31 Days to Happily Ever After – Days 29, 30, and 31 – The End

I forgot to do a post on Monday – it was a crazy day after a night of not-much-sleep, and blog posting never crossed my mind. I sat down last night to do two posts, and there was no memory card in my camera. I looked everywhere and still have not found it, so I gave up on posting for another day. (‘Twas another day after a night of not-much-sleep…)

Today I have a new memory card, so there are some photos, and a couple more things to tell you about as I wrap up these 31 days of blissful wedding planning and execution. Okay, so it wasn’t all blissful, but I wouldn’t give up a minute of the time spent planning and preparing and crafting. It was a labor of love that I’m glad I only have to do ONE time, though.

I was hoping to have a pic from the photographer to show you this sign that 3 year-old Bradley carried down the aisle. This was one of the first details Jess pinned on her Pinterest wedding board, so it was planned all along.

He did great carrying it by the ribbon, using two hands, during rehearsal, but when it came time for the wedding, he kind of had it behind himself. That worked out okay, though, because the guests could still read it after he’d gone by, and a quiet chuckle went through the crowd.

I used a 12” square canvas, cut the letters using my Cricut, and spray-painted over the top. The ribbon is hot-glued on the back, after I tied a bow in the center. The back is covered in burlap, but I guess I didn’t get a pic of that…

 

The other thing I wanted to show you is the napkin fold for the flatware that we set on the tables. I don’t like trying to juggle my plate, filling it with food, while hanging onto my flatware and napkin, so when we have a buffet at my house, I always put the silverware and napkins at the end of the line. It’s funny how many people will stand at the beginning, searching for the forks. Anyway, since I didn’t want a couple hundred people pawing through baskets of forks, knives, and spoons, I decided to go ahead and do individual napkins with the utensils at the tables. We had to use plastic and paper since there was no kitchen for cleaning up dishes, and why would we rent linens to use with plastic, so I thought this presentation at least “prettied” it up a bit.

The napkin fold was based on the “fancy silverware pouch” on this napkin-folding how-to site. After I tucked the flatware into the folds, I tied it with a piece of twine to keep everything together. I packed them all up in a tote and we just opened the tote, grabbed a handful of napkins, and set one at each place. Here’s what the tables looked like after they were all set up:

You’ll notice the little bells on either side of the centerpiece. There were a couple on each table, and each had a tiny tag that said “kiss” on it. Since we had plastic cups and flatware, there was nothing to signal that the crowd wanted the couple to kiss, so the bells were rung throughout the ballroom when the mood struck. They weren’t very loud, so everyone had to ring them for the head table to hear. It was fun to hear the ballroom fill with the tinkle of little bells.

One more photo before I wrap up this 31 Day endeavor – the wedding cake. The topper was the letter “R” for Robinson. It was purchased pretty inexpensively at Michael’s.

Each layer of the cake was a different flavor – raspberry cream, pink champagne, lemon, and strawberry cream cheese. Then we had chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, and there was a small section of the table for candy. The top layer is frozen and safely tucked in the bottom of the couple’s new freezer.

Scott was very much the gentleman, and did not smear cake on the bride’s face.

 

When we get the photo CD from the photographer, I will share more details here. I keep thinking of things to tell you, but need the pics to go along. This month has been a fun journey and I’m so glad you went along with me!

Please come back to my little corner of the prairie. Now that the 31 Days event is concluded, the plan is to post about life, making a home, and loving my family.

 

The Nester’s 31 Days Series

 

31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 28 – In Loving Memory

One of the hardest parts of planning this wedding was knowing my parents would not physically be there. My mom passed away 15 years ago last May, and Dad passed away 8 years ago in June. Jess wanted to remember them on her special day, but didn’t want the usual flowers or candle in their memory. Thanks to Pinterest, she found an idea for adding photo charms to her bouquet as a way to keep her grandparents close that day.

She wanted photos of them when they were young, so I printed out a formal picture my mom had taken when she was 15 years old, and for Dad, I printed his Senior high school photo. They were printed out at 1” square, and sandwiched between two pieces of glass, then I soldered the edges. I soldered on the split rings, and attached them using a sparkly finding found in the beading/jewelry department at Walmart.

 

 

On the back side, I added their names and dates:

We just used satin ribbon to tie it to her bouquet.

This was, for me, one of the most special touches at this wedding. It was sad for me that my parents weren’t there, but I love how Jess chose to keep her memory of them close on her special day.

 

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31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 27 – The Veil

I think I mentioned that when dress shopping, Jess didn’t think she wanted a veil. I was okay with that, thinking we could get a really pretty clip or comb or barrette. Then the bridal shop sales clerk put a veil on her in the showroom, and the tears started to flow. She really “felt” like a bride, and changed her mind right then.

Since I’d disassembled my gown, we thought we could use part of the chiffon overskirt for her veil, so she didn’t order one that day. My sister asked if there was anything she could make for Jess for her wedding, and since the ring bearer pillow was taken care of, we decided the veil was the perfect project for her. When she came to help with wedding stuff last July, she put together this very simple veil that worked perfectly for Jess:

It turned out that the chiffon from my dress had too many seams for us to use it for her veil, so I picked up a couple of yards of ivory tulle at the fabric store. My sister folded it in half, then gathered the fold, and hand-sewed it to the comb. She used her machine to sew the ivory ribbon on the edge of the tulle.

At first Jess thought she just wanted the plain veil, so that’s how my sister made it. A few weeks later, she decided she wanted to add a sparkly comb.

We put the veil on, then just added the decorative comb. At the reception, Jess took off the veil, but kept the sparkly part.

The decorative comb was the most expensive component to the veil at $14 (Claire’s). The rest of it was well under $10, plus full of love from Aunt Tonita. Jess asked me to please put her veil in my hope chest. Who knows – perhaps this will be the next heirloom to hand down for family weddings?

 

The Nester's 31 Day Series

 

 

31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 26 – The Bridesmaids

The photographer posted some “sneak peek” photos last night, so I’ll post one here. This is Jessica and her bridesmaids. The two girls on the far left are Hannah and Sara, Jess’s cousins. Next is Sarah, Scott’s older sister. On the right is Megan, a longtime friend, and far right is Kelley, Scott’s younger sister.

Their dresses were purchased from David’s Bridal, and had been discontinued, so they were a steal at $80 each! The store clerk had to gather them from several different stores, but it worked out that they were able to get all sizes in the color Jess wanted. I think they look amazing on every one of the girls.

Jess also had four junior bridesmaids, three of them her little cousins Grace, Taylor, and Reese, and the other, Scott’s niece Kaelin. I don’t have a photo of the four of them together, but this picture of Grace and Taylor show what the little girls’ dresses looked like.

They were ordered online from a site that specializes in flower girl dresses, at a cost of $35 each.  Originally there was a big white silk flower on the ribbon band, and we replaced those with the burlap rosettes we made. Oh, they were cute!

The somewhat monochromatic neutral color scheme for the big and little girls’ dresses really worked with this vintage, rustic elegance theme. As you can see in the top photo, the bouquets really popped with the ivory gowns.

Whenever vendors asked what the wedding colors were, we’d kind of stutter and say there really weren’t any. LOL. I guess ivory is a color, but it doesn’t sound too exciting, does it?  Trust me, it was beautiful.

 

The Nester's 31 Day Series

31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 25 – What the Bride Wore

I needed to wait until after the wedding to discuss “The Dress”. You know how you just “know” when you find the right wedding gown? When I shopped for mine, I had found a photo of exactly what I wanted in a magazine. I was in college, and on a free afternoon when I went looking in that college town to see what was available, I found the dress in the basement of a clothing store. It was priced just slightly out of my budget, and I was going dress shopping with my mom the next weekend, so I left it there.

When we got to the bridal shop, my mom asked if she could pick out a dress for me to try on, and I said sure, then started digging through the racks, looking for that gown I’d found the week before. It was nowhere to be found, so I grabbed a few that were similar and headed to the dressing room. Can you guess what dress my mom had picked out and had hanging there waiting for me? I didn’t need to look at another one – she’d chosen the same gown I had.

Jess and I don’t have quite that same serendipitous story from shopping for her dress. I was looking at completely different style dresses than she was, and I have to admit, none of the ones I picked out worked for her. This dress was the third one she tried on, and the only one she put on a second time:

It was that second time that she knew this was the one. The tears flowed immediately…

The gown is Maggie Sottera’s Bailey. Here’s the description: “A-line, strapless gown with dipped neckline and corset closure. L'Amour Satin is asymmetrically wrapped across the bodice with star-shaped beaded embellishments highlighting the center neckline and side hip. An asymmetrically swept train makes a remarkable finish for this stunning A-line silhouette.”

It did not require any alterations, save a small adjustment to the hem on the front of the skirt. It has a corset back, so was easily adjusted around her midriff as needed. The only difficulty was with the bustling, since the skirt was “asymmetrically swept”. The lovely woman who did the alterations put two hooks on the skirt to hold up the train instead of just one.

Her plan was to not have a veil, rather just some sort of sparkly comb or clip, but when the bridal shop salesgirl put the veil on her, she changed her mind. My sister made the one she wore, so I’ll show you that tomorrow…

 

The Nester's 31 Day Series

 

 

 

 

31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 24 – Who’s Watching the Baby?

  My daughter and son-in-law have two of the sweetest little boys you’ve ever met.  That’s a fact, not just a Grammy opinion. :) They are ages 15 months and 3 years old and are busy, busy, busy. When we started planning this wedding, I wondered how we’d keep an eye on them while doing all the wedding things the bridal couple and parents of the bride need to do. Plus, the ballroom where we held the festivities is in close proximity to a busy highway, so I had a real fear that one of those boys would get outside without an adult and tragedy would ensue.

There are many responsible family members who would help watch them if we asked, but they have their own children to supervise, too, and we wanted everyone to be able to relax and visit with relatives from far away. We wanted to avoid the whole “I thought you were watching them” scenario, which might not have happened, but let’s face it, it sometimes does. So we hired a babysitter for those two boys for the night. It was the BEST IDEA we had for that wedding.

We hired the boys’ adult daycare provider who they trust and  love. She drove to Lincoln and was there at 4:30,  the time the reception began. It was about that time that the baby fell asleep, so she sat with him while he napped, and kept an eye on the 3 year-old. We happily invited her to eat when supper was served, and she took care of feeding the boys, and all bathroom/diaper needs. It was close to 10 p.m. when she and I loaded them into her car, and she drove them to the motel to put them down for the night in my room. I followed in my car, since I wanted to change my clothes before we started cleaning up the ballroom. That was a good thing, since one of the boys fell asleep in the car, and she wouldn’t have been able to get them both up to the room without leaving one alone in the car.

I helped get the portable crib set up, then changed my clothes and left them to get settled in. We’d promised that someone would relieve her by Midnight, and were just barely started cleaning up by then, so our son went back to the motel and stayed with the boys, and she went home. I hated to have her driving on the Interstate so late at night, but she assured me it was fine, and she did get home okay.

We paid her $100 for almost 8 hours of babysitting, and just put it in the wedding budget. I don’t know if that sounds like a lot or a little to you, but it was totally worth it to us. There were several comments from our guests about “the girl in the pink sweater” and how wonderful she was with the boys. They still got to run and play with the other children, but we knew someone’s eyes were on them the entire time.

 

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31 Days of Happily Ever After – Day 23 – Back to the Wine Bottles

It’s been more than a few days, but we’re back to the wine bottles we used in the wedding centerpieces. I talked about preparation of the bottles and getting started on decorating them here.

Each wine bottle was different, and there were lots of positive comments and compliments on all of them. Several people asked to take one home. There are a few I want to keep, and some specifically for Jess and Scott, but we are more than happy to share the rest of them. That’s the ultimate compliment, to be asked to share. The ballroom manager was interested in them and told me that in the 20 years he’d been there, no one had ever used wine bottles with candles for their centerpieces. I don’t think he was complimenting or criticizing, he just was interested.

Like I said in my previous post (linked above), I started out by wrapping twine around the neck of most of the bottles. The original idea was print song lyric quotes on tags and attach to each bottle. We did that to several, and they looked great. Jess was given a couple of old keys, so we tied those on a few of them. This instagram photo was taken by one of the groom’s best friends from high school. She took this one home, and raved about them on Facebook.

 

Jess had also started collecting vintage brooches, thinking maybe she wanted to make a brooch bouquet to carry instead of fresh flowers. After starting this project, I was in the antique mall/flea market, and found a very pretty vintage brooch. When I got home, I just pinned it to the twine on a wine bottle so I would remember to show it to her. That was the beginning of adding brooches to them. The photo is small, but I circled the brooch. It’s my favorite one.

You can see that we also etched some of the bottles with designs. Some have the monogram Jess chose to use on her invitations, others have just random curly-q’s  or flowers. I cut borders from contact paper using my Cricut, then used etching cream from Hobby Lobby. It’s really an easy project.

Lastly, we used the burlap rosettes we made, just wrapping twine around the middle of the bottle and using hot glue to attach the rosette.

These were a relatively easy and inexpensive project for the centerpieces, and seemed to be a big hit at the wedding. I can’t wait to see the photographer’s pictures of them -  they were really excited about all the handmade touches we had.

 

The Nester's 31 Day Series

 

31 Days of Happily Ever After – Day 22 – The Aftermath

The big day is over. When we first started all the planning, my daughter said to me, “If, at the end of the day we’re married, that’s all that matters.”, and I should have taken heed and prepared myself. LOL. Nothing bad happened, and the service was on time and went beautifully. I’m just feeling the aftermath.

When I say “aftermath” I mean the feelings – both physical and emotional – that I’m dealing with today. I’m so extremely happy for my daughter and son-in-law. They had a wonderful time and both thanked me profusely for my efforts. It was my pleasure to put together this day for them. Of course, as is normal after a big event, there is some let-down, a feeling of “what now?”. I joked with someone last week about “what will I do with my time?” this week. I always have plenty of projects waiting in the wings, but they need to be prioritized so I can work on them efficiently.

My house, while not horrendous, is driving me nuts. There are wedding things to be sorted and put away, as well as normal housekeeping to catch up on. I don’t even want to think about menu planning or cooking. I need to get back to a routine with my housekeeping, but am feeling today like I don’t know what that is…

And I am tired and sore. I was sick all last week while finishing up details, and didn’t sleep well Thursday, Friday, or Saturday nights. Saturday started before 6 a.m. and didn’t end until close to 3 a.m. for me. It’ll take a few days to shake that off.

Now, this post is not to whine or drum up sympathy for poor me. It’s just more to process this post-wedding daze I find myself in at this moment.  I have an old friend who just went through this a few weeks ago. When I made my “what will I do with my time?” comment on FB, she answered, “Decompress and think about the ‘should-as’”. This morning I sent her a note that yes, all those “should-a” thoughts are running through my head. She replied, “I know. It’ll be better in a few days”. That made me feel better.

I’d love to hear from you guys if you have any tips, or can relate to what I’m talking about.

Oh, and I bet you’d like to see a photo of the happy couple, wouldn’t you? They were radiant.

 

The Nester's 31 Day Series 

 

31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 18 – White House Greetings

Only a couple more days until the big event! Yesterday Jessica dropped by after picking up her mail and handed me an envelope. Yea! It took just under six weeks, but the congratulatory greetings did come from the White House. Jess wanted both the envelope and the card displayed, so I used an 8x10” frame and backed it with burlap.

 
It’s a lovely message:

There are specific guidelines to follow in order to get greetings, but you can request them for several occasions:
ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS. Anniversary greetings will be sent to couples who are celebrating a 50th, 60th, 70th or later wedding anniversary.
BIRTHDAY GREETINGS. Birthday greetings will be sent only to people turning 80 or older or veterans turning 70 or older. OTHER GREETINGS. A limited number of special occasions other than birthdays and anniversaries exist for which the Greetings Office will send appropriate recognition to United States citizens. These occasions include important life events such as:

• Wedding (send your request six weeks before the event)
• Baby's birth or adoption of a child
• Retirement after at least 30 years on the same job
• Eagle Scout Award
• Girl Scout Gold Award
• Bar/Bat Mitzvah or equivalent religious occasion

I think it would be fun to work in the Greetings Office at the White House and see all the different wedding invitations that come in.

The Nester’s 31 Day Series

31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 17 – Vintage Again

Our wedding prep had barely begun. We mostly were talking out our ideas and making plans, so we knew we were going the direction of “rustic elegance”. Like I’ve said before, this includes “vintage” as far as we’re concerned.

Early in the summer we went to Texas for a weekend and made a point to get to the Goodwill store near to where we stayed. I like to look through thrift stores in different cities since there often is much cooler stuff than we have in our small rural area. We found something wonderful at this Goodwill in Temple!

Aren’t these amazing?! Jess fell in love with them as soon as I pulled the box off the shelf. They’ll be perfect for those special toasts coming up on Saturday evening.

Oh, and do you see that price tag - $8.99? We thought that was pretty perfect, too.

 

The Nester’s 31 Day Series

 

31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 16 – Taking off the Tarnish

There are several old silver pieces we’ve collected to use on the table where the apple cider bar will be set up. We hunted Goodwill, a flea market in Lincoln, and a small consignment store in York. Etsy also yielded some nice old spoons to be used on the candy table.

Part of the charm, we think, is that these pieces show their age. The “rustic elegance” theme Jess chose includes “vintage” as well. So while we liked the age on the silver, it really had become quite tarnished over the summer. I perused Pinterest, as I’m wont to do for awhile before heading to bed, and came across a tip for shining up silver by dipping it in hot water with baking soda and salt. Greg was skeptical, but a little fascinated as I gave it a shot today.

I lined the kitchen sink with heavy duty aluminum foil, put the kettle full of water on the stove, since you’re supposed to use “steaming hot water”, added two tablespoons of salt and two tablespoons of baking soda. When the kettle whistled, the contents went in the sink, and I did run some hot tap water to increase the volume, but kept the water level about an inch below the line of the foil.

For the less tarnished pieces I left them in the sink for about a minute or two. You could see the silver brighten immediately. The darker pieces went for five minutes, and the worst one stayed in the sink for about half an hour. By then, the solution had started making little pinholes in the foil.

 
After rinsing, I used a soft towel to polish a bit, and the shine really came out, yet none of them look brand new. They’re perfect!

The Nester’s 31 Day Series

31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 15 – Read the Signs

Words have always been an important component of our lives – we love to talk, we love to read, we quote movies and song lyrics in normal conversation. Knowing that, it was no surprise when Jess decided she wants a few signs around the wedding reception hall. She amassed quite a list, and we’ve honed that down to just a few, but they’re fun ones. I don’t have the big ones ready to show you yet, but these two are for the apple cider bar and the candy bar:

The “Love me tender…” sign is for the candy table, and I love that she chose lyrics from a song by Elvis Presley. My mom loved Elvis, so this is kind of a nod to her.

The other one has lyrics from a song by Scott’s favorite band, Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers. It will sit on the table where we put the apple cider bar, near the cinnamon sticks and red hots.  There are a few touches in this wedding that recognize his being a fan of this band. He doesn’t know about most of them, they’re Jess’s surprise for him.

These signs were made using “art” I picked up at Goodwill for a dollar or two. The “love me tender” is done in vinyl, cut with my Cricut, and stuck to the glass, then I covered the backing in burlap.  The “spice” sign was printed on brown Kraft paper, then we added a strip of burlap and one of brown satin ribbon. It added the perfect texture even though it’s all under glass. I’d intended to paint the frames, but Jess wanted them left the way they are. So now I will spray paint the wire frame holders. Those came from Dollar Tree.

I think these little guys add a fun and personal touch that will be somewhat unexpected, and the one sign will probably puzzle a few. Oh well. It’ll be interesting to hear what they think it means…

 

The Nester’s 31 Day Series

 

 

31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 14 – Back to the Burlap

A few posts back I told you there were a dozen burlap rosettes. I used one on the card box, four for the junior bridesmaids’ dresses (photos to come after the wedding), and there were seven left. We opted to use those on some of the wine bottles and they turned out great!

We added small jeweled buttons to some, a pearl, and a broken dragonfly pin to others. The one on the right in the second row from the top is actually part of an earring that belonged to my grandmother.

We like the look so much I’m going to add a pearl to the rest of them for the junior bridesmaids and on the card box.

Here’s what they look like on the wine bottles. You can’t really see in this photo, but the bottles were first wrapped with twine around the center section of the body.

These are a bit “bolder” than the other wine bottles we decorated, but I think they’ll look great in those centerpieces.

 

The Nester’s 31 Day Series

 

 

31 Days to Happily Ever After – Day 13 – What Did You Do to the Wine Bottles?

We drink wine. Not lots of wine, but it’s a hobby we like to indulge in every now and again. I used to toss the empty bottles, and always hated throwing them away, but our recycling center doesn’t accept glass, and I wasn’t thinking creatively about them then. After a huge Thanksgiving celebration with over 20 guests throughout the day, I mentioned the trash guy probably wondered just what kind of bash we had when he saw how many empties were in our pick-up that week.  That was when my sister-in-law asked me to keep them for a friend of theirs who makes his own wine. Once or twice a year I’d deliver a box of empty bottles to them as a way to recycle.

One of the very first decisions Jessica made about her wedding decor was that she wanted lit wine bottles in the centerpieces. I have drilled holes in wine bottles for strings of lights, but doing that with 40+ bottles sounded incredibly time consuming and tedious. Plus, to get the correct drill bit involved a 60-mile one way trip to the home improvement store, and strings of battery-operated light strings are $6-7 each. A bit out of our budget.

I started looking into ways to cut the bottoms off the bottles, and invested in a bottle cutting system that was supposed to work 90% of the time. There were about a dozen wine bottles in the garage at the time, and I ruined 6 of them by trying to cut the bottoms off. Even when the cuts worked, the glass then cracked vertically. It was very annoying.

I contacted a local glass shop and was shut down without hesitation. They wanted nothing to do with my project. Too bad for them. After I told that same sister-in-law about the problem (she’s an art teacher, I thought she might have a handy tip on how to do it that I had missed) she told me about a glass shop in Grand Island that cut out the bottoms of wine bottles for prom for her school the year before. The people at State Glass were more than happy to accommodate me, even making the arrangements to cut all of the wine bottles in one day so I only had to make that 120 mile round-trip once. We negotiated an hourly rate that cut the per-bottle price to less than half of their original offer.

My SIL gladly gave me back the latest box of bottles I’d given her, and I put out a plea on some local Facebook “buy, sell, trade” pages for more empties. The response was wonderful and I ended up with more than enough bottles for the number of centerpieces we need.

The labels all had to be removed, which turned out to be both easy and tedious. Some of the glue used on the labels pretty much disintegrated in a sink of hot, soapy water. Others had to be taken off with a razor blade. Then the glue residue gave me more fits. I finally used a canola oil-soaked paper towel to remove the glue. I laid the oily towel on top of the part of the bottle that needed to be cleaned, and let it sit awhile, then used the razor blade again to remove the last remnants of stickiness. That was a fun way to spend a few Springtime afternoons! LOL.

You can see how they took out a section of the bottoms, just large enough for a votive candle. This particular bottle was the first that I embellished with twine, and I took the photo to text to my daughter for her opinion.

Most of the bottles have twine around the neck, but no two bottles are the same. We chose a variety of ways to embellish them, which I’ll show you over the next few days. I can’t show the completed centerpiece, since we have yet to pick up the final element we need. They’re ordered, and will be at the store on Thursday when we do our final shopping day for the wedding. Until then, you’ll get to see the separate pieces which will hopefully come together to define the “rustic elegance” Jess is wanting.

The Nester’s 31 Day Series