the wedding party

Since the wedding didn't require a rehearsal dinner

and Beasley effectively ruined any chance of a dinner after the wedding,

 we had a small wedding party Wednesday evening, to send off the couple.

I'd decided on Monday that I was at least having flowers on the table,

so looked in the church kitchen when we were there Tuesday for a different party

to see if there was anything I could borrow.

I found some white plastic bowls that I thought would work nicely to put the flowers in.

Late Wednesday morning - yes, the dinner party was that night - I popped into Golden Corral, where we had a small room reserved, 

to see what the table situation was.

Plus, I really kinda wanted tablecloths - it would be so much nicer with tablecloths - so I brought along my tape measure....

I had an idea that popped into my head on Tuesday evening - making huge prints -

so before I left the house, I had Tony put the pictures I'd taken of him and Kacy on a disk for me.

After GC, I stopped in Staples and ordered 36"x48"engineer prints made up of a couple of photos

I thought T&K would like to hang in their bedroom.

The lady told me it'd only take about 5 minutes, so I waited. 

And tried to breath a little...

After Staples, I ran in to Hobby Lobby in hopes of finding tin buckets on clearance.

I figured I'd need fewer flowers in tins than I'd need for the bowls, so it'd actually be less expensive, 

even though I was paying for containers....

I didn't find any.

But - I bought a really cool metal sign of Joshua 24:15 to use as part of our blessing to them.

Then I went to Lowe's to buy the foam board insulation for mounting the prints.

They couldn't cut it for me on their saw, but the guy was very helpful 

and cut it for me anyways, using a razorblade and then a borrowed pocketknife.

I could have done it that way by myself - but figured this was quicker.

Plus - we're sorta lacking in large level surfaces around here....

Next up was a quick trip into Walmart to check out the $1.50 fabric.

I should tell you that all throughout the day, I was praying for God's favor 

and that I would have clear thoughts and be able to find what I wanted quickly.

I realize that none of what I wanted to do as far as decorating goes was necessary, or expected, 

but I think a well-appointed environment helps to set the tone for the event.

And it was a once-in-a-lifetime event...

I offered up several "Thank-you" prayers as I went about my errands!

Back to Walmart -- I found a grayish silverish fabric that was perfect for tablecloths, and they had 3 bolts of it!

(When they were planning a next-year-wedding,  Kacy had chosen purple and silver as the colors)

As I was driving there, I'd figured out how I wanted to arrange the tables, 

so I just had to quickly calculate my fabric needs.

(then wait for the lady to s l o w l y measure and cut)

After that, it was Sams Club for flowers.

I panicked when I first got back to the floral department; it was as bare as I'd ever seen it!

Thankfully, I was able to find enough appropriate flowers for the 9 arrangements I needed wanted to make.

After paying for the flowers, I hightailed it home. 

~

Tuesday evening, Tyler was still trying to come up with something to do that would have meaning to Tony and Kacy, and could involve the guests. 

After listening to a couple of lame ideas (sorry, Hon, but they were lame...)

 I told him, "Just pray about it, God will give it to you in the morning."

He does that for Tyler all the time.

Sure enough, God did give him an idea, and par for the course, he called to see if I could help pull it off.

I told him I'd sure do my best.

(But I was awfully glad he was getting off work a few hours early!)

~

When I got home, around 2:30, I got Brandon started on our print project by taping off borders so he could paint the foam board edges 

(turns out the taping wasn't necessary...)

I'd made a satin belt, straps and bows for the sundress that Kacy would be wearing that evening,

but I still had a bit of hand-sewing to do to actually attach the straps and bows.

I'd saved it for naptime, so after getting the borders taped off on the boards, I put Lex' to bed and worked on that.

Details are getting fuzzy now about what exactly happened next

- plus, I'm feeling a little stressed just from writing about all the rushing we were doing -

but when Tyler got home around 3:30,

I still hadn't started on his project

which was typing up and printing cards (2 of each) that had attributes of a godly marriage on the outside

and verses that went along with those attributes on the inside.

We wanted guests to choose an attribute that they would commit to praying for

for Tony's and Kacy's marriage - they were to keep one, as a reminder to pray for them,

and sign the other to give to them. We encouraged everyone to add a note or a blessing, too.

Poor Tyler had to do the project all by himself,

because I still had flowers to arrange....

I was seriously wishing my sister were here, 'cause she is soo much better than I am at floral arranging!

Before it was all said and done, I had Jeremiah, Brandon, Lily and Tony

(and even Tyler for a few minutes, once the cards were all ready to go)

all helping at various times.

You wouldn't believe the mess we made of the kitchen!

At first, we were aiming for the trash can, but before we were finished,

there were flowers stems and petals and leaves all over the place!

Somewhere around 5:15, 5:30 we'd taken a break from the flower arranging to run outside

- literally -

to finish the pictures.

I'd already trimmed the prints, fortunately, 'cause we  were running out of time!

Tony and Kacy were heading home to get ready to go,

and we wanted them to be surprised (and amazed ;-) when they saw the giant photos at the restaurant.

Sadly ~ when we pulled them out of the van, where we stashed them as soon as we finished, 

they were a bit wrinkled (?!) so we'll have to re-glue them.

No biggie.

They still looked pretty awesome, if I do say so myself...

We'd planned to be there about 30 minutes early, to get things set up,

but we left about 10 minutes late

and just a mile or so from the house, TJ called to tell us not to take the bypass, as there was a traffic jam.

So we had to take the long way to town.

aghhhhh!!

I called Lana (who was aiming to be a bit early to help me anyways) and her and Luke (and maybe T & Mom & Bill?) 

were able to get the tables and chairs all moved around just the way I wanted them before we got there

maybe 10 minutes 'til 7, when the party was supposed to start.

Tyler's job was to hang the pictures.

Kacy's dad and his girlfriend arrived to the chaos of everybody else pitching in to get the cloths and flowers on the tables.

The room was looking real pretty (and I'd finally gotten to drink some water - I was so parched!) by the time Tony called at 7:06 to tell me 

he couldn't find my keys.

We'd left the girls and Jeremiah home with him and Kacy, so they were going to bring the Excursion.

Which also had that metal Joshua 24:15 artwork (that never got wrapped) we were giving them....

It never even occurred to me to leave the keys!

Sheesh.

But, in addition to making sure everyone was good and hungry, them being unfashionably late

allowed everyone plenty of time to carefully choose the attribute they'd be praying for.

And to write a nice note in the card.....

In spite of all the craziness (and the fact that most of my pictures were bleh. pooh!) I think the little wedding party was good.

I think Tony & Kacy were blessed and felt loved

and I know that everyone that came was happy to have a part in sending them off!

(And I was happy that we were able to pull off 'pretty')

There was no rest for the weary though, because after we got home,

it was time for me to get to work on finishing up the wedding dress

(that I didn't talk myself into making until Monday.....)