas for designs is super-fun for me, but actually creating the art is beyond my comfort zone. So for me, the easier the better!

Besides the display stand for our cake balls (taking the place of the groom's cake), for which we had painstakingly shopped for the materials several weeks prior, I had also hit upon some easy cost-saving favor ideas. When I conveyed my ideas to my daughter and the relatively low cost of doing them, she was highly enthusiastic and gave me free reign to go for it!

She wanted to have bubbles as a favor for the guests to use at Send-Off time when she and her groom depart the reception. She had already ordered white and light blue bubble tubes with a heart design on one end from TheKnot.com's "Wedding Shop". They arrived shortly, and while cute, I thought they needed a little extra something to make them extra special.

To dress them up a little, I ordered labels from http://www.123print.com/ and had them printed with the phrase "Love is In the Air" --(Get it?---bubbles in the air?) Can't take full credit -- I had seen this idea online. These labels also carried the couple's first names and the wedding date. I also thought tying light blue ribbons would be a nice added frill. My "prototype" came out really well!



So, the Maid of Honor (my younger daughter) was also home from college for Easter, and she and I took care of applying the labels to the first 2 of 5 boxes of bubbles right away. I applied the labels to 2 more boxes of bubbles in later days myself, when I happened to be sitting around watching TV. One box to go (with less than 3 weeks left before the wedding.) Now I am second-guessing the ribbon. How long will it take to tie 200 little bows like this, and is it really worth it?!

My other idea was to supply take-home boxes for guests to pack up leftover wedding cake and cake balls into. After a long Internet search with price comparisons of different container options, I settled upon pint-sized Chinese take-out boxes as the best bang for our buck. I ordered them from PaperMart: http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=16206&SubGroupID=16207#16207..

To my happy surprise, the boxes arrived pre-assembled, except for the top flap! The cupcakes might be a bit snug in them, but I think they will work and they will definitely be ideal for leftover cake balls. The only problem was they were just plain white, and again I thought a little something could be added to make them personalized. The answer -- more labels with the couple's names and wedding date! What can I say -- labels are cheap, they are easy, and they definitely personalize! For these labels, the vendor I chose was: http://www.orientaltrading.com/

The Maid of Honor and I knocked out putting labels on all 150 takeout boxes the first night she was home for Easter Break, while settled on the couch watching a movie. I think they look fine, considering the guests will likely get these smudged with icing and cake oils, and probably will not keep them anyway.

The Bride did not get off free. She had her crafting hat on for that Easter weekend, too. She and I set about decorating the heavy corrugated cardboard cake ball tree. And yes, as I feared, we had to make another trip to Hobby Lobby to buy more ribbon and materials, after we determined that a) some of the ribbon was too sheer for the edges of the tiers, (it did not hide the cardboard that well) and b) for appearance sake, we would need to cover the supporting columns as well as the tiers themselves, and c) we did not purchase enough yardage of ribbon to begin with, either for this project or the larger square cupcake tree. Another $50 in materials was chalked up to the cake display budget. And we had not even ordered the "topper" yet for this University of Florida Gator-themed cake ball display.

Well, after much trial and error, we got it accomplished -- here is the final product, (just imagine a Gator figurine on top amidst the orange and blue ribbon, and cake balls lying on the tiers!) At least now my daughter has some experience under her belt for decorating the large square cupcake display, which will hopefully hold 250 cupcakes. However, she will be doing that with the help of the groom's Mom and grandmothers. I pray that they have more crafting skills than I do, and although it was kind of fun, I am pretty glad I'm about done with D-I-Y.

Is it all worth it? Well, there is a certain satisfaction in knowing that your hands personally contributed to making the wedding (hopefully) more special and beautiful. As far as cost savings -- well, honestly for a busy Bride who is a full time student and her Mom who has a full time job, I'm not so sure that the cuts to our bottom line will be worth the extra time and effort it took, especially since we don't particularly enjoy crafting that much to begin with. And the materials often can put a pinch in your wallet, unless you are able to order in bulk. (The ribbons and trim for the cupcake tiers turned out to be fairly expensive, yet the Chinese takout boxes and labels were quite reasonable because I ordered so many of them.) It all depends on each individual bride's circumstances, her vision for the wedding, and how much friends and family will be able to help out, I suppose.


Now, about tying those little bows on the bubble tubes, ... should I, or shouldn't I...?

UPDATE - JUNE 24

Here is a photo collage of the finished cake stands, (now that the wedding is over, they can now be "unveiled"!) Everyone seemed to really like the cupcake instead of cake idea, and especially raved about the cakeballs. Guests commented on how unusual, but nicely done, the displays were! (Even my hubby admitted they turned out much nicer than he thought they would!) And by the way, we should not have added on the extra 50 cupcakes to our original order...just about all the Chinese takeout boxes were used for leftover cupcakes. The cakeballs on the other hand, were devoured...not much left but crumbs of them!

Bridal Shower #2: The Church Ladies

As the title implies, the second bridal shower for my daughter was hosted by some of my church friends. We are not really that old -- actually we are middle aged (40s to 50s); but we figure that to my daughter and her friends, we were those "little old ladies".

Around the Christmas holidays last year, two friends in my Bible Study class approached me saying they were so excited about having an upcoming wedding in the works. Many of the women in our class  have kids in their teens or early twenties, and have been through other family milestones together through the past 8 or so years, like getting driver's licenses, graduating from high school, selecting a college, etc. So, it only came naturally that this is the next step for us.. and my daughter is the first of the crop to get married!

My daughter was so honored that they wanted to do this, but first we had to overcome a little point of wedding etiquette. (See my earlier blog entry, "Will the Wedding Police Come After Me?") We knew that we would not be able to invite all the people in my class to the wedding, and Modern Wedding Etiquette says this is a big no-no. But after consulting with some bridal etiquette people and the hostesses to get their opinion on the matter, we decided that for several reasons this was "An Exception" that everyone was OK with, so the plans proceeded. As it turned out, not only the two original ladies, but several ladies in the class had a hand in helping with planning and organizing the shower.

The late March day came with brilliant sun, but a stiff breeze. This proved to be a bit of a challenge since the shower was planned poolside in the awesome, yet comfortable outdoor living space of one of the class members. The huge covered patio area is complete with a huge stone fireplace, and even a chandelier. This friend is a gardener, and her yard was spectacular with blooming flowers and tastefully arranged shrubs. She had also created a giant grapevine wreath in the wedding colors, with all sorts of kitchen gadgets tied to it, which was a focal point of the decorations on the fireplace. Two of my daughters' bridesmaids were there to lend her support, but mostly it was just us "church ladies!". (That's the maids and me with the bride in the picture below!)

This was planned as a kitchen/recipe shower, and each guess had a recipe card included with their invitation, with the instructions to share a favorite recipe with the bride by bringing it to the shower. Then at the shower the hostesses had a cool recipe book for the bride -- a binder with pages with plastic inserts for inserting the recipe cards into.

The munchies were beautifully presented and colored in the blue and ivory color theme of my daughter's wedding, and tasted just as awesome as they looked! (My friend Janet should go into business selling her cupcakes - they are to die for!)

We played only a few games, (not near as many as we did as the bridesmaid's shower) and the ladies kept apologizing for putting my daughter through them. ..Although in reality she and her maids really like them! One by one, the winners of the games found an excuse to give their prize (which was a kitchen themed gadget or accesory) to the bride, as is the old custom for Southern Bridal Showers, I believe.

Well, the church ladies shower was well done and very enjoyable, and my daughter was so impressed with the ladies' handiwork, both in the decorating and the food. She genuinely seemed to enjoy herself. And the ladies seemed to appreciate that she was a really good sport about it!

Bridal Shower #1 - Bridesmaids Rule!

Last month we started "Shower Season". There were two bridal showers for my daughter in our town - one the traditional Bridesmaid-hosted one, and the other was thrown by some of my church friends (or, as it became known as, "The Old Lady Shower.")

The Bridesmaid shower came first, and I did not know what to expect since few of these girls had ever even been to a bridal shower before, so they were clueless what to do. My younger daughter, being the MOH learned from her web searches that she was supposed to spear-head the project. She cornered me one day about 6 weeks before the planned day with a panic-stricken look and begged me to help her plan it.

At first I really thought I was going to have to pull a major MWE (Modern Wedding Etiquette) No-No and basically plan and execute my own daughter's bridal shower. But as it turned out, I basically just gave my younger daughter a nudge in the right direction. I let her know it was time to send the invitations out, and time to plan the shower, and I just sort of gave her the highlights of most of the showers I had been to: Send out the invitations, then at the shower you visit, eat, maybe play some games, and open gifts!

I encouraged her to contact the other bridesmaids for a planning session. This was a bit out of her comfort zone, since the other bridesmaids were her sister's friends and a few years older than her. But she dutifully made the first contact and mostly through texts and Facebook messages they decided how to divide and conquer. My younger daughter was put in charge of the invitations.

Since she is a Freshman in college and in the Performing Arts (with auditions, voice and dance lessons solidly booking her schedule) she asked if I would scout some invitations out for her, then she would send them out. The issue was, we were cutting it close to the shower date...we had to get those things in the mail FAST!

No problem, I thought. Back in my day, invitations came in little cellophane wrapped packages that you purchased in any grocery store or Walmart. They had fill-in-the blank lines where you put in the details of when, where, and who to RSVP to. I soon found out, once again with the changing times came a new breed of invitations. Those little fill in the blank notes are becoming very scarce--few stores carry them anymore. Custom-printed invitations are what's expected now, evidently.

Complicating this was that the MOH didn't want to give just a generic bridal shower -- she wanted a Theme to work with. Again, Mom did some web surfing, and we came up with an "Around the House" shower theme. Basically, you assign each guest a room, and the gift that guest brings should be used in that room. I found some adorable Around the House themed invitations online - but again, other than a verse explaining what type of shower it was, they were all blank and ready to be custom printed. Unfortunately we had run out of time to order any.

My younger daughter said friends had told her of a nice wedding supply store near her college campus in Oklahoma City, so she ran out on a Saturday morning to check them out -- again I told her to buy "fill in the blank" ones if she could find any that would work. We must have texted back and forth 20 times that morning -- with her sending me photo texts of what she was finding. Well, she found some cute Around the House invitations all right - but you guessed it, they were totally blank. Well, she said...one of her friends loves to hand-print things, and she had volunteered to help with the invitations. I was skeptical, but she went ahead and bought the cards. Believe it or not, her friend hand-printed 20 invitations that day. They actually came out really cute!

The other bridesmaids are all local here in town and all know eachother so they met a few times for planning sessions. I kept in touch with them through Facebook, asking if they needed any help, but they took care of everything! The only thing they asked me to supply was a floral centerpiece, which I was happy to take care of.

Everything looked so pretty when we arrived at the shower, which was held in the family home of one of the bridesmaids. One of them had made a white apron for my daughter to wear which had "Bride" on it in bejeweled studs. The munchies were so good, and everything was so pretty and color-coordinated!

In spite of my reading that shower games were basically passe' now and nobody liked them but old ladies, one of the bridesmaids had planned quite a few little games for us. Well, the guests (other than me and the bridesmaid's mom who owned the home) were all 20-somethings and they really got a hoot out of the games! There were prizes plenty for the winners of the games, and all sorts of favors as well. Nobody went home empty-handed! For being bridal shower Newbies, these young ladies really outdid themselves! I will write soon about the second "Old Ladies" shower!

All the Little Details

So now the big stuff is out of the way, and we are down to all the little details! For the bridal showers, which started last month, it suddenly became urgent that some sort of Guest Book would be needed, either individual ones for each shower or a large combined one. I located a nice spiral-bound guest book (which our wedding coordinator recommended) at Hallmark. It has plenty of pages for each shower as well as documenting the wedding attendees as well. Since it is a ring-bound binder, the guest signature pages can be removed from this book, so if needs be, some pages can be at the ceremony site and the rest of the book can be at the reception venue, or vice versa. Someone will just have to remember (eventually) to gather the pages from one site and combine with the others in the main book. (If someone forgot to bring a hard-bound guest book from the church to the reception ballroom, that would be bad...!)

With a fancy guest book comes the need for a fancy pen, so I bought 2 gold pen sets (with bases) from Party City. Except I may exchange them for silver ones, since the trim on the guest book cover photo is actually silver, and the cocktail napkins may have silver imprinting too!

Our attention has also turned to wedding favors. My daughter is not big on spending big bucks here! (And a M.O.B. friend of mine who has married off 2 daughters told me that in her experience, these were not taken home by the guests, anyway!)

My daughter decided she would like to have the guests blow bubbles for the couple's sendoff, and she opted for the slender 'bubble tubes' rather than the little bottles. She ordered white and light blue tubes in keeping with her colors from the on-line store of The Knot...(Her go-to website for everything, it seems!) They arrived promptly, but we found that the light blue color they touted was actually more of an aqua green. So, I am focused now on "disguising" that somehow. I have ordered some pretty "Copenhagen blue" satin ribbon to tie on them, and I am considering making customized labels with the bride and groom's names, the date, and the saying "Love is In the Air." We feel we may have some leftover cupcakes and cake balls after the dessert time at the reception, so we decided it would be a nice touch to send home the leftovers with the guests who would like some, as an added favor. I then began researching suitable boxes to contain these treats. I found that although the little individual cupcake boxes which are made for this purpose are abosolutely adorable, they are also pricey. Since we are not offering these favors to all guests, only those who are still present at the reception near its finish and would like to have "take home treats", I figured these boxes would not be on display, and may even be stashed under a table until needed. The guests may get icing and cake residue on them, so they will probably just throw them away after they enjoy the treats. So they needed to be functional, rather than fancy. After many web comparison searches of favor box pricing among vendors, I decided upon 1 pint white Chinese takeout boxes with wire handles, and I ordered them from Papermart. http://www.papermart.com/Product%20Pages/Product.aspx?GroupID=16206&SubGroupID=16207#16207. They can be partially assembled ahead of time, I figured, and stored within eachother in a stack. Because Papermart offers them at such a reasonable price, I ordered 150 of them to be on the safe side, figuring we would use them for both leftover cupcakes and cake balls.

Now, I am still considering "prettying" the takeout boxes up a bit with a label or something -- but again, I don't want to spend too much on this fluff because they will not be on display and the guests will likely not keep them. It is unbelievable how expensive the pretty colored custom labels with the couples' names and the date can be! I refuse to pay 50 cents to a dollar a piece per sticker! So, I haven't committed yet, but am considering ordering inexpensive generic wedding stickers from Oriental Trading Company. They may not be the best quality, but they will make the takeout boxes a bit more special.

I also bought a "card box" for the reception. This is an item I was unfamiliar with until I started watching some of the wedding shows on TV. My hubby thinks this is a silly splurge, but it just seems like a nice idea to me - to gather all the wedding cards (and perhaps enclosed checks, cash, or gift cards) into one pretty enclosed container. And my daughter can use it later for wedding keepsakes, I figured. Here's a photo of the one I purchased from Party City, with my daughter's approval:

The Crowning Glory

Today was a fun day. My d is in town for Spring Break, and I took the afternoon off from work to go with her to take care of some wedding-related errands.

Although she found her dress early on in the process, she had never settled on a veil. We knew from trying on the Maggie Sottero Monalisa Royal ballgown at Bridal Co. in Denton, http://www.bridalco.com/, that a cathedral length veil just looked stunning. But at the time, the store's inventory of veils was down, so she did not commit to one. They promised that as Wedding Season progressed, they would get more veils in stock.

Part of the deal with buying her dress there was a "store credit" which turned out to be somewhere around $150. (This is what the store offers as a buying incentive, since the maker of the dress does not allow discounts.)

So, 7 months or so after purchasing the dress there, we returned to Bridal Co. today to look for the veil again. The first ivory, cathedral length veil she walked up to turned out to be the one! It is so unusual...it has scalloped edges with delicate crystal beading on it, and actual teardrop style crystals hanging off the edges at intervals on the veil. I have never seen anything like this veil before, and it will look awesome with the Monalisa Royale. Just the right amount of bling to accent the dress, without it being so much that it does not get lost in the elaborate train beading of the dress. (The picture to the left is not the actual veil -- but it is similar...imagine something like this in cathedral length!) We actually had a few bucks left over on the credit after selecting the veil, and she picked up a little clutch handbag with some beading to go with the dress, as well!

Our next errand did not go so quickly or so easily -- we had to go to Hobby Lobby to select the items to decorate our cupcake tree displays with. More on that later...

Meet the Vendors!

So, its a Friday night and I am bored. (No "Four Weddings" on TV tonight and must wait for the 10:00 showing of "Say Yes to the Dress". Am I wedding-obsessed, or what?)

It is now less than 3 months before the wedding. Lots of things checked off our list, lots of the little bitty details yet to take care of. My D said to me recently that these little details are stressing her out, and wedding planning seems like a full-time job nowadays. But, she is on the home stretch of her college career, doesn't have classes on M-W-F, and her fiance is out of town working an internship job, so I say, let her do her "Thang"! I am interested and involved of course, but the more she is willing and able to do herself, so much the better! Repeat again here ...it is not my wedding...!

Flowers are now arranged -- we are using our weekend-of wedding coordinator, Denise Harlan, to also do the flowers. Don't know how that will work out -- since she will be busy setting up centerpieces, etc. at the reception how much will she really be helping with day-of wedding coordination? Well, she says she will have an assistant, so fingers crossed, it will all work out! But we keep adding more flowers all the time...cake topper, second bridal bouquet for the bridal portraits, etc. (more on that later.) To top it all off, we found out that any emails I sent the lady were going to her Spam email box. No wonder we would not hear back from her for weeks after we emailed her! To her defense, whenever I call her on the phone, she always calls back within a few hours, and is very gracious and assuring.

Wondering who we are using? Here's a link. http://weddingeventconsultant.com/ She is actually listed on the Knot.com as a preferred provider - so I guess we did good!!

In lieu of a wedding cake, we are doing cupcakes. My daughter first considered a personal friend of her groom's from New Braunfels, Texas who is trying to break into the cupcake business. (And is that ever a big business right now!) But, my daughter decided that due to ease of transport, it would be best to obtain the cupcakes from the more-established Patsy's Bakery of West, Texas. (a neighbor of Waco.) http://www.patsysbakeshop.com/ Being a small-town baker, Patsy will make, deliver, and set up the cupcakes, but she does not have any sort of cupcake stand in her inventory, at least not for a wedding this big. So, after doing some Internet research on cupcake cake stands, and initially having sticker shock at the price of most of them, we found this website: http://www.cupcaketree.com/ where there are affordable, customizable, corrugated cardboard cupcake stands.

A personal friend and wedding invitee of my daughter and her fiance offered to make cake balls as a wedding gift. So, that is what we are offering in lieu of a Groom's Cake. Another smaller stand was ordered from cupcaketree.com to display these. Due to these cake offerings and the Ice Cream Sundae bar which we are also going to feature as part of the wedding reception, we figure there may be some leftover cupcakes and cake balls, so we are looking at ordering some cute litte boxes to put these in, to offer as take-home favors for late-staying reception guests!

My daughter ordered the invitations this week from a young gal in Waco (a Baylor Grad!) Jordan Browning, who is a wedding consultant and also offers wedding invitations and other wedding-related merchandise. Her business is called "Ever After": http://www.weddingseverafter.com/

The Invite stationery suite will carry through the blue and off-white color theme (although we had to go with gold lettering as the off-white offering.) Viewing again photos of our reception venue, with its gold and blue carpet, I think this will work out just fine! The stationery will arrive around Spring Break time, hopefully, so...guess what we will be doing in mid March?

The Wedding Portrait venue has been reserved. I am excited about this...The Earle Harrison House and Pape Gardens, a historic home and adjoining gardens in Waco. Here is a link to the venue: http://www.earleharrison.com/ They say the gardens will be in full bloom in mid-April, which is when the portrait session is booked for. My daughter specifically asked me to travel down to Waco for this event. (Yay!) She will need someone to help her get dressed. The wedding day photographers, Chapel Hill Photography of Waco, will be shooting the bridal portraits as well.
http://www.chapelhillphoto.com/

Speaking of dresses -- my dress arrived at David's Bridal about a week ago! I was worried that the color of it would be too electric blue -- I worried in vain. The color is perfect! Can't wait to get it altered by the same lady from my building at work, who is doing my daughter's wedding dress alterations- Penny Schnitzius of Lewisville, Texas! (972) 436-0485.

Shower season is coming up... more on that coming up soon!

"The Devil is in the Details"

This old phrase has come to my mind lately. Looking back on the past few months, it is so true.

I guess when I planned my own wedding I must have been young and foolish, or had stars in my eyes, because back then I sure didn’t seem to notice or fret too much about all that was involved in the process. (Of course, my wedding guest list was about a third of what my daughter's is.) And this time around, I have become so aware (and worried way too much over) the many wedding etiquette rules that are so easily broken!

I believe some of this is due to a cultural shift. My wedding was in the 70’s. I did not have a large extended family, and we were not socialites, so not having much to compare with, I think I just planned a wedding that worked for me and my groom’s situation at the time. My DH and I were upper twenty-somethings who had careers and had been living independently for some time. My mother had no interest in helping to plan my wedding, so there were very few conflicts in that regard. (Ironically, the one thing that sticks out in my mind about my mom in the planning stages was the difficulty she had in chosing her attire for the wedding! What goes around, comes around?)

I remember consulting some Bridal magazines for my own wedding planning, but that was about it. This was before the Great American Wedding Industry truly hit its stride. There was no Internet like today, where anything you want to know about weddings is just a Google away. There were no online Forums where people are anxious to give their two cents on whether something is proper or not, no David Tutera on TV to set the impossibly high bar for The Perfect Dream Wedding!

Reading back over my recent epic posts about choosing the Mother of the Bride dress, I am almost embarrassed. I don’t really regret recording all that happened as part of my journey of being a MOB for the first time. Hopefully it was somewhat amusing and entertaining to the reader. But, I acknowledge how trivial it was in the grand scheme of things.

My analysis has led me to believe I obsessed over finding my dress because it was the one thing about my daughter's wedding that was for the most part, in my control. The other parts of this process I have had to relinquish control, admittedly sometimes begrudgingly, to the couple whose lives will be forever changed on May 21, 2011.

How many times do I have to keep reminding myself, it is THEIR day. Their wishes are what counts here. They are the ones who need to shine, and rightfully so! And who cares if we don’t follow proper etiquette to the T – once again, we need to plan a day that works for our families, a celebration where everyone truly enjoys themselves! We want happy memories, not a bride and her mom who are frazzled and fretful.

I am also reminded that there is One who is ultimately in control, and orchestrating every step we are taking. He is the one who brought this couple together, and He is the one this couple acknowledges as being the strong Cord who will keep them united. (Knowing that about them brings me much joy!) We have to keep our eyes focused on Him, and remind ourselves that the important thing is to let His love and blessings shine through in this joyous occasion of bringing two people together as one. If we do that, the day will be successful.

After all, what is a wedding but a representation of Christ as the Bridegroom, and His unconditional love for His Bride, the Church? It is so exciting to think of the wedding reception as a foreshadowing of a Great Banquet we will one day enjoy with our loved ones and with our Lord at His table.

So yes, I confess that all too often in the last few months, the Devil has been in the details, because I have allowed the wedding details to take my focus off of what (and who) is really important in this blessed occasion!

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. ... Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it… For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Ephesians 5: 23-25, 31-32 (KJV)

A Change of Scenery, A New Perspective, & The Decision Made! (Part III. - The Search For the Perfect MOB Dress)

A few weeks into January, I took a trip to El Paso, Texas to visit my Mom. At this point, I had only a few weeks to make my final decision on whether I would keep The Finalist dress (the sapphire blue chiffon with satin waistband) or return it to Dillards within the alloted time to get a full refund. My sister was in town too, and we visited several of the bridal stores and dress boutiques there. I didn't have my hopes too high, but I thought maybe I could at least find something new and different from the styles I had been seeing in the Dallas stores. One boutique there was really, really nice and I would recommend it to anyone – it is called “Ella Blu” on North Mesa on the West Side. http://www.ellabluboutique.com/

It was there that I had my most pleasant MOB dress shopping experience…and I think there are several reasons why. My sister being there with me definitely made it more special. The fact that we practically had the store to ourselves was awesome. (When I had visited the Terry Costa store in Dallas the previous Saturday, it was a zoo – I had to fight the newly engaged bride crowd as well as early prom-dress shoppers.)

The dressing room was the roomiest one I have been in yet..the size of a small living room, and it actually had a sofa in it. The salesclerk was perfect – she was attentive without being annoying. She was not snobby at all and made me feel perfectly at home and comfortable there. And the dresses were elegant yet contemporary, neither too frumpy nor too slutty. She kept bringing me dress after dress that I liked and that fit my figure much better than any of the others I had tried on. Who knew that one of the best shopping experiences of my life was not in Big D or NYC, but in dusty old El Paso, Texas!

And, in trying on those dresses, I found myself gravitating away from liking the flowy chiffon to the more formal, fitted satin/taffeta styles. I think the only reason I left Ella Blu without a dress that day is that I found some I liked, but not one I absolutely loved. Since the prices were WAY over my target budget (like twice as much or more), it would have to be a dress I absolutely loved for me to buy it. But it was so much fun, and not a wasted experience at all -- it was a turning point that gave me a new perspective on what looks good on me, and what would fit in well with the vibe of Amanda's wedding.

On the plane flying home, I told myself that my dress would likely be the sapphire blue chiffon from Dillards, unless something else dropped in my lap in the next few days. It was the closest thing to what I had been looking for so far, at a price I was comfortable with paying. But, something about it still just didn’t set well with me, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was at this point.

Well, with less than a week to go before the deadline of needing to return the Finalist and for Dillards to give me a full refund, I happened to be on the David’s Bridal website for some reason, and decided to glance through the MOB pages to see if anything was new. Well, sure enough...there was a new dress on there. Or at least, one that I had never noticed before. It was an elegant taffeta dress with rouching and a side gather which culminated in some simple beading, and a shawl collar that went into cap sleeves. The color shown was a dark platinum gray which I liked, but to my delight, the dress was also available in Ink blue! Even better!

That evening I went back to our local David’s bridal store – they said it WAS new, and they had plenty of samples to try on. The clerk was very attentive, as much as she could be in the David’s Bridal no-frills sort of way. There was the usual problem of needing alterations, but otherwise I really liked it a lot. It was age-appropriate but not matronly, very formal but not overly stuffy or blingy. The quality of the dress seemed to be decent. (I think with David’s, the quality depends on the price…you get what you pay for.) However, even though it was higher-end for David's, the price of this dress was actually a bit less than that of the other Finalist! And, I actually had another customer approach me to say she loved the dress on me -- I had never had that happen before in all of my other shopping experiences.

A few days later Amanda happened to be in town, and I took her with me to David's Bridal to try the dress on for her. I liked it even better this time. She had liked the sapphire blue chiffon dress on me too, but we both agreed that the tafetta’s formality and elegance fit the tone and style of the wedding better than the flowy chiffon would have. The chiffon was a beautiful party dress, and would have been a great choice for another, less formal occasion, but not for this wedding. Without further hesitation, I ordered the taffeta dress.

Right after leaving David’s, we took her wedding dress to the seamstress for the first alteration fitting. I got another glimpse of my beautiful Amanda in that exquisite, intricately beaded, perfect ballgown she would be wearing for her special day, looking like a fairy-tale princess, and knew that I had made the right choice. I would complement her style.

I feel a little guilty that I didn’t keep at least one of the Dillard’s dresses, but I felt a peace about My Dress from David’s Bridal that I did not feel about any of the other dresses that crossed my path in this long, complicated search! And, here it is (although I ordered it in ink blue):

Postscript:
This is kind of going off topic, but I have to share this bizarre story. That same weekend that I was in El Paso, there happened to be a wedding in Kansas of the daughter of an old friend of mine. When I got back home from my trip, I logged into Facebook. People were starting to post pictures of the wedding. I thought how beautiful my friend Pam looked in her dress! Then I took a closer look. I couldn’t believe my eyes. She was wearing the silver/gray MOB dress with the bolero from David's Bridal that I had originally liked last Fall when I first started looking.  (See Part I of my MOB Dress Search posts.) Then it came back to me what the David's Bridal clerk had told me…”there’s one in Wichita, Kansas.” I also recalled Pam posting on Facebook that her daughter had found her dress on clearance at a bridal store in Wichita for her; Pam didn’t really have to go shopping for her dress at all. (Lucky Duck!) This would have been about the same time I was looking for the dress last Fall.

I went so far as to contact Pam, asking her if she was willing to sell the dress to me, but she is a smaller size than what I would need, and she has plans to wear the dress again. I had to say goodbye to that dress once more. But you know what? The vision in my head had changed somewhat, and I was OK with it in the end. I was pretty sure it would not have been the right choice after all.